Bradley Adjusts to Congress
By Riley Yates
WASHINGTON, Nov. 17, 2002–He introduces himself as Jeb – not Congressman Bradley or, more casually, Congressman Jeb Bradley – just Jeb. He apologizes for being late, in a city where, as he readily admits, “if you are on time, then they say you’ve wasted a good 15 minutes.”
Sitting at a restaurant in crowded Union Station near the Capitol, Bradley, in Washington last week to attend congressional freshman orientation, looked every bit the smooth politician, dressed in the typical Washington suit: blue jacket and pants, light blue shirt, setoff with a dark red tie.
But he has an element of self-confession that sets him apart from many of his soon-to-be colleagues in Congress.
“There’s an awful lot to this job, and we have to put the pieces of the puzzle into place pretty quickly,” he said between bites of a portobello mushroom sandwich. “There’s a lot of times when I don’t know what’s going to happen. I’m learning every day, and I’m going to have to adjust my attention.”
It is not that Bradley cannot assume the role of the golden-tongued, firm-handshake, yes- that-issue-is-one-of-my-priorities politician.
After all, he defeated seven other Republican candidates in the 1st District primary in September and won an often-bitter campaign on Nov. 5 against Democrat Martha Fuller Clark, an opponent with much greater name recognition, to take Sen.-elect John Sununu’s House seat.
He answers the bread-and-butter questions – how do you stand on issue X, what are your priorities in Congress – with ease and has the requisite sound bite on hand.
At lunch, for instance, he deftly reeled off a several-minute discourse about the widening of Interstate 93, ending with every pol’s go-to line: “I would hope that the parties [involved] could sit down around a table and negotiate.”
What is unusual is that Bradley on occasion slips out of that mode. Asked how the orientation was going, he talked of a successful vote on a procedural motion that would allow the Republican leadership a greater hand in overseeing appropriations measures.
“Not really knowing the ins and outs and the people [involved] it makes sense to me,” Bradley said. No 10 facts to support his vote. No this-is-what’s-best-for-the-nation-and-New-Hampshire spiel.
Just that it made sense to him.
“I’ve always felt I don’t know all the answers,” Bradley said later in the lunch.
The role Bradley sees himself playing as a freshman reflects his apparently unassuming nature. A pro-abortion rights Republican who has also supported gay rights and environmental issues in the past, he said he does not envision making waves by battling it out with the GOP leadership or with Democratic members on the other side of the aisle.
“My style is not going to be to butt heads,” Bradley said. “I’m going to focus on national security and economic security. Those are issues the Republican Party agrees on.”
Given his lack of seniority, Bradley said he hopes for now to secure a seat on either the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee or the Armed Services Committee. “Probably not both,” he said. “They’re attractive committees to be on.”
Other possible committee assignments he mentioned were Education and the Workforce, Science, Small Business and Veterans’ Affairs.
But before committee placements are decided Bradley has more than a few basic housekeeping items to attend to. Finishing orientation in Washington this week, he also needs to set up his Manchester-based district office, rent an apartment here, get his Capitol office assignment and hire his congressional staff.
He said he did not mind being stuck on the top floor of a House office building, generally seen by lawmakers as unappealing property. “If I have a window, I’ll have a view,” he joked.
Regardless of where his office is located, Bradley said, he hopes it will have windows that open. As a mountain climber who has conquered 28 of New Hampshire’s 48 peaks of 4,000 feet or higher, “I like my fresh air,” he said.
As for a staff, he said, it will take some time to sort through applications and even more time to get used to having so many aides working for him.
During his six terms as a state representative from Wolfeboro, Bradley shared about a dozen aides with New Hampshire’s 399 other House members, and had only seven paid workers on his election campaign staff. Sen.-elect Sununu and Rep. Charlie Bass, by comparison, each have more than 15 aides on their payroll.
His campaign manager, Debra Vanderbeek, will be his chief of staff in the next Congress, but beyond that, he said, he has made no decisions and is looking at “numerous” resumes.
“There’s a lot to do,” Bradley said as he glanced at the cell phone he also uses to tell time. Noticing that he was already five minutes late to his next orientation meeting –
“I’m not certain [what it’s about], just doing what the schedule tells me” – he paid his bill and walked the three blocks to the Capitol building.
He was probably about 15 minutes late to the meeting. Maybe he is getting used to being a congressman after all.
Published in The Manchester Union Leader, in New Hampshire.
