Viet Shelton will take over in February as new communications director for Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, after two successful years as Washington, D.C., spokesman for U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash. While still a young man, Shelton has experience in dealing with crises, natural disasters and difficult bosses. He was manager of Mayor Greg Nickels’ 2009 reelection campaign, which never recovered from the city’s glacial response to the great snowstorm in the winter of 2008.