Another mayoral spokesperson departs for the same nonprofit

Martin McOmber, senior communications and policy advisor for Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, will leave city employment on Wednesday, April 30, to join Casey Family Programs as communications director. McOmber will feel right at home at Casey, because the managing director of communications there, Marianne Bichsel, was herself spokesperson for the mayor before joining the foundation in Seattle last fall.

Alex Fryer, communications advisor at the Office of Sustainability and Environment, will fill in until the mayor names a new comm director — though the official City Hall announcement today sure makes it sound like the job is Fryer's to lose.

Fryer was a staff reporter for The Seattle Times from 1997 to 2007, and served as Washington, D.C., correspondent among other assignments. A Seattle native, Fryer graduated from the University of Washington and earned a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University. He will be in charge of day-to-day operations on the Mayor's communications team.

"I'm excited to join the mayor's staff and I look forward to working with members of the media," said Fryer.

For his part, McOmber, too, is a former Times scribe. Says the news release issued by the mayor's office:

McOmber is leaving the mayor's office after three years to serve as a communications director for Casey Family Programs, a Seattle-based foundation dedicated to providing and improving foster care. In his new position, McOmber will promote the foundation's public policy agenda and as well as the direct services Casey provides to children in foster care. He will also oversee communications support for the foundation's Indian Child Welfare program.

"Working for Mayor Nickels has been an honor and a terrific experience," said McOmber. "I'm leaving a great job, but only to take on a new and important challenge at Casey — to improve the lives of foster children and families across the country."

New and, we might add, far more important.

Update: Adds McOmber in an e-mail: "My wife's family provides foster care, so it is an issue that has become very personal for me."