WSJ hires Leary from Tampa Bay Times

Paul Beckett, the Washington bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal, sent out the following announcement on Monday:

All,

We are pleased to announce that Alex Leary will be joining the Wall Street Journal’s White House team to deepen our coverage of the connection between Washington and the business community. Alex is a veteran of the Florida political press corps, after covering all levels of government for the Tampa Bay Times. In 2009, he was promoted to its Washington bureau, and he’s covered the landscape from Capitol Hill to the White House doing stories from here.

Alex was a Livingston Award finalist for a narrative on the death of a solider who became the first Medal of Honor recipient after the Sept. 11 attacks. He pocketed several Green Eyeshade awards, one for reporting on the 2016 presidential election. His work in Tallahassee led to the resignation of the state House speaker over a budget scandal.

Alex grew up in Central New York and graduated from Ithaca College. He first worked for the Valley News in New Hampshire before joining what was then called the St. Petersburg Times, a month before the 2000 presidential election drama.