David goes to Washington

third in a series of major life event/direction choices...

After the Hart campaign, there were plenty of choices and events, but they were all made within a personal ideology that ruled my perspective from 1988-1996 or so. Still, there we a couple of big moves during that time that changed my life dramatically. This is primarily the story of what led up to the first of those moves, in 1993. But the story begins where I left off following the Hart campaign in 1988...

Following on the Hart impulse to activism, I returned to college, got more involved in student government, ran for several student government positions, and added political science as a second major. I did the poli sci degree in 3 overloaded semesters and wrote my thesis in 3 weeks. I applied to law schools, but was disappointed when I was only accepted into one of my last "safety" schools--albeit on a partial scholarship. My LSAT scores were not awesome, but I thought my GPA, double major, school reputation, and political involvements would count for more. Oh, well, they didn't. So, I was briefly at a quandary. I did not think of any alternatives at the time.

I decided to go to the one law school to which I was admitted, The University of Puget Sound, in Tacoma, WA. The move from Boston was exciting--I landed at SeaTac, rented a car and searched for an apartment while staying at the Motel 6 in Fife. I found a cheap apartment within walking distance of law school. I had a decent first year: I received the highest grade in my Contracts class (AmJur award) and ended the year with a solid GPA. I interviewed with the Attorney General's office and got a summer job there. I also took a summer evening class in Evidence, which was my favorite class in law school.

My AG's office job was a bit dull. I processed claims by the Department of Revenue against contractors who had failed to pay their taxes. This involved mostly paperwork--filing a summons and complaint and obtaining a default judgment to collect against the bond the contractors had posted as part of their registration with the state. I made the job a little more interesting by automating it--creating a form letter/print merge document so I could draft the complaint in about 5 minutes instead of dictating it to a secretary. Unfortunately, that made the job even more boring and kind of annoyed the secretary. The people I worked with were great, but I wanted to do a lot more.

I continued to work there part time during the 91-92 school year, and took over the law school newspaper, producing a weekly 10-15 page opinion-fest that greatly expanded on its previous 1-2 page format. But in February 1992, something happened that re-ignited the political fires. Paul Tsongas won the New Hampshire primary. Tsongas impressed me, but I was a continent away and busy with law school. However, when he won the primary, I thought maybe this could be a cause that we could win for a change. I did a little research and found that Washington State made delegate selections based on the caucus system--beginning with informal meetings at the precinct level. I drove up to Seattle, met the state coordinator for Tsongas, got some material on how the caucus worked and went back to Tacoma and started making phone calls.

My first step was simply to do what I could in the upcoming caucus. I grabbed everyone I knew in the apartment building, and we all went down to Stadium High school where our precinct caucus met, consisting of about 5 locals and 10 law students I brought with me. I got myself elected a precinct delegate. In WA, the delegates were split evenly between Tsongas (won the plurality), Clinton, Jerry Brown, and the uncommitteds. Over the course of the next few months I contacted all the delegates in Pierce County and got involved in every Democratic meeting, club, etc. to keep the Tsongas folks together. I quickly built a network spanning 5 or 6 legislative districts and most of the 6th Congressional District.

Nationally, Bill Clinton swept Super Tuesday, and pretty soon, Tsongas ran out of steam and suspended his campaign. But I remained motivated for several reasons. To be cynical, a major reason might have been the fact that regardless of what happened in the end, I had a legitimate chance to use the Tsongas campaign as my vehicle to become a leader in the local political scene. But idealistically, truly, I felt that he was essentially Gary Hart without the character flaws. I believed his ideas were better, especially about the deficit and the issue of "Generational Responsibility." Bill Clinton did not impress me--he was "slick Willie" as far as I was concerned. I was appalled that so many people supported him just because they thought he could win and we needed somebody like that, regardless of their personal issues. It's funny; I didn't trust Bill Clinton, but I did trust Gary Hart. To me, it seemed Hart's breaches of trust were more private, more human, and less relevant to politics than what I sensed from what Bill Clinton represented. I thought they (the Democratic establishment) were all making a deal with the devil by supporting Clinton. Tsongas was what we really needed.

The Tsongas project became all-encompassing for me. I spoke in front of the county and state conventions and was elected to the legislative district and ultimately Congressional District caucus where we were able to select one National delegate. Unfortunately for me at this point, one of my co-activists used this opportunity to backstab me and get himself elected over me. Like the television game of Survivor, he got a couple of people I trusted to switch their votes to him at the last minute and was thereby elected. However, the story did not end there.

At the state convention, although I was angry about what had happened, I knew there was an outside chance I could still be elected as an at-large delegate. Because of the work I had done to keep the delegates together, we had maintained greater than 15% and so were entitled to send some representatives of the Tsongas camp to the National convention. I do not believe I am being too egotistical in saying that if I had not been involved in the process, Washington State, which Paul Tsongas won, would not have sent a single delegate to the DNC. The state party chair's objective, from the beginning, was to consolidate all the delegates behind Clinton and deliver the whole state to him. I know because they told me not to be involved, because although we knew Clinton had flaws, but we just had to "swallow" it. Of course this kind of confrontation just fueled my energy even more. I think I played a major role in thwarting their efforts. It did not harm Clinton at all and ultimately, it helped keep the issue of deficit reduction on the table so that Clinton had to take it seriously.

At the state convention, I had prepared a list of amendments to the party platform that were moderating, pro-business, anti-deficit, pro-free-trade--anathema to the union-dominated party rank and file. I made my motions and they were argued, debated, and generally rejected. Meanwhile, the other delegates engaged in a networking frenzy to get themselves elected to that at-large position. I pretty much gave up on that at this point and just wanted to see my ideas through, hoping that maybe I could still win a spot somehow.

The delegates met in a dark room--classic politics, except no smoke--and considered the people who were nominated. My nemesis, not content to have beaten me at the Congressional District caucus, nominated another young man--the head of the Pierce County Young Democrats. I was outmaneuvered yet again. So it came down to a vote between us. And the vote tied. To decide the matter, the delegation chair, flipped a coin. I lost the coin toss.

Then, a remarkable thing happened. A guy I had met earlier that weekend, who was elected an alternate from the 1st District, interrupted and said he did not think the outcome was fair. He told the delegates how inspired he had been by my idealism and enthusiasm. He had been out on the floor with me seconding and speaking in support of my platform amendments. He offered to give up his alternate credentials so that I could take his place. Without objection, it was so ordered. And so I got to go to New York for the 1992 Democratic National Convention.

The actual DNC experience was a little disillusioning. It was an adventure--I stayed with a college friend's parents on Staten Island to save money on a hotel and took the ferry in every day to go to the various events. It was really just a big cocktail party of older people. My path to the DNC was not typical--most people there got there as the result of years of involvement with the local party, not because of a few months of intense idealism. So they already knew people and had a lot in common with each other. It was not quite the hotbed of youthful idealism I had imagined. And things for me were a little "strained" by my bad relationship with the guy who had screwed me over. I kind of felt like the warrior at the banquet...what do I do now?

My one contribution at the DNC was to remain a constant supporter of Tsongas when about half the delegation was ready to switch their votes to Clinton so all of WA could get behind the winner. I objected and argued that the only reason we were all here was because we had believed in Tsongas's ideas, ideas that had inspired many people, especially people new to the process, to continue their involvement at Democratic meetings and functions. We were representing those people and we needed to honor the ideas of Tsongas that had kept alive our movement even after his campaign ended. I was remembering the passion I had felt in the Hart days and knew that now I had a responsibility to do whatever I could to make sure the people "up line" did not sell out the idealism that had made it all possible.

The counter argument was really, "What's the point?" Why be difficult and make Clinton look bad? Don't show disunity. I said I agreed, at least on the disunity part. I felt that we, as a group, must act together and make a decision we were all comfortable with--that there were some people who were not going to "go along" no matter what and the worst thing would be to have the Tsongas delegation splinter into factions leaving half a dozen people on either side. We reached a consensus to draft a press release (yeah, I saved stuff like this in my files):

The Washington State Tsongas delegates are casting this vote for Paul Tsongas out of respect for his message. Paul's message is one that resonates with the American people and it is our intent to carry Paul's message forward. Paul's deep commitment to generational responsibility in the management of economic resources is a commitment that we share. This commitment is vital to the economic recovery our country so desperately needs.

We believe a Democratic victory is crucial. We support the Clinton-Gore ticket and call upon all who believe in the Tsongas message to join in not merely voting for the Democratic ticket in the Fall, but to join now in the campaign for a Democratic victory in 1992.

I did not write the press release and I'm not trying to claim total "credit" for what we did. But I remained an annoying impediment to prevent folks from taking the easy way out. And even though I did not get a vote as an alternate, Washington State cast 14 ballots for Paul Tsongas in 1992 with no "defections." Then, we all worked on the Coordinated Campaign to elect Clinton/Gore, Patty Murray, Maria Cantwell (then to the House, now a Senator!) and 8/9 of the CDs in Washingon State--a near sweep. It was a great Democratic moment. Perhaps the last.

When I returned to Tacoma, I was still excited to get involved in local politics. I was elected a Democratic Party state committeeman from my legislative district. I ran for county chair of the Democratic Party and, although I lost substantially, I gave the union-backed candidate a decent run for his money. I also founded a chapter of the Concord Coalition--Paul Tsongas' deficit advocacy group. We held one of the first community deficit reduction role playing events--the Exercise in Hard Choices where about 90 people showed up to try their hand at cutting the Federal budget deficit through a series of long workbooks. Also, that summer, I left my job at the AG's office to do a summer internship in the State Senate.

I graduated law school in spring 1993. I was not finding a political or policy-related job in Tacoma. My previous summer's internship at the state capital had not worked out (I never fully understood if they were not happy with me or what.) My job search was not very effective; I don't know what I was looking for really. So I figured I would simply focus on taking the bar exam and then take it from there.

I took the bar exam at the end of July. When it was over, I sat down and realized my job prospects were not looking very good for doing any kind of political activity in Washington State. I had a law degree. I had been an alternate delegate to the DNC. I had led grassroots movements and knew former Congressmen and political figures in Washington, D.C. So I decided to pack my bags and move back East to try my luck on Capitol Hill.

I had a friend who lived in Rockville, MD; I called him up and asked if I could stay with him during the workweek while I looked for a job in D.C. My parents lived 3 hours from D.C. so I could move back home temporarily and then go to D.C. during the week.

I put up moving sale signs and sold everything I owned. What was left I stuffed into the back of my Geo metro. Then I drove I-90 east to Washington, D.C. by way of as many National Parks as I could. It was great to get a sense of how vast this country is, to drive alone from coast to coast, an experience I would repeat several times in the rest of my life.

In August 1993, I began my job search the old fashioned way. I rode the Metro in from Rockville, wearing a suit (did I mention it was August in Washington, D.C.?) and went door to door, Congressional office to office, where there was even the remotest possible connection to any contact I had. I met with the National leaders of the Concord Coalition and my former Congressman and failed Senate candidate and tried my best to build a network. It sucked. I mean it really sucked. I thought I would impress people with my background, but I just was not finding the opportunity I needed. I felt over-qualified--like I should have been doing this 3 years ago before I had the law degree.

I came to learn that it's not what you know, but it it's not who you know either. It's what they need. What they need is a replacement for the intern or receptionist who got a job as a legislative correspondent. There are special cases of people who are really connected--i.e. related to someone who gave money, but the way Capitol Hill works is this:

Interns are everywhere because they are free. You do an unpaid internship for 6 months or so where you will sort mail, answer phones, and perhaps draft some response letters to constituents. Or, you might read all the newspapers and cut clippings out to be photocopied (perhaps this is different now in the Internet world?) and put into a daily circulation folder for staff to read.

When they can afford to pay you, they hire you as a Legislative Correspondent (LC). LCs read all the mail people write to their Congressman and then write the letters (from a bank of form letters) to constituents. (In the tech world, this is like doing end user support from a knowledge base.) In the 1990s, each Member of Congress had a machine that held a pen to sign their signature, but this was gradually automated once bitmapped images could be used instead. Some Members insist on reviewing everything, so it is possible that a constituent's mail is actually read by a Member, but on "hot" issues, there are hundreds of similar letters, so it really is just a form letter response. While I was there, email had just started to become a means of communication--not all Members had email addresses yet.

The successful LC can move up to be a Legislative Analyst (LA). LAs have the best jobs--they actually draft the bills and work with the Legislative Director and possibly the Member to create policy. An LA typically handles several areas of policy. The LD runs the whole policy operation--that is the ultimate goal for a policy wonk.

A typical House office might include a dozen staff, not all paid. There is an infinite supply of workers eager to work for free for a chance to get in on this deal. They live in shared apartments with their other LA friends, bartending and working odd jobs to supplement the pay which would be around 16K/year for entry level to maybe 30K for an LA. An experienced LD could make 50K. Perhaps the numbers are higher 12 years later, but I doubt it has changed that much.

This is great (or at least manageable) for a recent college grad. This sucks if you have $65,000 in college and law school debt going into repayment. It is difficult to see beyond that and decide to commit to work for free for 6 months in the hopes you will eventually land an $18K/year job sorting mail.

After a couple of months of fruitless searching, I was running out of money and credit cards, so I took some temp legal jobs (e.g. stamping documents) to pay rent on a shared townhouse with a couple of other college graduates who were working on the Hill. Then I found a clerical temp job at NASA headquarters, a couple of blocks from the Hill which made it more convenient to job hunt. Eventually, I found a job posting for an Editorial Assistant for a Senate Committee. It was not the Legislative Analyst position I wanted. But it was a foot in the door and it was a job I knew I could excel at, so I took it.

As the Editorial Assistant, I converted our Committee's method of publication from the old, manual, mark it up with a red pen and send it to the Government Printing Office to a fully electronic approach. (WordPerfect style sheets and macros.) This job gave me a foot in the door, but it was not even a partisan position. Still, it was exciting and important to be working on the Hill, sitting in Committee meetings with Senators and having access to the Capitol--to be able to stand on the floor of the Senate (not in session) or walk over to the Supreme Court. I lived a few blocks away from the Capitol and D.C. was a part of every day. Just being there and being a part of it all was a memorable, worthwhile experience.

In 1994, the Republicans retook the House and Senate. Suddenly, there were 100s of newly unemployed Democratic LAs looking for jobs. My competitive landscape went from worse to impossible. But I had another option, another choice, which led to the start of my current career and shaped the last decade for me...