Rep. John Sununu: A Day In The Life
WASHINGTON – It should come as no surprise that Rep. John E. Sununu is a busy man. The First District GOP congressman and Salem native is heading into the last half of his third term in the House of Representatives, and will be betting his seat on another come September. In 2002, he will either be the state’s Republican nominee to challenge Gov. Jeanne Shaheen for a seat in the U.S. Senate or he’ll be out of a job.
Since Sununu’s announcement last month that he would be challenging Sen. Bob Smith (R-NH) in the GOP primary, the soft-spoken, down-to-business representative seems he has just been trying to handle the race and his congressional duties one day at a time.
A few minutes before nine on a recent weekday morning, Sununu bolts from his office in the Canon House Office building. His tall, slim frame speeds down the hall, out a side door and into the bright November sun, searing as it reflects off the white marble covering almost everything on the Hill. His long, easy strides hide his swift pace as he makes his way toward a Republican policy committee meeting in the House.
As staff assistant Brian Callahan trails several steps behind Sununu’s push toward the Capitol, he says the Congressman “can make it from the office to the House floor for a vote in three minutes.”
“He keeps you in shape,” he says. “He walks like a shot out of hell.”
As he rushes up the steps into the building, two men in suits pass him on their way down.
“Good morning, Senator,” one says, joking about Sununu’s political aspirations.
“Yah,” Sununu returns with a modest smile and a small, almost embarrassed laugh.
He turns the corner toward the meeting room and ribs a staffer for Rep. Chris Cox (R-CA), the committee’s chairman, asking if his boss had arrived yet. At the last meeting, Cox was stuck in traffic and Sununu had to chair the committee.
“I’m sure he’ll be on time today,” Sununu says as he slides in the door.
An hour later, Sununu is ready for his next appointment. At 10:00 sharp he climbs down the House stairs toward three New Hampshire high school girls waiting to meet their congressman. “Hi guys, I’m John,” he says, reaching for the hands of each student, in Washington for the National Youth Leaders Conference.
“Kat? I have a sister Kat; she goes by that,” he says as Katherine Bagley of Central High introduces herself.
“What can I tell you?” he asks, one leg propped up on a higher step.
“We’d love to know everything,” Louisa Samuels of Dover’s Oyster River High School answers.
“So would I, that’s the great quest,” he quips back.
At 10:30 he’s back in his office to handle a conference call with radio journalists from the district. As he offers his opinions on the state of affairs in Afghanistan, his body moves in an unconscious choreography, standing all the while behind his desk. He steps from side to side, taking three steps each way before coming back to the other side. His right arm is busy gesturing. It sways before him, slicing the air, and sways back, next moving to rest, hand in jacket pocket, and from there up, to scratch his forehead quickly before falling to thump his fingers on the great, brown desk. Up again goes the hand, pinned to his hip for seconds before it dives down again to shuffle through some papers set before him. His chair has rolled behind him, useless now that he’s addressing, connecting.
Each move seems automatic; each instinctively timed to emphasize certain points in his statement. No time is to be wasted. Every part of him is always going, always working. Even as his mind is engaged, his body is on autopilot, and it’s still hustling.
His ambition shows through in his accomplishments. In less than six years, Sununu, 37, has leapt over his more seasoned peers in the House to win a seat on the Appropriations Committee and become vice-chair of the Budget Committee.
With the morning press call finished, he stands behind his desk, organizing papers, ready to think through and consider the issues before him: aviation security, defense, labor, health. All around him are clues to some of the congressman’s inspirations, motivations and support.
Paintings of Lincoln and Jefferson hang high on the wall in his office over two wooden cabinets closed in by glass doors and placed behind his desk. Family photographs in gold and silver frames and ten baseballs sit tucked away on the cabinets’ shelves, the latter an homage to Sununu’s love of baseball and the Red Sox. He travels to Fenway for weekend games when he is home in Bedford, where he usually is each Thursday night through Monday.
But now with the Congress working hard to finish business before the end of the year, there are rumors that Congress may be in session on an occasional Saturday or at least need to stay in town to work over a weekend. Sununu will probably be shuttling in on the metro from his Crystal City, VA, apartment more than usual these days.
A giant, framed photograph of Ted Williams at bat sits on one wall facing his desk. “Thanks for being interested in public service, Best Always, Ted Williams” is scrawled across the black and white photo in thick pen. This message from the great slugger is one Sununu holds dear.
“During his most productive years as a baseball player he responded to his country’s needs by going off to fly planes as a naval aviator and it’s a commitment to the country and a personal sacrifice that I think is… I’m not even going to speak of comparisons,” says Sununu, calling Williams someone he admires.
On a table behind his desk and beneath Sununu’s one long, rectangular office window sit a couple of model cars, one a maroon VW Bug, and more family photos. Propped against one frame is a child’s drawing, something like an outdoor scene, sketched in black pen on white office paper, probably by one of his three young children.
Around 11:30, Sununu takes time to talk about himself, his work and his quest for the Senate. He moves from behind his desk to a chair in the center of his office. Taking off his thinly rimmed glasses, he rubs his eyes and the bridge of his nose in thought.
“Spare time?” he asks, sighing, considering. “Knowing what’s in the news, for me, is part of the job, so I’ll be consuming information throughout the day. Depending on the schedule and the time or where I am, more often if I’m at home, I’ll run.”
“I just finished reading the fourth Harry Potter book over the last two or three weeks,” Sununu continues. “I’ve been reading the fourth book in parallel with the David McCullough biography of John Adams. I think as much as any of the founding fathers he had a clear vision for what needed to be done, not just to achieve independence but make the transition from a group of independent colonies to a true nation.”
Sununu says he decided to take on Bob Smith, who has served in the Senate since 1990, because he feels he can “make a difference for the state of New Hampshire.”
“The reason to run, I believe, is because you have the background and experience to represent the state more effectively than other candidates,” he says. “That’s the question that you have to ask and answer no matter what seat you’re running for.”
Son of John H. Sununu, a former Granite State governor and former Chief of Staff to President George H. Bush, Sununu believes creating relationships in the House is key.
“I think one of the most important pieces of education for any legislator is how to work effectively with your peers,” Sununu says. “If you want to be respected as a legislator you need to be respected by your peers.”
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.) have both endorsed Sununu, and former Sen. Warren Rudman (R-NH), former White House Counsel C. Boyden Gray and Ed Rogers, a GOP lobbyist, have also thrown their support to the Congressman. But Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) and Rep. Charles Bass (R-NH) are staying neutral.
Dave Cuzzi, one of the Congressman’s legislative assistants on the office staff of seven, says Sununu is professionally “thoughtful” and personally “reserved a bit but at the same time he’s not afraid to have a light moment. The one thing I’ve noticed is he’s always been kind of down to earth.”
“He’s a great boss,” says Cuzzi. “He’s fair. You have to make sure you’re prepared before you go in there because he’s a really smart guy and he’s going to ask a lot of questions.”
Sununu, who earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), as well as an MBA from Harvard’s graduate school of business, says he incorporates the regimen he learned in that study into his political career.
“Having a technical background is somewhat unique as a member of Congress but I believe it’s of great value in dealing with a range of issues that have technical and scientific roots like hazardous waste clean up, conservation issues,” Sununu says.
Sununu says serving in Congress is a balancing act, and now he’s added another campaign against an incumbent from his home state, but he says he tries to keep it all in perspective.
“If the difficulty were too much for me and my family then it wouldn’t be worth it for me if my family ultimately couldn’t come first,” Sununu says. “The key for me has been to try to look as far in advance as possible at the schedule, where I’m going to be and when, to set aside time for my family, for my kids. Because of the current security conditions, I’ve been fortunate to be at my son’s soccer games, be at his practices, and spend more time with my family over the last couple months.”
Just before 1:00, Sununu emerges from his office speaking with Tom Thomson, of Orford, and walks with his constituent to the elevator to see him off. From there he spins over to a pillared, circular hallway a few feet away, hollow in the center with a view to the building’s first floor. As he gets in line to speak about Afghanistan for a few minutes in a videotaped satellite feed back to WMUR’s Channel 9 news, he sees his counterpart, Rep. Charles Bass (R-NH), also waiting his turn.
“There’s Congressman Bass; he’s famous,” Sununu says quietly in a good-natured mock, and gestures to Bass. His usual reserved smile, the trademark of his dry wit, steals across his face as Bass comes over to greet Sununu and toss a few jibes back.
It is this personality, combined with his record and experience in the House, that Sununu says will play a major role in the upcoming year as he heads for the primary and takes his chances at winning a senate seat.
“That’s the focus, that’s the key,” says Sununu. “I believe the most important thing I can do is see and meet with as many people across the state personally. Look at them in the eye, talk to them about my background and experience, the vision I have for the future, my understanding of New Hampshire and what makes it special, and how I will carry those skills and that understanding to represent the state in Washington.”
