I nodded. "I didn't really buy the district. I wish! That would have been so much easier than putting up with Andy Stewart! I was in investments, private equity and capital. I own about three quarters of the stock in the Buckman Group, although that's now in a blind trust. Which means I can afford a few toys.", I said with a grin.
"If you're ever in the Baltimore area, call us and visit.", invited Marilyn. They agreed to, and we split apart and moved around some more.
We ran into Wayne Gilchrest, and I introduced him and his wife Barbara to Marilyn. I had already had a chance to talk with him a few times during the various orientation and caucus sessions, and then we had lunch together after that while shopping for staff. He was the only other new member of the Maryland Caucus from either side of the aisle. Whether planned or not, we found ourselves sharing a table with the Gilchrests, the Boehners, and David and Caroline Hobson. David was an Ohioan like John Boehner, and the only other new Republican from Ohio. Curiously, all four of us had served in the military at some point, with John in the Navy (even if just briefly), Wayne in the Marines, and David in the Ohio Air National Guard. If nothing else, it gave us all something to chat about. The specifics, of course were about the looming Gulf War.
It was a touch strange, thinking about it. By the time I recycled, veterans in Congress were a very small minority. There had been a time when elective public service practically demanded that you had done a hitch, but that was rapidly becoming passé. It felt strange.
The other thing we could chat about was what they had all done before they had been elected. Hobson and Boehner had gone the traditional route, working up from local positions into the big leagues. Gilchrest, on the other hand, had been a high school teacher and had run for the first time in 1988. He had lost by only 460 votes, so he ran again this time and won. Only Dave Hobson had earned a law degree; Wayne was a history major and John was a business major. We joked that this would allow us to keep an eye on the lawyers.
"Well, you guys will have to tell me what in the world to do, because I am clueless. Before this I was in the Army and business. I'd never even run for dogcatcher before I got talked into this.", I admitted. "Wayne, even you ran once before, so you still know more than I do."
"Never!?", asked an incredulous Dave.
I shrugged and shook my head. "Never even thought about it. There I was, just minding my own business, when some people I used to consider my friends said, 'Carl, we've got an idea!' One of these days I will get them back."
"Oh, stop it! You'd jump in front of a train for John Steiner, and you know it.", scoffed my wife.
I chuckled at that. "I can still dream, can't I?"
"So what did you do, then, before you ran for office?", asked Caroline Hobson.
"I ran an investment company. We did a lot of private equity and venture capital deals.", I answered. "The last few years I've done a fair bit of writing and speaking."
Like John Boehner, the others all knew about the billionaire who had just bought a Congressional seat, but the Hobsons didn't realize that I was the guy. "Well, you sure whipped Andy Stewart's butt but good!", Wayne said.
"That was an ugly campaign!", added his wife.
That got all of us to start discussing our opponent's dirty tricks during the campaign, including whatever vices we had been accused of. John smiled and asked, "So, what vices are you guilty of that you weren't accused of?", and got a fair bit of laughter at that.
Debbie protested, "John, you can't ask that!"
He smiled and piously intoned, "Well, I simply need to know about the character of the people I'll be working with."
This made me laugh. "I have no vices. I am as pure as the driven snow, and stand for truth, justice, and the American way!"
There were the predictable groans, and equally predictably, Marilyn shook a finger at me. "That's not true, and you know it. You gamble..."
"But I always win!", I interjected.
" ... and you get in fights..."
"But I always win!"
" ... and you're generally a smartass!"
"Better than being a dumbass!" I leaned over and gave Marilyn a quick kiss.
Carolyn Hobson said, "They're all a bunch of smartasses, if you ask me. I think it's a job requirement."
"What was that about fighting?", asked Debbie.
"I heard about that.", commented Wayne.
His wife, Barbara, nodded. "That's right, you got in that fight, like a month before the election. That made the TV news. It got you the women's vote, that's for sure!"
"What?", came from several people around the table.
"Well, it wasn't much of a fight. I was just sitting there in a late night diner having some pie with a reporter after a campaign speech. It was late, I was tired, the place was empty and quiet. It was just us and a woman in a booth at the end of the place. Anyways, this drunk comes storming in, smacks around the owner of the place and a waitress, and then grabs the woman and tries to drag her out. I got up and knocked him on his kiester and we got the cops there and they hauled him away. It turned out that he was her husband, she's six months pregnant, and he's been using her as his private punching bag, and she finally got sick and tired of it and tried to get away." I turned to Wayne and added, "He's doing three years in Hagerstown."
He nodded and added, for the others. "I remember that. The police released the security tape footage of it all. It was like watching a cop show on television. He really cleaned the guy's clock!" Then he turned to me and asked, "Didn't you do something like that in the Bahamas once? I thought I read that in the Sun."
I admitted as much and gave a brief retelling of that incident. Then I turned back to Wayne and said, "It wasn't that big a deal. Besides, you'd have done the same. I read your bio in the Sun, too. You were in Viet Nam. You earned a Bronze Star, right?"
"So did you, Carl.", interjected Marilyn. That made a few eyes open around the table, but I just waved it off. I didn't want to get into it that night.
Fortunately, I didn't have to. We had been talking all through dinner, and I was saved by the bell, or more specifically, the mike. It was time for President Bush to make a few remarks, and he went to the dais and the lights dimmed and then he gave a fairly average speech, with a lot of rah-rah sentiment and absolutely no content. He thanked us for our service, promised to work with us, promised an open door and an ear to speak into, etc., etc., etc. How much of this was true was questionable. He was a politician, after all.
Like me, now that I thought about it!
We ended the evening on a pleasant note. I told the others to feel free to drop by my office sometime, and we promised to have them over to the house. None of the others had a home anywhere near large enough for a large group. While Marilyn and I weren't by nature 'big party' people, we had always hosted the big summer and fall parties, and were sure we could handle something here.
For one thing, we had already made a big decision concerning how we were going to live. Back in Hereford, we didn't have servants, but made sure the kids did chores and we cleaned the house ourselves. The only thing we subcontracted out was lawn maintenance and having John Caples run his brush hog over the place a few times every year. We thought it was important that the kids be brought up as normally as possible. You put kids in private schools and surround them with chauffeurs and servants, the result is not pretty. You end up with a bunch of drugged out jet set kids. No way, not us!