Staff Report
The Exponent Telegram
MORGANTOWN — Harrison County’s Mike Queen has been selected as deputy chief of staff for external affairs and director of communications for Secretary of State-elect Mac Warner.
The announcement was made Friday afternoon, when Warner also named Chuck Flannery chief of staff and Steve Connolly as chief legal counsel for the office.
“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 said. “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.”
Queen’s career in journalism, public relations and marketing has spanned nearly three decades. Queen, most recently the host of The Mike Queen Show on The AJR News Network, which serves 14 counties in Central West Virginia, is an entrepreneur at heart who owned and published The Shinnston News & Harrison County Journal.
He has also had a longstanding interest in public service. From 1984 to 1986, Queen served as a member of the West Virginia 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.
Flannery is a lifelong West Virginian and a graduate of West Virginia University who has worked in government and political campaigns across West Virginia. Flannery most recently served as campaign manager for U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito in 2014 and West Virginia gubernatorial candidate Bill Cole in 2016. From 2005 to 2008, Flannery served within the West Virginia Secretary of State’s office under Secretary of State Betty Ireland, with a focus on transparency and accountability in campaigns. He then served as an aide to Sen. Capito’s official office, as well as her House of Representatives and U.S. Senate campaigns for a total of seven years.
Connolly is a Putnam County resident who heads the Public Integrity Unit for Attorney General Patrick Morrisey. He formerly worked as a county assistant prosecutor and received an appointment as a special assistant U.S. attorney to aid in fighting public corruption in West Virginia. He previously served as general counsel to the state Republican Party.
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