H.D. Palmer, Deputy Director for External Affairs at the California Department of Finance

H.D. Palmer, Deputy Director for External Affairs at the California Department of Finance, was appointed by Governor Brown in January 2011, and serves as a principal spokesman for the administration on budget and fiscal issues. Palmer served in the same position under Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger from 2003 to 2010.

Palmer also served at the Department of Finance from 1993 to 1999 as an assistant director for Governor Pete Wilson. He then spent two years in Idaho as policy director and then communications director for Governor Dirk Kempthorne. Palmer returned to California in the fall of 2001 to become communications director for the California Senate Republican Caucus under former Senator Jim Brulte.

Prior to joining the Wilson Administration, Palmer served on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. for 12 years as a spokesman for three United States Senators — S.I. Hayakawa of California, Jim McClure of Idaho, and John Seymour of California. A native of Glendale, Palmer is a graduate of the University of Maryland’s College of Journalism.