Lynn G. Cutler, former Black Hawk County, Iowa commissioner, has been appointed deputy director of intergovernmental affairs for the Clinton Administration. In this capacity, she serves as liaison to state and local elected officials on intergovernmental policy.
Prior to her service at the White House, Cutler was senior vice president at The Kamber Group, a Washington, D.C.--based communications firm. Until she joined the firm full-time in 1992, Cutler served 12 years - three terms - as vice chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). She had been a senior consultant at Kamber since 1985.
Throughout her career, Cutler has played a large role in Democratic politics. As a senior advisor to the 1996 Clinton/Gore re-election campaign, Cutler served as liaison to elected officials nationwide. While at the Democratic National Committee, she coordinated the DNC Women's Division, and she helped to establish Women's Vote Task Force nationwide in the 1984 presidential campaign. She also codirected the Women for Clinton/Gore effort in 1992. She served as a consultant to the DNC on the women's vote.
First elected to the Democratic National Committee in 1981, Cutler served as the DNC's liaison to statewide and local elected officials. She also oversaw the DNC's outreach to women and the Jewish community.
At the DNC, Cutler worked to improve intergovernmental relations through her efforts to communicate with the National Associations of State Treasurers, National Assoication of Secretaries of State, National Assoication of Attorneys General, the National Conference of Lieutenant Governors, the National Democratic County Officials and the National Conference of Democratic Mayors.
A native of Iowa and a teacher by training, Cutler entered politics in 1962 because of her concerns with the plight of America's children. Appointed to the Iowa Commission on Children and Youth in 1963, she fought for legislation to protect children from child abuse and unfair labor practices. After teaching in public schools, she served as an administrator of Head Start for four years.
In 1974, Cutler was elected the first woman supervisor in Black Hawk County, Iowa. She was elected to a second term in 1978 and chaired the board of supervisors for two years. In 1980 and 1982, she was the Democratic nominee for U.S. Congress in Iowa's third congressional district, losing by a narrow margin.
During her years in elective office, Cutler served on NACo's Board of Directors, the National Association of Regional Councils, the Iowa Association of Counties, and presided over Women of NACo (WON) for two years. She founded and chaired the Black Hawk County Economic Development Committee.
Lynn Cutler has been a fellow at the Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and taught a course titled "Women Impacting Public Policy."
Cutler is a political commentator and frequently appears on CNN's "Crossfire,"
"CNN & Company," and "Inside Politics"; CNBC's "Equal
Time", Fox News, C-SPAN's "Washington Journal" and many other
television and radio programs.