Personnel note: Vern Buchanan hires Gretchen Andersen as new press secretary
Sarasota Republican U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan said Wednesday that Gretchen Andersen will be the new press secretary for his Washington, D.C., office. Andersen previously was press secretary for U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania, a senior member of the Energy and Commerce Committee. Murphy also wrote a sweeping mental health reform bill co-sponsored by Buchanan. Before her stint in Murphy’s office, Andersen was press secretary for New York City-based Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, as well as an intern for NBC…