I stayed through Saturday and met with Jacqueline Staymann-Huestis that morning. She seemed capable of meeting my needs, though snobby, which she tried to keep to herself but failed. Instead she tried for obsequious, considering she must have known about my money. Weird.
Marilyn and I had gone over our needs already, at least between ourselves. First and foremost, we wanted to keep our primary residence back in Hereford. It was close enough that I figured I could commute, if not every day, then every other day. We'd give that a shot before moving to Washington. Still we would need a place in D.C., and we wanted a home with a yard for the kids and the dog. The most convenient place, 'for those who can afford it', was in the Georgetown district or out near Rock Creek Park. She promised to line up some prospects. I could do a first cut on things, and then bring Marilyn down to make a final decision. One important feature I told her was the financing; I wanted a two year lease with an option to buy. I would be generous on the lease terms, since it was relatively unusual, but I needed an out if things didn't work out.
My committee assignments weren't all that great. The big committees, the powerful committees, were the ones like Ways and Means (in charge of taxes), Budget (in charge of, you guessed it, the budget), or Armed Services (again, pretty obvious). It was pretty unusual for a freshman to end up on any of these committees. I found myself selected for Science, Space, and Technology and on the Subcommittee on Science. My second committee assignment was Veterans Affairs, and the Subcommittee for Disability Assistance. The first because of my doctorate in applied math; the second because I was a veteran myself.
I wasn't overly impressed, but I kept that to myself. Science, Space, and Technology had about half a dozen name changes over the years (adding and subtracting the words Space and Technology). Most of the time the committee played catch-up to whatever was happening out in the rest of the world. If they did manage to come up with something useful, you could count on them being overruled by one of the more powerful committees. Veterans Affairs was pretty much the same, and was relegated to being the outfit that supervised the Department of Veterans Affairs, which had only been created the year before. Generally, nobody paid any attention unless there was a scandal going on.
To the extent that I was ambitious, I needed to get off of these two committees, and onto something more interesting. With my recent background in political economics, Ways and Means or Budget would be good; with my military experience I wanted either Armed Services or Intelligence; with my knowledge of finance the House Financial Services Committee would be good (Andy Stewart's old hangout). Even Transportation (Eat Your Peas! and infrastructure) might be interesting, although probably toothless.
That Saturday I made it home, and I spent the next couple of days getting to know my children again. Charlie was old enough to know what I was doing, but the twins were still a bit confused by it all. My schedule was full, though.
That week I had an appointment with a prospect for the Chief of Staff position on Monday after my weekend back in Hereford. For staff I had to start with my Chief of Staff. He, or she, runs the operation, and is critical. I was more than a bit clueless with this. Back when we started the Buckman Group, Jake brought his secretary with him, and that was how we started the staffing. In this case, I didn't know anybody. I had talked to Newt Gingrich, the Minority Whip, during one of the orientation sessions, and he gave me the name and number for a guy named Chuck Hanson. Chuck had been a Deputy Chief of Staff for a Congressman who had just lost his job, and seemed like he could step up to being Chief of Staff. I would start there.
I met the man and he seemed qualified, so I put him on my staff. We decided on the most critical jobs - Legislative Director, Executive Assistant, and a Constituent Services Director. The Legislative Director and the Constituent Services Director would propose several people of their own, who I would then meet and hire, to handle legislation and deal with the people back in the Maryland Ninth. Cheryl would be the Field Representative back in the district, and would become a government employee. My Press Secretary I would hire through the campaign office, and he wouldn't be a Federal employee, saving a slot for somebody else. Most everybody was involved in constituent services. What couldn't be handled back at the Field Office would need to be sorted out with the Washington professionals who were used to navigating the impossibly large Washington bureaucracy. At that point Chuck gave me a shopping list for staff and turned me loose. He would be looking as well.
My first stop was to see my fellow Republican Congressmen from the great state of Maryland, Helen Bentley (Maryland 2nd) and Connie Morella (Maryland 8th), preferably before Wayne Gilchrest (Maryland 1st) got to them. Wayne was a freshman like myself. I was only partially successful in this. I met Helen while Wayne was meeting Connie, and we ran into each other rushing off to meet the other. We had a laugh at this and resolved to meet for lunch later in the morning. From what I learned from Chuck, almost every Congressman has some junior staffers who can be convinced to move to a new office, especially if a promotion is involved. The Congressman losing the junior staffer also has some incentives to allow this. First, there's a quid pro quo involved – you get my junior assistant flunkie, I get your vote on a few bills. Secondly, they now have a blank spot on their own staff they can fill, perhaps with the offspring of somebody powerful or wealthy or connected. Finally, maybe they take this as an opportunity to give a glowing recommendation to the local village idiot and pawn him off on the unsuspecting newbie, who is now no longer their headache, but your headache. Hey, I'm just saying, it happens!
All in all, the entire exercise reminded me of pre-Civil War slave trading, only it wasn't as dignified.
At lunch, Wayne and I had a very nice meal, got to know each other, and discussed our new staff members. This was his first elected office, also, although it was his second run for office. Nice fellow, used to teach high school. He offered to pick up the check, and I agreed, making him promise to let me pay when we took our wives to dinner some night. Then we split up, to keep hunting for staff. We both had the makings of a staff by the end of the week.
I also spent a day with Jacqueline Staymann-Huestis and looked at homes. It's a good thing I'm rich! We found a nice place in Massachusetts Avenue Heights on 30th Street, which would 'only' set me back about $2 million. What a bargain! Still, it had a fair sized back yard to let the kids and dog run around in, six bedrooms and baths, and was large enough to have a gigantic formal foyer, formal living room, banquet-size formal dining room, den/library/office, and a designer kitchen with a breakfast nook. It was actually quite a bit larger than our house in Hereford. If I amounted to anything in the House, it would be perfect for entertaining and home office space. I gave Jacqueline a tentative approval on the property, but told her I would need to bring my wife back in a week to look at it. She commented that homes of this quality wouldn't last long. I told her I'd chance it; there were very few people moving to Washington who could afford a home with that price tag. I smiled and wished her luck moving it in the next week or so.
I had booked the suite at the L'Enfant Plaza for the time between the election and the opening of the 102nd Congress. By then I figured I would be able to find a house and get a start on furniture and what not. Marilyn brought the kids down the following weekend and they gave the 30th Street house their blessing, and I gave Jacqueline a significant check. She then asked, "Have you chosen a designer yet?"