New House, Senate Offices Bring New Hampshire Faces to Capitol Hill
WASHINGTON, D.C.—A new session of Congress is in full swing and that means New Hampshire freshman Rep. Jeb Bradley and John Sununu, who has moved from the House to the Senate, are putting together new staffs including a number of Granite State natives.
Sununu served as a U.S. representative for six years and Bradley is a former state legislator so both men have some experience in putting together a political office. Both congressmen said one of the most important qualities they wanted staffers to possess is adequate knowledge of New Hampshire and an understanding of the issues facing the state.
Sununu, who brought many aides with him from his office on the House side, said he wanted his staff members to have the strengths he looked for in employees when he was in the private sector working in New Hampshire hi-tech and manufacturing companies.
“You look for the best people with the broadest range of skills, people with an ability to learn on the job and to learn quickly,” Sununu said. “You have to deal with a very wide variety of issues, so there has to be some real flexibility on the part of the legislative staff to be dealing with a business or commerce issue in the morning and then be working on a judicial issue or a tax issue in the afternoon, so there’s a real flexibility and dexterity required as well.”
A number of Sununu’s legislative staff members should make a seamless transition from the House to the Senate, Sununu said, as many of them have developed expertise in the areas of legislation most important to the senator.
Some of Sununu’s top aides include New Hampshire natives Paul Collins, his chief of staff who will earn an annual salary of $135,000 per year; and Communications Director Barbara Riley, earning $56,000 per year. Unlike Riley and Collins, Legislative Director Gregg Willhauck, who will earn $90,000 per year, was not on Sununu’s House staff and is not from New Hampshire.
While a House member’s staff is considerably smaller than a senator’s, Bradley’s said his criteria and expectations for selecting his staff have helped him to put together a talented group of individuals dedicated to working for his constituents.
“Even though I’m now a congressman in Washington, I wanted a vast majority of the staff to have firsthand working knowledge of New Hampshire, of the congressional district, of some of the unique issues that people in New Hampshire face,” Bradley said. “So, with the exception of just one person, all of the staff has a lot of New Hampshire experience.”
Key players for Bradley are Chief of Staff Debra Vanderbeek, who will earn $120,000 this year, and Press Secretary T.J. Crawford, who will earn $38,500. Both are from New Hampshire. Michael Liles, a Massachusetts native, holds one of the top positions in the office as Bradley’s Legislative Director, earning $60,000 per year.
Bradley insists, however, that no one person in his office—including himself—is more important than another. “I think we all work together as a team. I’m consulted every once in a while to make sure I’m in the loop,” Bradley joked.
Like Sununu, Bradley said he selected team players who are willing to put in long hours.
“Every one of the fourteen people we’ve hired is a tremendously hard worker,” Bradley said. “A lot of them proved it during the campaign and they’ve all come with a willingness to put in the hours that are necessary for all of us together collectively to serve New Hampshire and serve the people in New Hampshire.”
Published in The Manchester Union Leader, in New Hampshire.
