Mo. governor's spokesman leaves to join consulting firm

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Gov. Jay Nixon's communications director is leaving to join a political consulting firm that counts the governor as one of its clients.

Jack Cardetti is going to work for Hilltop Public Solutions, which is led in Missouri by former Nixon campaign manager Ken Morley. The firm has offices in Missouri and elsewhere, and Cardetti will work in its new Jefferson City office.

Cardetti is a former Missouri Democratic Party spokesman. He will leave the governor's office June 2.

He'll be replaced as communications director by Christine Bertelson, who joined Nixon's office last September to oversee Missouri's use of federal stimulus money. Bertelson is a former reporter, columnist and editor for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Hilltop's other Missouri clients include Democratic Congressman Ike Skelton.