John Hoeffel back on California desk, as state editor

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Here’s the note to the staff from California Editor David Lauter:

I’m very happy to announce the return to our ranks of a highly creative and esteemed journalist, John Hoeffel, who will move into the role of state editor. In this assignment, John will supervise the work of our San Francisco and San Diego bureaus as well as our reporters on the Central Coast, Steve Chawkins and Kay Saillant. He’ll also work with reporter Dan Morain, who is taking on a new assignment that will involve statewide stories.

As many of you know, this is a return engagement for John, who worked as both state editor and local government editor in Metro before moving to the Washington bureau in 2006, where he handled coverage of Congress and domestic policy. He returned to Los Angeles earlier this year as co-director of the presidential campaign coverage. In each of his assignments, John’s work has been notable for his strong news judgment, the thoroughness of his thinking and his dedication to excellence and high standards.

John came to The Times in 2004 from the San Jose Mercury News, where he worked five years, holding jobs as government and politics editor, deputy city editor and national and foreign editor. Before that, he worked for newspapers in the Carolinas and in Washington for the Winston-Salem Journal. He is also, I believe, the only person currently on the Metro staff with a degree in chemistry (Cornell, 1983). Now, he will take that wealth of experience and use it to guide our statewide staff, whose terrific journalism has long been one of the distinctive aspects of the The Times. Please join me in congratulating John on this assignment.