Justin Barasky has been officially hired to do what he's been doing for the better part of a year -- work for for Sen. Sherrod Brown's re-election campaign.

Barasky, a native of Solon, Ohio, with a 2005 degree in political communications from Ohio University, will start on Monday as communications director for Brown's campaign.  Although Barasky has been press secretary for the Ohio Democratic Party, he has worked almost exclusively on Brown's re-election.

Over the last year, Barasky has been chief antagonist to Brown's presumptive Republican opponent, state Treasurer Josh Mandel. Hardly an hour goes by without a new email from Barasky attacking Mandel for this or that. Barasky will remain on the party payroll for a couple of more weeks before drawing a salary from the Brown campaign.