Matt Paul

Matt Paul, the communications director at the Agriculture Department, is doubling as the acting chief of staff to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

Paul, a longtime aide to Vilsack, took over the position on August 12 from Krysta Harden, who was sworn in as Agriculture deputy secretary. He is not expected to remain in the post, but will hold it until the White House approves a new chief of staff, a process that will take an undetermined amount of time, a USDA source told The Hagstrom Report this week.

A native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Paul was a reporter in television and radio in that city and an aide to the mayor before going to work for Vilsack when he became governor of Iowa. Paul worked as press secretary, communications director and senior adviser to Gov. Vilsack.

Paul also served as assistant to Vilsack in his successful 2002 reelection campaign and as the campaign manager for Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, in 2008.

From 2007 until he joined USDA in 2011, Paul was a partner at Link, Paul, Campbell and Anderson, an Iowa public affairs firm. There he oversaw the firm’s activities on behalf of business, nonprofit and coalition group clients. These included the Pew Charitable Trust, IBM, AARP, Alliant Energy, Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease, and the Environmental Law and Policy Center.

As the National Journal reported in its ”Decision Makers” issue this year, Paul was a theater major at what is now Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids and spent time living in London before returning to Iowa and entering political life.