Mary Isenhour

A Kansas native, Isenhour attended the University of Kansas. She began her political career as a staffer in the Kansas House of Representatives. In 1990 she worked as a legislative aide to House Minority Leader Marvin Barkis, and the following year was an administrative assistant to House Majority Leader Donna Whiteman. From 1991 to 1995, Isenhour served as Chief of Staff to House Minority Leader Tom Sawyer, where she worked with Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike to advance legislation, served as a liaison between Sawyer and other officials, and worked with members of leadership and committees to develop legislative strategies and build coalitions. both in the state House and Senate. Those races included more than three dozen candidates by July 1992. Isenhour served as the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee's national political director, based in Washington D.C. partnering with Iowa Senate Majority Leader Wally Horn and other key legislative Democrats to improving the party's position. She described it as an attempt to avoid a repeat of 1994 elections, in which Democrats suffered major losses in both federal and state offices during the Republican Revolution. Isenhour also managed Sawyer's campaign for the bid for Kansas governor in 1998. Sawyer won the Democratic nomination, but ultimately lost in a landslide to the popular Republican incumbent, Bill Graves. ==Pennsylvania career==

Isenhour began her Pennsylvania political career in 1999, when she became executive director of the Pennsylvania House Democratic Campaign Committee, helping to get Democratic candidates elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. She held the position until 2003. served as political adviser to state House Democratic Leader Frank Dermody, after which she helped plan Rendell's 2007 inauguration. Rendell appointed her to the Pennsylvania Community Service Advisory Board. In 2007, she became executive director of the party, In 2008, Isenhour and Rooney met with MSNBC news commentator Chris Matthews to discuss the possibility of Matthews running against Republican U.S. Senator Arlen Specter, although he ultimately did not run. Also that year, Isenhour and her Republican counterpart Luke Bernstein, executive director of the Republican Party of Pennsylvania, together taught a class about presidential elections at the Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Isenhour and Bernstein both believed it was the first class of its type, and said the two had a very cordial relationship despite representing opposite political parties. Also in 2010, Isenhour was the only woman named to the PoliticsPA's Pennsylvania Top 10 Influencers List by Campaigns and Elections, ==Governor Wolf administration==

(pictured) in his bid for Pennsylvania governor. Isenhour was an early supporter of Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Tom Wolf, and became Wolf's senior campaign adviser during his 2014 campaign, Isenhour, who had long been acquainted with Wolf, had not intended to become involved with a lengthy and work-intensive gubernatorial campaign, but said she was convinced to do so after an hour-long phone conversation with Wolf in 2013, after which she was convinced he was the right man for the job: "I've been in politics 30 years and I've never had a candidate like this." Isenhour maintained other clients during his campaign, but said Wolf was "my main focus for the next year and a half". then worked as his Secretary of Legislative Affairs, Her annual salary in the position was $145,018. On February 3, 2016, Isenhour notified the state Public Employee Retirement Commission that, under Wolf's orders, all employment of its staff would be discontinued. State Representatives Stephen Bloom of Cumberland County and Seth Grove of York County have filed a lawsuit against Wolf challenging that action, arguing the governor lacks the power to dissolve the commission and acted contrary to the Pennsylvania Constitution. On February 15, 2019, Governor Wolf nominated Isenhour to a seat on the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board. She was confirmed by the state Senate on June 19, 2019 and became the first female to serve on the board. ==Personal life==

Isenhour is married to Bill Patton, former chief of staff to Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Dennis M. O'Brien. They reside in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. She has a cat named Hank and enjoys cooking. ==References==