Former Federal Diary columnist joins the Labor Department

A longtime Washington Post columnist who once wrote about federal employees joined the federal ranks this week.

Stephen Barr, who wrote the Federal Diary column from 2000 to 2008, joined the Labor Department as senior managing director of the Office of Public Affairs. The role makes him the most senior career official in the public affairs office, Labor Department spokesman Carl Fillichio said.

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The move also makes Barr a member of the Senior Executive Service, the corps of senior federal employees that Barr covered as the writer of the Federal Diary, a column widely read by federal employees in the Washington area and nationwide. The column remains one of The Post’s longest-running features. Joe Davidson writes the column now.

Barr retired from The Post in 2008 and joined the Legal Services Corporation as its communications director. He joined The Post in 1979 and served as a reporter, Federal Page editor, congressional editor and a staff writer covering the federal bureaucracy.

Barr becomes one of dozens of former journalists — and former Post reporters, columnists and editors — hired in recent years by the Obama administration to fill speechwriter and spokesperson roles. Most recently, former Post congressional correspondent Shailagh Murray joined the White House last year as communications director for Vice President Biden.

ed.okeefe@washingtonpost.com