Personnel note: Erin Moffet to lead comms at The Liason Group

Erin Moffet is leaving her position as Deputy Chief of Staff for Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried for a job in the lobbying world.

Moffet has worked at the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services for the past four years, overseeing the federal affairs and communications offices. She now heads to The Liaison Group, a Washington, D.C.-based federal lobbying firm focused on federal cannabis legislation and policy.

At TLG, Moffet will take on the title of Director of Strategic Communications and Policy Adviser.

TLG’s work includes advocating for the preservation of state-level cannabis programs and removing barriers to the industry at the federal level, such as federal finance and banking laws related to cannabis companies.

D.C. is familiar territory for Moffet, who spent nine years working on Capitol Hill before returning to Florida to take a job at FDACS. A portion of her time in D.C. saw her serve as U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist’s Cannabis Policy Adviser.

She also served as Crist’s Communications Director and as Communications Director for U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel and former U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy. She previously spent three years as Press Secretary to the late U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings.

In addition to her work in member offices, Moffet worked on Crist’s and Murphy’s congressional campaigns and as a program and administrative associate at the Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest.

Moffet earned a master’s degree in government, with a political communications concentration, from Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor’s degree in political science and communications from Elon University.

With Moffet’s departure, Benjamin Kirby, a 30-year political veteran who most recently served as a communications and policy adviser on Fried’s gubernatorial campaign. He will oversee the Department’s press shop for the remainder of the Commissioner’s term, which ends in January.