Bob Haueter

Bob Haueter, former district director to U.S. Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, has been hired to fill the same position for Blake Farenthold, a second-term GOP congressman in Texas.

Haueter started work Monday in Corpus Christi.

“(Farenthold) is a nice guy, a great guy, and he offered me an opportunity to do what I know,” Hauter said from his district office on Shoreline Drive, looking out over the Gulf of Mexico. “I’m excited to have the opportunity to serve both him and the constituents of (Texas’) 27th congressional district.”

The move comes just days after Haueter’s former boss, McKeon, announced he had hired Farenthold’s chief of staff, Alan Tennille, as his chief of staff in Washington.

Insiders suggested the switch was coincidental.

“(Haueter’s) background in politics and life experience is exactly what (Farenthold) needs,” said Farenthold spokesman Beau Rothschild.

View from the balcony outside Haueter’s new office in Texas. “Corpus Christi is a beautiful city with wonderful people,” Haueter said.

Haueter cut his political teeth in Arizona as a campaign staffer to the late Sen. Barry Goldwater Sr. He came to California and worked for Assembly GOP Leader Pat Nolan before working as an aide to Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich for six years, then as McKeon’s district director for another six. He worked on the unsuccessful congressional campaign of Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Barbara, and most recently worked as a consultant to Republican Ron Smith on the recount of 36th Assembly District ballots where just 145 votes separate Smith from the apparent winner, Democrat Steve Fox.

Haueter recently married the former Lynn Vakay, an actress-turned GOP activist who worked for the former state Sen. Tony Strickland. Between them they’ve got three grown children.

“My wife is from Texas,” Haueter said Monday. “It is a place she has always wanted to go back to.”

Haueter said they haven’t yet decided whether they’ll sell their house in Saugus.