Montpelier native will head 'Washingtonian'
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By SUSAN ALLEN TIMES ARGUS STAFF - Published: August 17, 2009
MONTPELIER – Montpelier native Garrett Graff has been named editor of Washingtonian, an influential 400,000-circulation monthly magazine designed to help people live, work and play in the nation's capital.
Graff, 28, will replace retiring editor Jack Limpert, who has held the post for more than 40 years. Graff becomes the third editor-in-chief in the magazine's 44-year history.
"Washingtonian magazine is the best perch in Washington," Graff said via telephone on Sunday. "It gives you tremendous flexibility to be involved in and pay attention to all the various things that are taking place in Washington."
Just as important, he added, is the timing of the job.
"It occurred to us that this is really the golden age of Washington. Obama has brought so much energy and attention to the city in the last year," he said. Everything from restaurants to the arts have improved, he said, adding, "Even on the economics front, whereas a year-and-a-half ago you would have said New York was the economic center of the world, Washington today is running most of New York's' biggest businesses.
"When New York needs help, they come to Washington. When Detroit needs help, they come to Washington," Graff said. "There is an unprecedented focus and power in this city right now. For me to shape the magazine that more than any other publication in Washington covers that is really exciting."
The journalism genes come naturally to Graff. His mother, Nancy Price Graff, became editor of Vermont Life Magazine at age 28 – the same age he is taking over Washingtonian, he noted – and went on to become a published author. Chris Graff, Garrett Graff's father, was a longtime correspondent for the Associated Press in Vermont before becoming vice president of communications for the National Life Group.
Garrett Graff, a graduate of Montpelier High School, served as deputy national press secretary on the unsuccessful presidential campaign of former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean immediately after graduating from Harvard University in 2003.
After the campaign, Graff moved to Washington D.C. with other Dean campaign staffers and started a company called EchoDitto, an Internet strategy consulting firm.
In 2005, he launched FishbowlDC, a blog focused on politics, the media and journalism (becoming the first blogger admitted to the White House), before moving to Washingtonian as an editor focusing on the front section, called Capital Comment. He was named executive editor earlier this year, and will become editor-in-chief on Sept. 1.
His first book, "The First Campaign: Globalization, the Web and the Race for the White House," forecast the importance of technology and the Internet in politics. He said Sunday that a second book, "The Bureau's War," the story of the FBI and counter-terrorism post-9/11, is due out next September.
For now, he said, his focus is on preserving what readers love about Washingtonian and crafting his own ideas for the magazine and its Web counterpart.
"Becoming editor, I'm not sure there is a better job in Washington, except for maybe President of the United States," he quipped.
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