As she considers a 2012 run, Palin loses a key staffer

Sarah Palin is losing a key member of her closely knit inner circle.

As the Anchorage Daily News first reported, Thomas Van Flein, a longtime lawyer and adviser to the ex-Alaska governor, is moving to Washington to work for Paul Gosar, a freshman GOP congressman from Arizona.

According to Gosar's office, Van Flein will serve as legislative director and deputy chief of staff.

The move is likely to stir up still more speculation about Palin's future, as she contemplates a run in the 2012 presidential race. Van Flein is among the handful of Palin aides who've had direct access to the former vice-presidential candidate. According to Federal Election Commission records, Palin's political action committee, SarahPAC, paid Van Flein's law firm more than $150,000 over the past year.

Gosar, a conservative who ran in support of Alaska's anti-immigration law, was among the candidates Palin endorsed in 2010. Van Flein, his office noted, lived and worked in Arizona before he moved to Alaska.

(Photo of Van Flein by Mark Thiessen/AP)