Mr. Hodes Goes to Washington
HODES
The Keene Sentinel
Jessica Arriens
Boston University Washington News Service
1/30/07
WASHINGTON, Jan. 30 —Paul Hodes’ office is a mess. Stacks of letters and cardboard boxes are strewn across shelves and cluttering the floor. A bag of candy perches atop a pile of papers on a desk. Bergen Kenny, Hodes’ communications director, looks around the office and states the obvious: “We’re still unpacking.”
Hodes, the new Democratic representative from New Hampshire’s 2nd District, has been busy since his arrival in Washington. The morning after the State of the Union, Hodes’ day began with a radio interview at 7:10 a.m., followed by a new member’s breakfast, a meeting with labor union representatives, a flurry of legislative business and votes on the House floor, a meeting with a potential New Hampshire candidate and a tough speech denouncing President Bush’s Iraq policy. In the late afternoon, he finally had time to sit back in his spacious office—free of the clutter in the adjoining staff rooms—and lean back in a plush leather chair.
“What you have to be in this job, is very flexible,” he said. “Change is typical.”
And the change has come fast since Hodes moved into his office on Dec. 3. Committee assignments and Hodes’ recent election as Democratic freshman class president have been coupled with efforts to establish offices in New Hampshire and D.C.—referred to as Team Hodes North and Team Hodes South by the office staff.
“We’re filling it out,” Hodes said. “We have a mix of people. Some from New Hampshire, some from other places who have worked on the campaign and have stayed with me. And who are learning quickly.”
The experience of opening up district offices has been “pretty wild,” Luke Watson, Hodes’ scheduler, said. “Working here where everything is, and working there where nothing is.”
Watson has been working with Hodes since 2004, after spending time on a previous New Hampshire campaign. He’s what Kenny calls “a lifer.”
Kenny, who was recently hired as Hodes’ full-time communications director, worked for the Hodes campaign through a Connecticut political consulting firm. She described the experience of working on Capitol Hill as “really, really overwhelming,” be it the Democrats’ 100 hours agenda, her first time attending the State of the Union address, or simply trying to figure out where the bathrooms are.
Hodes has been given assignments on the Financial Services and the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. He was also selected class president of the new Democratic freshman class and said he hopes to “keep some cohesion and keep the class focused on issues. I’m hoping that we’re going to be able to be a force for change in this Congress.”
Kenny said Hodes and the other members of the new Democratic majority “are motivated by the idea that people elected them for a real clear reason. They want to make good on the promises they made.”
For Hodes, this means remaining close to his home state. He rents an apartment a few blocks from his Capitol Hill office, which allows him to walk to work, and commutes back to New Hampshire every weekend. “I’m home all the time,” he said. “I talk to people in New Hampshire, as often as I talk to people in Washington.”
“I love New Hampshire,” he said, leaning forward for emphasis, the leather chair creaking beneath him. “And Washington is not New Hampshire.”
In addition to being away from home, Hodes said being away from family—his wife, Peggo, and their two grown children—has been the hardest adjustment. The night after the State of the Union, Hodes and his wife, who was in town for the week, were planning a big night out. “We’re talking about going to buy some folding chairs.”
And so a “late night Ikea run” will be the ending to one day on Capitol Hill. From the Cannon House Office Building, the Capitol is just visible through the office window, framing Hodes’ face as he attempts to sum up his perception of Congress so far.
“It doesn’t always work as quickly as people would like—that much is clear to me after the first few weeks,” he said. “But it truly is a brilliant invention, in terms of its ability to represent the constituents and the constituents’ concerns. And nothing is a better example of that than the House of Representatives.”
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