Mike Zamore is the national director of policy & government affairs at the American Civil Liberties Union, where he leads efforts to harness the organization's vast expertise, 4 million members and supporters, paid staff in every state, and electoral work to shape federal, state and local policy. He is a 22-year veteran of Capitol Hill, including the last 14 years as the chief of staff to Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon. Earlier in his career, he served as policy director at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, worked in the U.S. House of Representatives, and spent several years in St. Petersburg during the early days of post-Soviet Russia. Mike is the co-author of “Filibustered!: How to Fix the Broken Senate and Save America” and is a Brown University and Harvard Law School graduate. He's a native Clevelander, a wannabe Oregonian and a proud, disenfranchised resident of the District of Columbia.