WASHINGTON – As Sen. Susan Collins prepares to take up the gavel as chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, she has named her current legislative director and general counsel, Michael Bopp of Portland, to fill the key position of staff director for the full committee.

Praising the work Bopp has done as her legislative director, Collins said he “has successfully overseen the introduction, passage, and enactment of legislation I’ve introduced benefiting concerns as diverse as the Downeast Heritage Center in Calais, rural school districts throughout Maine, and port security in our largest city. I’m proud now to have the opportunity to put his extensive expertise to use as staff director for the Governmental Affairs Committee.”

This will be Bopp’s second appointment to the full committee. In 1996, he served as counsel to the committee, investigating allegations of illegal and improper activities connected to the 1996 federal election cycle. Before that, he served as counsel to the panel’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, probing issues such as the global proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. He also has legislative and investigative experience in the House, having held the position of chief counsel on the Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.

Bopp grew up in Portland, where his parents still live, and is a graduate of Deering High School, Brown University and Harvard Law School. He now lives in Virginia with his wife, Joanna, his son, Andrew, and a second “baby” Bopp, due in February.