CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Secretary of State-elect Mac Warner has made several staffing announcements ahead of his Jan. 16 inauguration.
Chuck Flannery will serve as chief of staff; Mike Queen will serve as deputy chief of staff for external affairs and director of communications; and Steve Connolly will be chief legal counsel.
“Chuck, Mike and Steve have decades of experience working across West Virginia and will serve our great state well as leaders in the Secretary of State’s office,” Warner stated in the announcement.
“From incentivizing business and economic growth to instilling confidence in our democratic system, we have a lot to do in Charleston. I’m putting together a team who will come to work every day thinking about how they can help improve life in West Virginia.”
Flannery is a lifelong West Virginian and a graduate of West Virginia University who has worked in government and political campaigns across the state. Flannery most recently served as campaign manager for U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito in 2014 and West Virginia gubernatorial candidate Bill Cole in 2016.
From 2005 to 2008, Flannery served under then-Secretary of State Betty Ireland, with a focus on transparency and accountability in campaigns. He then served as an aide to Shelley Moore Capito’s official office as well as her House of Representatives and U.S. Senate campaigns over seven years.
Queen is a Harrison County native with a career in journalism, public relations and marketing that has spanned nearly three decades.
Queen most recently was the host of The Mike Queen Show on The AJR News Network, which serves fourteen counties in Central West Virginia. He also owned and published The Shinnston News & Harrison County Journal.
From 1984 to 1986, Queen served as a member of the state Board of Regents under then-Governor Jay Rockefeller. In 1988, he was first elected to represent Harrison County in the West Virginia House of Delegates. From 2006 to 2014, Queen was elected to serve as a member and president of the Harrison County Board of Education.
Connolly is a Putnam County resident who heads the Public Integrity Unit for Attorney General Patrick Morrisey.
Connolly formerly worked as a county assistant prosecutor and received an appointment as a special assistant United States attorney to aid in fighting public corruption in West Virginia. He previously served as general counsel to the state Republican Party.