Category: Spring 2008 Newswire
U.S. Office Needed in Tibet, Gregg Says
TIBET
Union Leader
Matt Negrin
Boston University Washington News Service
9 April 2008
WASHINGTON — Sen. Judd Gregg on Wednesday urged the secretary of state to consider opening a U.S. consulate in the capital of Tibet, where China has cracked down on protests and jailed demonstrating Buddhist monks who are calling for human rights and the return of the exiled Dalai Lama.
Gregg, R-N.H., pressed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at a Senate hearing to open an office in Lhasa and to bar any new Chinese consulates in the United States.
“It just seems to me that with all this going on there, it’s reasonable that we should open a consulate office there and maybe limit the ability of the Chinese government to open further consulate offices in the United States until they give us the right to put a consulate in that part of their country,” said Gregg, a member of the Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs.
Rice said the administration is “looking at the possibility of a consulate in Tibet.”
Gregg said in an interview that he has been closely following what is happening in Tibet.
“I can remember when I was in grade school, in fact, when Tibet was invaded by the Chinese and the Dalai Lama fled,” he said. “If we want to make a statement, and I think we should, about opposing the oppression that’s going on in Tibet and putting the Chinese on notice that we feel its wrong, one way to do that is by saying we want a consulate open there.”
Monks began demonstrating near Lhasa in March as they condemned China’s 57-year rule of Tibet, bringing attention to a country that has tried to combat criticism from human rights groups as it prepares to host the Summer Olympics.
“The United States has been very active in making the case to the Chinese that they are going to be better off to deal with moderate forces on Tibet, like the Dalai Lama, that they should open dialogue with him,” Rice said at the committee’s hearing on the State Department’s budget.
Rice said she had asked for access for diplomats in Tibet and was given limited access. “But, frankly, it wasn’t good enough,” she said.
Meanwhile, three senators put forth a resolution on Monday saying China should not be allowed to operate diplomatically in the United States until a U.S. office is opened in Lhasa.
And in the House Wednesday, Congress almost unanimously passed a resolution demanding that China stop quashing protests in Tibet and asking for the release of jailed Tibetans. The resolution, authored by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., passed 413 to 1. Ron Paul, R-Texas, voted no.
Activists are using the August Olympics as a platform for railing against China’s human rights record. On Monday, protesters scaled the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and hung signs reading “Free Tibet” from the national landmark.
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Durham Soil Scientist Likes the Challenges of Working in Afghanistan
DOMIAN PROFILE
New Hampshire Union Leader
Matt Negrin
Boston University Washington News Service
April 9, 2008
WASHINGTON — This isn’t the first time Gary Domian has seen the suicide bombings, the starving children and the void in education that pervade war-torn Afghanistan.
And it might not be his last, either.
Domian, a 58-year-old soil scientist from Durham working for the U.S. Agriculture Department, has spent the past year creating civic projects and rebuilding the agricultural infrastructure in Farah, a province in western Afghanistan, and Kabul, the capital. In 2004, after volunteering, he spent six months doing similar work in the southern Kandahar Province.
In Afghanistan, he has worked with local farmers who are adapting to new methods but are restricted by a rigid social system in which many men are uncomfortable with women contributing anything to society that is outside their traditional roles.
Tragedy has struck at least twice while Domian has been in Afghanistan on his second tour, which was to end in December but was extended until the end of April. A 20-year-old agricultural adviser with whom Domian and other civilian workers had become friends, Tom Stefani, died after an explosion hit his convoy in October. The impact of the loss extended beyond the Americans — “the Afghans were absolutely heartbroken when we lost this guy,” Domian said in a telephone interview from Kabul.
Domian also learned of his 89-year-old father’s death last April. “My dad and I said ‘goodbye’ when I left,” he said. “It’s just something else you have to be prepared to deal with when you’re here. Life is different here.”
At the same time that services for his father were held in New Hampshire, Domian and his friends in Afghanistan held private services and readings.
Domian said he talks occasionally with his mother in Manchester, where he was born and raised with his two brothers and sister and attended Bishop Bradley High School, now Trinity High School.
“Every night I go to bed and pray that he’ll be safe the next day,” said his mother, Gloria Domian, 88.
It was around the seventh grade, she said, that she noticed her son’s interest in the environment. She remembers his observing the dirt outside their house and asking his father, Walter, “Can you see how different this soil is from that?”
“My husband used to come in shaking his head, saying, ‘I don’t know about that,’ ” Mrs. Domian said.
Domian graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 1973 with a degree in soil and water sciences — not exactly a diploma that guarantees adventure. But in is career at the Agriculture Department, his life has not been dull.
He has helped rebuild communities in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina left the city practically destroyed. In 1998, he volunteered to aid communities in the Dominican Republic after Hurricane George. He also has spent six years in Indonesia and worked in Taiwan and Thailand.
“I like the challenges,” he said. “I’m 58 years old, and this makes me feel like I’m 18. It’s that good.”
The Agriculture Department has 32 advisers like Domian in Afghanistan and Iraq, though it anticipates 15 will be added this year. Each reconstruction team the advisers are assigned to contains between 50 and 100 people — half providing security and half working on projects.
Those who have worked with Domian say they weren’t surprised when he volunteered to help rebuild Afghan communities. “Gary is a very impressive fellow, but he doesn’t try to be impressive. He is because of his knowledge,” said Otto Gonzalez, 52, a team leader among the economists and specialists who work in the Foreign Agricultural Service. Gonzalez worked with Domian in the Dominican Republic and has flown to Afghanistan several times to work with the reconstruction teams there.
“This is in Gary’s heart,” said George Cleek, his supervisor in Durham: “to take what we do as an agency to those who don’t have that access, and offer them that basic technical help to sustain themselves. This is his nature, his true calling.”
Domian said he always wanted to be a forester. At UNH, he became a student trainee in soil science, in part because he enjoys the outdoors. “It is the one thing that I’ve been able to capitalize on in my entire career,” he said.
Some of the projects in Farah involve teaching women how to keep bees and store honey, and educating high school students on the importance of irrigation by building greenhouses and growing crops. He has taught women raising poultry how to build chicken coops out of mud.
“It gets women working together and really does something for the community,” Domian said. “In the backyard, these coops — all painted white, with chickens all running around in the yard — they’re proud as heck to show you their coop.”
Domian also told President Bush of his progress with those projects in a video conference in mid-March, along with 10 other military and civilian leaders. “I was proud as hell,” he said. “It just makes me proud to be here.”
When Domian told Cleek he was volunteering to go to Afghanistan for a second time, Cleek said he could not say no. “If you were to listen to Gary, he’s like a 24-year-old graduating from college and eager to start a new job. His eyes just light up, he glows, he has this unbelievable aura,” Cleek said. “This is what he wants to do, and you can’t say ‘no.’”
Cleek, 44, described Domian’s role in Durham as his “right-hand person” who advised him on countless decisions.
“Gary knows the who, what, where, when and why of New Hampshire and gave me the right advice to make the right decisions,” he said. “Whether it’s local partners, right staffing decisions, who to send to the right training, Gary has that in-depth knowledge that I didn’t have.”
As much as he has given to those he has worked with, Domian may not know the extent to which people thank him.
“It’s a pleasure to get e-mail and communications from Gary to know that he’s still safe and he’s still alive,” Cleek said. “It is a grave concern for me, and I ask him every time that we communicate to keep his head down and come back safe to New Hampshire, because that’s really what we want.”
He added, “Right now, I want Gary to come back in April. Right now.”
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Jackie Clegg Dodd Urges Increased Prevention Efforts Against Child Abuse
CHILDREN
New London Day
Erin Kutz
Boston University Washington News Service
April 9, 2008
WASHINGTON – Four children die each day in the United States because of abuse and neglect, a challenge to policymakers as well as a tragedy that could balloon in the current economic climate, Jackie Clegg Dodd said Wednesday.
The wife of U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., spoke at a legislative luncheon for Childhelp, an organization founded in 1959 that attempts to fight child abuse through programs such as a 24-hour abuse hotline, foster care services, an initiative that trains teachers in recognizing the signs of abuse and residential treatment facilities for abused children.
“We sort of have a triple whammy of things that could affect the stability in homes,” Clegg Dodd said after the event, pointing to the increase of abuse in homes facing posttraumatic stress from soldiers returning from war, stress from job loss and foreclosure and the incidences of drug abuse.
Each year Childhelp introduces a new initiative at the luncheon, called the National Day of Hope. This year’s initiative is a partnership with Crystal Darkness, a campaign that seeks to raise awareness of the increase of child abuse and violence caused by methamphetamine use.
Because of the potential that other types of stress have for triggering family violence, Clegg Dodd said Childhelp should be proactive in its efforts to prevent abuse “before the first hand is raised or the first unkind word is spoken.”
“I know how easy it is to get angry and frustrated with little ones,” Clegg Dodd said, telling the story of her youngest daughter, Christina, who has lately taken to saying a prayer for her “bad mommy” when she is put to bed.
The senator’s wife said she leaves her child’s room to laugh off her insolence, but that parents under stress may be likelier to respond with violence
Child abuse doesn’t get the same national attention and relief that very visible national disasters do, said Rebecca Cooper, a reporter for Washington’s ABC network affiliate, who was the emcee of the luncheon on Capitol Hill.
“Child abuse is a daily and insidious problem,” Cooper said, adding that abuse cases often have to reach large and catastrophic proportions before authorities step in.
Actor Rick Schroder, who’s actively involved in Childhelp, echoed Clegg’s calls for abuse prevention. He tearfully read a letter from a 6-year-old boy living in one of Childhelp’s residential treatment facilities who expressed anger at his mother for using drugs and leaving him to be abused by her numerous boyfriends.
“That’s a 6-year-old boy living in hell,” Schroder said. He urged men to step up their roles as sources of stability and protection.
Clegg Dodd pointed to the enhanced opportunity for protecting children, with the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act up for reauthorization this year. The law gives money to states and communities for services for abused children.
Sen. Dodd has a history in child advocacy as the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee on Children and Families. “It comes naturally to him,” his wife said. “He got me involved.”
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Former Congressman Joe Kennedy Has $2 Million in Campaign Account
Leftovers
New Bedford Standard Times
Matthew Huisman
Boston University Washington News Service
April 9, 2008
WASHINGTON – Joseph P. Kennedy II hasn’t served in the House of Representatives since January 1999 and yet he still has more than $2 million in his campaign account, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.
It is not uncommon for a candidate to leave office with funds left from the campaign, according to Massie Ritsch, the communications director for the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan organization that tracks money in politics. He added that candidates often reserve funds for another attempt at politics.
“They also use their money to retain influence over other politicians,” Mr. Ritsch said. He said Mr. Kennedy could use the money to make contributions to candidates or to a political party.
“What’s more typical is that people donate it in some fashion to a cause, something consistent with their beliefs,” said John Portz, a political science professor at Northeastern University.
Mr. Portz used the example of Michael Dukakis, former Massachusetts governor and 1988 Democratic presidential candidate. After Mr. Dukakis left office as governor, he went to teach political science at Northeastern University and used the vast majority of his campaign money to fund internships and co-op programs for students in state and local governments.
“Kennedy clearly hasn’t said that, keeping it open,” Mr. Portz said. “There was a time when his name was touted as a name for governor.”
Mr. Kennedy, the son of the late Sen. Robert Kennedy and nephew of Sen. Edward Kennedy, served six terms in the House, from 1987 to 1999, representing the 8th Congressional District. According to filings with the Federal Election Commission, he has done little with the $1,455,077.66 that remained in his campaign fund when he left office, other than let it earn interest. At the end of 2007 the account was worth $2,118,149.
During 2007 Mr. Kennedy earned $185,186 in interest but he also contributed to a number of political candidates, including Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.
“The longer somebody has been in, the more likely it is that they have more funds,” said Bill Hogan, director of investigative projects for the Center for Public Integrity, a nonpartisan, nonprofit investigative journalism organization.
Mr. Hogan said it would not be illegal for Mr. Kennedy to donate money to his own non-profit organization. “It would be legally permissible for him to do that as long as it’s clear that the money wasn’t going back into his pocket.”
Since leaving office, Mr. Kennedy has focused on his non-profit organization, the Citizens Energy Corporation, which provides low-cost heating options for needy families.
Mr. Hogan said that there is a pattern of former members’ giving to their own non-profits or starting their own non-profit and donating funds to it.
After more than a dozen calls and numerous emails over the span of a month to Ashley Durmer, the communications director of Citizens Energy Corporation, Mr. Kennedy could not be reached.
Stephen Kidder, a lawyer with Hemenway and Barnes in Boston who coordinates Mr. Kennedy’s Federal Election Commission filings, said Tuesday that the status of the campaign account remains unchanged and declined to comment further.
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Reed, an Early Example of Maine’s Progressive Politics
Reed
Bangor Daily News
Vicki Ekstrom
Boston University Washington News Service
4/9/2008
WASHINGTON—Tucked in the southwest corner of the nation’s capital near the Potomac River is the home of Maine’s oldest living former governor, John Hathaway Reed, who served in the early 1960s. The third-floor condo is much the way it was when his wife of 60 years died four years ago, with a grand piano, 2 step-stool-sized Vietnamese elephant figures and bronze-gilded French décor.
Reed, a lifelong potato farmer and horse lover, sits surrounded by the exotic trinkets and regal furniture collected from years abroad as ambassador to Sri Lanka and his travels as governor.
Described by friends and former colleagues as a progressive Republican, the 87-year-old Reed is an early example of a moderate Maine leader who believes in bipartisanship, qualities that today characterize and separate Maine’s leaders from much of what is considered the “norm” in politics.
“When you were around John it didn’t matter if you were a Republican or Democrat, you always had a good discussion and would come out still friends,” said former U.S. Rep. Peter Kyros, who served Maine’s 1st District from 1967 to 1975 as a Democrat and who is a friend of Reed’s. “Likeability is probably the number one reason why we choose people as leaders. John was a reflective, thoughtful and deliberate man and a highly likable man, and that’s why he was successful.”
Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe, who is married to John McKernan, the only Republican governor since Reed, said Reed has “demonstrated a commitment to public service that has transcended partisan politics.” She recalled the first time she met Reed during her senior year in college.
“I attended a reception he hosted during the presidential inauguration in January 1969 and I remember even then enjoying his graciousness and great sense of humor,” she said.
Reed always made up his mind on a case-by-case basis, said Jeff Akor, a former Reed spokesman who first met the governor while covering a story on budget cuts for the University of Maine at Orono’s school newspaper.
Perhaps the best example of this is Reed’s position on the Iraq war, which he has been against since the beginning.
“You don’t attack someone who’s not attacking you,” Reed said in an interview at his home. “I could not believe President Bush was going to start a war. I really was astounded. I was shocked. It was a mistake.”
It was “ridiculous” that former deputy defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, “who had never been in a war,” believed the oil supply would benefit the United States and that the Iraqi people would “welcome us with open arms,” Reed said. “Well, it hasn’t turned out that way at all.”
Reed’s bipartisan and progressive spirit began as a child when he would act as the peacemaker, Reed’s oldest daughter, Cheryl Reed, was told by a relative.
Born on Jan. 5, 1921 in Fort Fairfield, Reed was the grandson of a prominent potato farmer. Reed carried on the family business for much of his life, later selling all but 70 acres of the farm.
“I’ve kept it because I’m always going to have a piece of Fort Fairfield and have it so I can still call myself a potato farmer,” Reed said with pride.
Reed never intended to be a politician and thought he would serve a few terms in the state legislature and give it up.
But “he enjoyed his associations in government and in public policy, and so it became his life,” said Don Larrabee, a Washington journalist who covered Maine from 1948 to 1978 and who is now a friend of Reed’s.
Reed attended the University of Maine, where he was required to go through military training in his first two years. He wanted to continue the training, but wasn’t chosen. When World War II broke out, Reed was finishing college, and many of his friends who had been accepted into the training program were shipped to Germany and eventually died in combat.
“Fate plays a hand, and you might be disappointed one time,” Reed said, “but later on it turns out to be a blessing.”
He joined the Navy and when he went to turn in his papers, he said, there sat a “beautiful, vivacious redhead,” Cora Davison, who would become his wife.
Reed, who was not sent overseas until late in the war, spent much of his time on bases in Rhode Island and Florida training troops.
After the war, Reed and his new wife settled in Maine, where Reed worked his way up the political ladder. He began as a state representative in 1955 when his hometown representative retired. Two years later Reed became a state senator.
Because of a love for horses, Reed frequented races and fairs, making many friends who were involved in politics.
“It’s kind of a grassroots sport, and that’s where the harness horses were too,” Reed said. “So I had built-in contacts that helped me a lot.”
Reed used his network to help him get elected president of the Senate. Then, in December 1959, of Gov. Clinton Clauson died of a heart attack and Reed became governor.
As governor, he started educational television in Maine and created a network of University of Maine colleges. He also combined school districts to save money, something again occurring in Maine today.
But Reed’s largest accomplishment was the way he touched individual lives, visiting factories and farms and bringing himself closer to everyday Mainers.
“These are hard-working people, and I wanted to look after their interests,” Reed said.
“He was very attentive to the feelings, the needs and the desires of the people,” said Reginald Bowden, a Reed spokesman from 1961 to 1965. Bowden said there wasn’t a day in his administration that Reed didn’t get out and visit people.
“Dad has a natural ability to make friends,” Cheryl Reed said. He “has no need to impress or be anything other than who he is in all circumstances. He is the same whether talking to the lowest or highest.”
Reed made friendships with some of the highest.
At a National Governors Association conference in Hawaii in June of 1961, Reed split from the pack, who went golfing, and took the opportunity to visit then-Vice President Lyndon Johnson. The two non-golfers quickly learned that they had something else in common: both grew up on a farm. The two reveled in their shared experiences and Johnson invited Reed to visit his Texas ranch, which he later did.
“Over the years I developed a good friendship with him, even though I was a Republican and he was a Democrat,” Reed said.
In fact, he recalled, Johnson had asked him to send him a couple of male deer, hoping the Maine deer would help to increase the size of the deer in Texas.
“So I did,” Reed said. “I never did find out how it worked out.”
A few years later, in 1966, the United States was in Vietnam and Reed, who was now the chairman of the National Governors Association, joined other governors on a trip to the White House. After his White House meeting, Reed came out in support of Johnson’s Vietnam policies, said Larrabee, the Washington journalist. Larrabee also said Reed was echoing the sentiments of the governors at the time.
Later that year, after Reed lost his bid for reelection, Johnson appointed him as one of the five original members of the National Transportation Safety Board. After a year as a member, Reed became chairman of the board and served for eight years, the longest of any chair, before being appointed ambassador to Sri Lanka by President Gerald Ford.
After Jimmy Carter became president in 1977, Reed served as director of government relations for Associated Builders and Contractors Inc., a Washington lobbying group. Upon the election of President Reagan, Reed was appointed to his old post as ambassador to Sri Lanka and served until 1985.
While on this tour, a civil war broke out in Sri Lanka between the government and the Tamil Tigers, an ethnic minority fighting to create an independent state in the north and east of the island.
Reed said it was “so sad” that the war continues today, but he is very much removed from the country he once called home.
Now, he busies himself with simpler activities like daily walks along the Potomac and occasional trips to Baltimore, where, surrounded by Orioles fans, he proudly wears the cap of his beloved Red Sox.. He spends part of each summer along Maine’s North Pond, where he has summered since he was just 1year old.
He continues his political friendships as a member of the National Republican Club of Capitol Hill and of veterans groups, while also spending time with his daughter Cheryl, who works for a large law firm in Washington. His other daughter, Ruth, and three grandchildren live in Massachusetts and Maine.
He said he “feels great,” noting that he has no health problems, and doesn’t have any regrets in his life. Though he never intended to live the life he has, he succeeded with a blend of fate and friends.
“Fate opens doors and you take advantage of them,” Reed said, but “you’ve got to have a lot of friends who believe in you…. I guess in life it’s that way, but certainly in politics.”
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Renewable Energy Tax Credits Pass in Senate
Housing
Bangor Daily News
Vicki Ekstrom
Boston University Washington News Service
4/9/2008
WASHINGTON – The Senate Thursday approved energy tax credits proposed by Maine’s two senators and aimed at helping businesses and homeowners struggling to pay their bills in the sluggish housing market.
The credits were part of a broader bill directed at the current home foreclosure crisis. The bill, which cleared the Senate overwhelmingly, 84-12, now goes to the House, which has some different ideas for easing the housing crisis.
Home prices dropped by 11 percent last year, according to a letter Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, sent to President Bush on April 1 urging him to act.
“In my home state of Maine, price declines are becoming an unfortunate staple of kitchen table conversation,” Collins said in the letter. “Although foreclosure filings in the state of Maine are occurring below the national pace, state officials tell me the numbers are rising and are expected to worsen.”
To help, Collins and Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, proposed measures to extend renewable energy tax credits and give homeowners a tax credit for buying more energy-efficient wood stoves.
Their proposals, which were added to the bill in committee, would extend incentives to improve energy efficiency and encourage investment in renewable electricity sources such as wind, biomass, hydropower and sun.
“We must do more than pay lip service to alternative energy production and conservation,” Snowe said, while recognizing that high energy prices are one of the reasons for the current economic downturn. Snowe also said in a January letter to Senate leaders that promoting long-term clean electricity would lower home-heating costs and stimulate job growth and the economy.
Snowe’s proposal extends for one year deductions to build more energy-efficient homes and make existing homes more efficient. Additionally, credits for using energy-efficient technology to build homes would be extended for two years and a credit for making energy-saving appliances would be extended for three years. More than 100,000 Americans could be put to work this year with Snowe’s tax credits, her letter said.
The Snowe proposals were from a 2005 energy law she sponsored that is set to expire at the end of this year.
Collins’ proposal would give $300 tax incentives to people who purchase new wood stoves or exchange their old wood stoves for newer and cleaner versions. The new wood stoves are 70 percent cleaner and use a third less firewood than older models. Sponsors say the new stoves are also a healthier option, as the old stoves can aggravate asthma and bronchitis.
“Wood is a renewable resource, and its increased use for home heating is inevitable in these times of high oil prices,” Collins said. “We have the technology to make its use better for the environment and for human health, as well as safer and more affordable.”
By switching from old to new, homeowners would save on their heating bills, improve their health and help the environment, but the new stoves cost more--$1,500 to $3,000, on average--making the tax credit a needed incentive, Collins said.
In addition to renewable energy tax credits, the housing bill would also provide $10 billion in tax-exempt bonds to help first-time homebuyers and at-risk borrowers. An additional measure by Snowe would add $930 million for small states, increasing what Maine would receive from $43 million to $90 million.
Similar measures were proposed in the House by Reps. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., and Barney Frank, D-Mass. The president unveiled his own more moderate housing plan on Tuesday.
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For Shrewsbury Teen, the Politcal is Up Close and Personal
PEEPLES
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Jason Millman
Boston University Washington News Service
April 8, 2008
WASHINGTON – When Deborah and Ronald Peeples watched the State of the Union address in January, they say they probably watched a little more intently than most people – and with good reason. The Shrewsbury couple’s attention was drawn to the floor of the House of Representatives, where their 16-year-old son, Jacob, was standing just feet away from President Bush.
Since September, the Shrewsbury High School junior, who grew up with politics on the brain, has been at the center of the political world as a House page. It has been a learning experience in government no one can get from a typical high school civics class.
“Seeing congressmen going in and out of the floor and being right next to the Speaker of the House on a daily basis is just absolutely breathtaking,” Jacob Peeples said.
Every day the House meets, Mr. Peeples works on the floor as the man behind the scenes, delivering documents to congressional offices, raising the flag over the Capitol and running tasks for House members. For all intents and purposes, House pages are gofers, and that suits Mr. Peeples just fine.
“On our first day we came to the House, a former clerk told us in the diagrams in history books where there’s the House and the Senate and the Supreme Court, and there’s the arrows for how to pass a bill – he said that we're the arrows,” Mr. Peeples said. “We’re really helping to move the process along in trying to keep Congress a well-oiled machine.”
Keeping that machine well-oiled means Mr. Peeples must know the names of members of Congress and know his way around the Capitol and the congressional office buildings – a sometimes challenging maze to maneuver, even for Capitol Hill veterans. Throughout the day, Mr. Peeples picks up on the chatter of America’s policy makers, something that still fascinates him even after months on the Hill.
“One of the first days there was a vote and all the congressmen came to the floor, and it was so crazy and wild. It was just a great experience,” Mr. Peeples said. “At the time seeing Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich was really exciting because I’d only seen them on TV before.”
That Mr. Peeples caught the political bug early in life owes much to his mother, Deborah H. Peeples, the chairwoman of the Shrewsbury School Committee, who takes an active role in local politics as member of the town's Democratic Committee.
“He used to go door-to-door campaigning with me since he was in a stroller," Mrs. Peeples said. “He's been involved for as long as he can remember.”
Having worked on reelection campaigns for U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, in 2004 and 2006, Mr. Peeples was advised by an aide to Mr. McGovern to apply for the page program. He said he knew very little about it at first but was immediately interested in the opportunity to work in Congress.
To be selected for the program, Mr. Peeples had to submit to Mr. McGovern’s office his high school transcript, information about his extracurricular activities, an essay and three letters of recommendation. After interviews, he was nominated by Mr. McGovern, who is allowed just one candidate. The House Speaker’s office then selected him as one of 39 pages picked by the Democrats for the fall semester of 2007. The Republicans, which as the minority party gets fewer pages, selected 24.
Mr. Peeples is one of just several pages who were asked to stay on to help mentor the new pages for the spring semester.
“I didn’t feel like I was ready to go home, and I would miss it too much,” Mr. Peeples said about his decision to stay on for a second semester. “I knew that I would never have the same access I have as a page to the House and its workings ever again unless I was a member of the House.”
But the privilege of working as a page comes at a premium price – namely, sleep.
Since September, his alarm clock on weekdays has been set for 5:45 a.m., just an hour before school starts. Though the House pages are early risers, they are helped by a short commute to class at the Library of Congress building just two blocks away from the dorm where they all live.
The pages attend five classes in a day that is shorter than the typical high school day in order to be on the House floor for the opening gavel on days the House is in session. They work rotating schedules, getting off at 5:30 p.m. three days a week and staying on the floor until the House adjourns two days a week. The latest Mr. Peeples has stayed is 1:30 a.m., and he was allowed to go to school an hour later than usual the next day.
“These guys are on duty as long as we are on duty,” Mr. McGovern said. “We pull all-nighters and go late into the night. The difference is we don’t have to wake up and be in class at 6:45 in the morning. These guys do.”
Balancing page responsibilities with homework and class proves to be a challenge to all pages, as Mr. Peeples learned a few weeks ago when he dozed off in class for the first time after another late night in the House.
“It was embarrassing because I snored myself awake,” he said.
More than anything, though, the adjustment to being self-reliant can be the most difficult aspect of the page program, said Ellen McNamara, who oversees House pages.
“They're 16 years old when they’re coming here. They're away from their families, and they’re a lot on their own,” Ms. McNamara said. “It’s like going to college, but they’re 16, so it’s probably a little shocking.”
Mr. Peeples’s father, Ron, said he is impressed with how Jacob has handled living on his own, adding he fully supported his son’s decision to stay a second semester.
“Being at the State of the Union was something he was really looking forward to,” Ron Peeples said. “He is having such a great time in a great program in a great location.”
For the aspiring politician, the page program is a great place for a teenager to start, Ms. McNamara said.
“They're here in the thick of politics, so if they have a desire to go into politics, they're here to see it all,” she said.
The reputation of the page program took a hit in 2006, when it became public that Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., had exchanged sexually explicit instant messages and texts with several House pages. Since then, the House created a new oversight body for the page program.
Notable members of Congress who got their starts as pages are U.S. Reps. Thomas M. Davis, R-Va., and John D. Dingell, D-Mich., and Bill Owens, former governor and congressman from Colorado.
As Mr. Peeples looks ahead to his senior year and beyond, Washington is well within his sights. Two semesters in the capital have confirmed his love of politics, and as he considers applying to colleges in the city, he sees himself living here one day.
“I’ve just been living, eating, breathing politics for the past year, and I’m not sick of it, so that’s one good indication,” Mr. Peeples said. “I really feel like as a person I need to do more to help my fellow citizen, and what better way to do that than politics.”
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Kerry, Kennedy Grill Petraeus on Iraq Progress
KERRY
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Jason Millman
Boston University Washington News Service
April 8, 2008
WASHINGTON – Massachusetts Senators Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry pressed Gen. David Petraeus Tuesday to say if U.S. involvement in Iraq is still worthwhile as the general, the top military commander in Iraq, raised doubts about whether political progress in the country can be sustained.
Mr. Kerry, who traveled to the Middle East last month, said leaders of ethnic sects in Iraq told him continued U.S. occupation allows sectarian conflicts to continue because the U.S. presence provides little motivation for the groups to reconcile.
Gen. Petraeus, who last spoke to Congress in September, said the security U.S. forces provide promotes stability among the groups.
“When we do see a spirited compromise, it’s something when the leaders and the communities behind them are feeling relatively secure,” the general.told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
In two Senate committee hearings Tuesday, Gen. Petraeus touted the political progress and decreasing violence in Iraq, but he repeatedly cautioned that sectarian violence could erupt again at any time.
As Democrats grilled Gen. Petraeus on how much longer he believes the United States should remain in Iraq, Sen. Kennedy asked him to estimate when Iraqi troops will be ready to take over complete command.
“It’s time to put the Iraqis on notice that our troops will not remain forever so they will take the essential steps to resolve their differences,” the senator said.
Mr. Kennedy, who said the United States has spent almost $24 billion on the Iraqi military in the past five years, raised concern over reports that 1,000 Iraqi soldiers last month deserted Basra, where Iraqi troops carried out a strike against Shia insurgents.
“They are fighting and dying for their country in substantive numbers,” Gen. Petraeus said about Iraqi forces. “Their losses are three times our losses.”
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Sens. Kennedy and Kerry Question Gen. Petraeus about Iraq
Petraeus
New Bedford Standard Times
Matthew Huisman
Boston University Washington News Service
April 8, 2008
WASHINGTON – Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., told Gen. David Petraeus that after listening to his testimony Tuesday morning “it seems clear that the administration describes one Iraq, while we see another.
“The president sees an Iraq where progress in neighborhoods, villages, towns and cities across Iraq is being made. But most Americans see an Iraq in which 4 million refugees have been displaced from their homes.”
Gen. Petraeus, testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee on the status of Iraq, said that progress had been made but that the gains could be reversed were there a hasty and reckless pullout of troops.
When questioned by Sen. Kennedy about the potential for a long-term U.S. military commitment in Iraq, the general replied that no long-term commitment has been made.
Ambassador Ryan Crocker, who also testified before the committee, said that the long-term agreement that the United States is negotiating with Iraq would not establish permanent bases in Iraq.
“The agreement will not specify troop levels, and it will not tie the hands of the next administration,” Ambassador Crocker said.
Sen. Kennedy also asked Gen. Petraeus when he expected Iraqi troops to be able to stand on their own without U.S. military assistance. The general responded that he was unsure when the Iraqi people will be able to take responsibility and fight for themselves.
“Americans want to know after we have spent approximately $24 billion in five years, when these forces are going to be ready and willing to stand up and fight on their own so the Americans don’t have to fight for them,” Sen. Kennedy said.
“[Iraqis] are very much fighting and very much dying for their country,” Gen. Petraeus said. “Their losses are three times our losses.”
Sen. Kennedy said, “It’s time to put the Iraqis on notice that our troops will not remain forever.”
During a separate Foreign Relations Committee hearing Tuesday afternoon, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., questioned whether the U.S. presence has led to p the Iraqi government’s reluctance to make decisions.
“Has it struck you that this open-endedness, this commitment of large forces without a sense of what the process will be without specific deadlines, actually empowers them to avoid making the decisions and the reconciliations they have to make?” Sen. Kerry asked.
“When we do see movement forward, it’s when leaders and the communities behind them are feeling relatively secure,” Gen. Petraeus said.
“We gave them security with 160,000 troops and we didn’t achieve the political process we needed,” Sen. Kerry said.
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College Students Should Explore Loan Options Early, Courtney Says
COLLEGE
New London Day
Erin Kutz
Boston University Washington News Service
April 4, 2008
WASHINGTON – The sub-prime mortgage epidemic has required Americans to stay on guard in all areas of financing—even student loans, says U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.).
“The liquidity challenge to the financial markets really is still an issue for all kinds of lending,” he said in a telephone interview this week. “People are kind of sleeping with one eye open.”
Students should start exploring their loan options as quickly as possible, Courtney said he told students Monday at the University of Connecticut.
“We sing from that missal book every year, but it seems to potentially be more of an issue this year,” said UConn financial aid director Jean Main, who helped organize the event. “We wanted to be proactive and felt it was important to be out ahead of this.”
Some lenders involved in the Federal Family Education Loan Program, a network of private lenders who work with the government to give loans to college students and their parents, have pulled out, said Mark Valenti, president of the Connecticut Student Loan Foundation, an organization that guarantees loans made by the Federal Family Education Loan Program and issues loans itself.
Valenti said other companies are helping to fill the gap left by lenders who have left the industry. Private lenders not backed through the program also can offer student loans, but come with tighter credit standards and higher interest rates, Valenti said. This option may be virtually closed to students with poor credit, though.
Valenti said his organization was investigating other options for financing student loans.
Main had no figures yet on how the drop in lenders would affect UConn students, because the school typically processes loans in July and August. About 90 percent of its loans are through federal programs or the Direct Loan system, in which the U.S. Department of Education does the lending directly. The rest of the loans are made directly by private lenders.
“We don’t want to scare people,” said Judith Greiman, president of the Connecticut Conference of Independent Colleges. “I don’t want people to say, ‘Oh my god, there’s no money to go to college.’”
There are still 2,000 lenders participating in the Federal Family Education Loan Program, but Greiman suggested students start exploring their lending options early so they can be prepared once their financial aid decisions arrive.
Lawmakers have begun exploring options for expanding the Direct Loan program in the event that the lenders who have pulled out of the student loan market are an indication of a broader trend.
In 1998, the U.S. Department of Education established a program to provide capital to lenders in need. In February Rep. George Miller (D-Calif) and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), chairmen of their respective chamber’s education committees, sent a letter to the Department of Education requesting the administration take similar action “so that recent activity in the credit markets does not adversely affect students’ ability to secure federal student loans in a timely manner.”
“At this point, we’re not happy that the administration is coming up with solutions,” Courtney said. “It’s not like we’re asking them to do something unprecedented.”
Kennedy introduced on Thursday legislation that would allow the Department of Education to provide capital for Federal Family Education Loan Program lenders that are struggling, expand federal loan amounts for students and guarantee lenders on a college-wide basis. Miller and Rep. Ruben Hinojosa (D-Texas) introduced a similar bill in the House Thursday, legislation Courtney said he supports.
With the country unsure of how far into an economic downturn it truly is, it is hard to say whether student lenders will be forced out of the market, Courtney said.
“From our perspective, we’re in pretty good shape for the fall,” Valenti said. “I do have concerns that if it goes well beyond the fall we’ll struggle.”
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