Two senior officials are leaving governor’s staff

Kim McMillan, a former House majority leader and currently a senior adviser to the Democratic governor, is leaving to work for Austin Peay State University, The Leaf-Chronicle of Clarksville reported on its Web site Tuesday.

McMillan, 46, has expressed interest in running for governor in 2010. She is scheduled to join the school Nov. 12 as executive director of the Center for Community and Business Relations, the paper reported. She did not return a phone call from The Associated Press.

McMillan, a Clarksville Democrat, was the first woman to win Tennessee’s House majority leader post in 2002, but decided not to run for re-election last year. Bredesen named her to his staff in December.

Robert Gowan, the governor’s top policy adviser, said in a resignation letter Tuesday that he plans to leave the governor’s office Nov. 15.

‘I am very humbled to have been at least a small part of the many accomplishments that will stand as your legacy,’ Gowan wrote in the letter to Bredesen.

Gowan, 43, was responsible for shepherding Bredesen’s agenda through the Legislature, including last session’s hike in the cigarette tax and the creation of the Cover Tennessee health plan the year before.

Gowan was assistant commissioner of the Department of Commerce and Insurance before being named to his current post in 2005. He previously worked as policy adviser to Bredesen when he was mayor of Nashville.