By Ed Tibbetts | Thursday, January 11, 2007
WASHINGTON, D.C. — One of the things that freshman congressman Phil Hare likes to do here is meet his colleagues.
Each time he goes to the floor, he said, he tries to shake the hand of someone he hasn’t met.
Often, he says, their recognition of him is tied to his predecessor. “They’ll say where are you from, and I’ll say the 17th.”
Where’s that, they’ll ask? “I’ll say Lane Evans’ seat, and they’ll say, ‘Oh.’”
Hare acknowledges it may take a little while for other people to step out from Evans’ shadow. But Phil Hare is his own man. He’s no longer the district aide, the top political guy carrying out his boss’ wishes. Now, it’s the burly ex-textile worker who’s sitting in the corner office, the one with the pin on his lapel that labels him a congressman and the voting card in his wallet.
He’s got his own agenda, and he says he’ll make his own mark by working on issues, such as health care, raising the minimum wage and trying to improve the perilous economy in western Illinois.
“I care deeply about these issues,” he said in an interview this week in his still-unadorned office. “I think I’ll always be viewed by some people as Lane’s guy.” But, he said, after he gets some time under his belt, holds his own district meetings and works on his own bills, “I think they’ll see me for me.”
That work began in earnest this week. Hare was sworn in last Thursday but spent the weekend in Rock Island. On Tuesday, he was taking the 10-minute walk from his apartment on North Carolina Avenue to his office in the Longworth House Office Building.
There’s still some basics to take care of. Hare is waiting to get a Murphy bed delivered. He, like other freshmen, also are getting used to the pace of the opening days of the 110th Congress.
Hare’s first day this week was a mix of floor votes, staff meetings, interviews with radio stations in the district, lobbying for a committee assignment and, in a surprise, presiding over the House late Tuesday night, something he called on “honor,” although it stretched his day past 12 hours.
It’s these things, big and small, that will define his tenure and distinguish him from his successor.
It’s an adjustment.
Take Dennis King, for example. The affable former chief of staff to Evans used to be Hare’s boss. Now it’s the other way around, with King serving as Hare’s chief of staff.
Hare is encouraging a familiarity in the office. He encouraged people in the legislative shop to approach him directly, not just through their boss, legislative director, Janna Berquist. “Phil’s not a hierarchical guy,” King said.
But he is clearly in charge. When a reporter comments about King working “with” Hare to get his agenda passed, he gently corrects: “I work for Phil.”
This week, much of what’s on the agenda stems from the 2006 congressional campaign. Democrats are moving ahead with a half dozen domestic priorities, such as approving many of the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, approving a new ethics package and, on Wednesday, voting to raise the minimum wage.
Hare gave his first floor speech on the issue.
The day before, he was working in a staff meeting to prepare for it. An aide handed him a copy of a draft to read. Hare complimented it, said he wanted to give it a personal touch — and asked, practically, that it be typed double spaced on the page to make it easier to read. Hare said he chose this topic to make his first speech because he thinks it will make a difference to average people.
“They need it,” he said. “I think it will help.”
Hare also is beginning to plan his agenda for the year. At a staff meeting, which a reporter was invited to attend, he told three young staffers he wanted to move forward on a few items, one of them a measure that would reward companies for hiring American workers, something he talked about on the campaign trail.
Much of the rest of the 45 minutes was spent updating the new congressman on impending votes, the likely line of opposition by Republicans, leftover items from Evans’ tenure, discussing how the office staff should interact with their new boss and a handful of other details.
“We feel our job is to make sure you’re prepared for anything,” Berquist, the legislative director, said.
Some of that Hare can handle on his own. In a lively radio interview with a Galesburg radio station, the new congressman took the politically chancy step of admitting to being a Washington Redskins fan (not because of his new address, he insisted, but because of his admiration for ’Skins quarterbacks from the 1970s).
Other things are more difficult. Hare concedes there’s a lot of reading to be done to understand complex issues. This for a guy who’s more prone to reading the newspaper than books or scholarly journals. But he said he plans to go beyond the sports and political pages to the volumes of briefing material he gets.
“A lot of times, I’ll take it back to the apartment,” he said. Just as likely, he said, he’ll get a lot of input just by talking to people — his staff, other members and legislators on the opposite side of the aisle.
Like other Democrats, Hare pledges a bipartisanship, something Republicans here highly doubt, noting that debate on the Democrats’ “100 hours” agenda to pass a half dozen pieces of domestic legislation is limited and amendments aren’t being considered. Hare said after this first batch of bills, he’s confident Republicans will get their say.
These early days are also a time of choices, such as expressing committee assignment preferences.
Hare got a surprise a few days ago, when at the last moment, he said he was offered a spot on the prestigious Rules Committee. If he’d chosen it, however, it would have kept him off other panels. He passed. After a staffer likened the panel to the Supreme Court of the House, Hare joked: “I wouldn’t look good in a Supreme Court robe. I don’t look good in a bath robe.”
Hare is also choosing which caucuses he wants to join. Some are easy: the bio-fuels caucus, the rural caucus.
Others take some thought. He’s also asked about whether he’ll join the Out of Iraq caucus, a group that’s pushing for a troop withdrawal.
Hare thinks a moment about it. Berquist interjects: “They don’t mention funding or any crazy ideas,” she said. Hare has said he won’t vote to cut off funding for troops.
Hare decides to join. “We ought to be bringing the troops back home,” he said.
Those choices, and more substantive ones, will keep coming. And Hare, long in a supporting role, is now out front.
The choices now are his, and he said he’s enjoying the challenge.
On that 10-minute walk from his apartment to the office, he chatted about his new living arrangements, the small apartment, the need for a better bed, trying to get used to the idea of living by himself, without his wife, for the first time. “I’ll miss my dogs,” he added.
Shortly after, Hare, an aide and a reporter are waiting in a line to go through the metal detectors at the Longworth office building.
Hare is the only one with a member’s pin on his lapel — until Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., walks up. He nudges Hare out of the line, and they walk past the metal detectors together. Congressmen don’t have to wait in line here.
Ed Tibbetts can be contacted at (563) 383-2327 or etibbetts@qctimes.com.
