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Show The Salt Lake Tribune UTAH Sunday, April 23, 2000 Al? Capitol Staffs tote aon peal iaain Hansen's in for the news media. Serve Lawmakers, Utah in D.C. they are not the member, that's probably the No. 1 rule,” said Johnson, a former Navylieutenant commanderand helicopter pilot. “What the elected member is @ Continued from A-1 doing is what you're doing. When the decision’s made,the decision’s made. If you can’t figure that out, you're in the wrong business,” he After another week of research, MacKayasked legislative counsel to draft a bill requiring credit agencies to provide consumers said. ‘Rep. JIM HANSEN wwwhousegov hansen Permanent staft 14 | 1999 payroll and office | 1999 payroll and office with the same report they give to financial institutions. Cannon introduced the Fair“Credit Pull Dis. closure Act to the House in September,and it is slated to be taken expenses. $1,804,558 up by the House's KEY STAFF: | KEY STAFF: | KEY STAFF: expenses: $797,625 KEY STAFF: JAMES BARKER, chief of | WINDSOR FREEMYER, | CONNIE HUMPHREY, WANCEE BLOCKINGER chief of staff -$125,000 of staff - $128,000 | ALLEN FREEMYER, land KRISTINE IVERSON, com- mittee this summer. Behind the office: The sional office. Senate aides tend to be older than those in the House.If it were the business world, the more established offices for senators with six-year terms would be the Fortune 500 companies, while theoffices for House members with two-year terms would be wellcapitalized startups. Asnapshotof Utah's lawmakers haslittle hue:all are white, male, Republican, Mormon, conservative and wealthy. For the most part, their staff, while less well off, mirrors the homogenous background and ideology. Many have attended LDS Church-owned Brigham Young University. There are some departures, of course, notably in genderif not in CHIP YOST, legislative director ~ $124,748 | chief of staff- $74,000 | administrative assistant- CHRISTOPHER MACKAY, | legislative director - 7 | MICHAEL GARRITY. MARY JANE COLLIPRIEST, $40,000 science enviro. communications director | JEFF HARTLEY, senior | $58,000 — $93,148 policy adviser-$72,000 ELEAS HORNE, banking, CORINE LARSON, senior DEEDEE ROSE, Utah taxes - $50,000 policy adviser - $87,700 district director - $40,000 KEN MERRITT, DIXIE MINSON, Utahstate | transportation - $46,000 director = $104,722 Butfeted by high turnover | ART MARTINES, Utah and occasional turmoil district director - $61,000 Bennett is the sole such as a sexual SHARI HOLWEG, Utah ‘member of the Utah harrassment lawsuit, outreach director ~ delegation whose staff is Cannon's staff nonetheless daily overseen by men. But has been an experienced like the other members, it familiarity is helped by talented group of staff zealously protective of and loyal to him. “Many are Mormon Republicans who consider themselves family. Hisexecutive assistant, Ruth Montoya, is an exampleofthe staff that have stayed with the senator virtually throughouthis public career. Butdespite wearing religion on his sleeve and his emphasis on his family, which includes 19 grandchildren, the Pittsburgh-raised senator’s top-rankingstaff are both unmarried professional women, neither of whom hasties to Utah or to the state’s predominant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-daySaints. Hatch’s senatorial cadre is led by chiefofstaffPatricia Knight,48, whohails from Virginia andstudied photojournalism and anthropology. A former Cabinet aide in the Reagan and Bush administrations, she worked her way up in Hatch’s office after joining as a volunteer seven years ago. Knightandlegislative director Kristine Iverson, a Midwesterner whostudied political science and has a master’s degree in economics, form a no-nonsense pair that oversee the juggling of myriadissues on which Hatch’s boundless energy and seniorstature help give $107,000 RUTH MONTOYA, executive assistant $98,000 CHRISTOPHER ROSCHE having loyal staff with - $132,000** JEANNE LOPATTO. start of Cook's tumultuous Blockinger and Johnson all _ ¢59 s7g¢* Statt firings marred the longetivity. Hansen, women, whofill four of six positions on the senator's internal executive committee. The chief of first to. go paperiess. And the ever-animated Cannon actually prides himself on the turnover, now calling second term, and now Humphrey, the administrative assistant or chief of staff, is the share a former Navy background. Freemyer is key to helping Hansen oversee the nation’s parks MELANIE BOWEN, Utah state director - $87,920 HEATHER BARNEY. Utah 49.81 who has long served Utah sympathizer since his combined duties once is the political and Ne: and once did the samejob offices are run by women, ctatt chief, press secretary fourth i Hatch is a and legislative director — and there are no plans to ean acu ren © Continues to propel him Republicansin Congress for Rep. Jim Hansen himself a feminist Washington and Utah linchpin. She jugglesthe done by three people —a Freemyer and Rose Fespectively Judiciary press secretary and public lands; Petersen logistical whiz in Utah hangethat PT°SS Secretary ~ $49,816 ring the end of his into myriad legislative issues. It is all the staff can do to keep up with him itis notunusual for staff members to get a 10-15% annual bounus. **Paid entirely by the Senate Judiciary Committee *$8,500 is from Hansen's payroll; the restis from House Resources Committee. Source; Statementof Disbursementsofthe House, Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, 1999; Reportof the Secretary ofthe Senate, April 1 to Sept. 30, 1999 interviewswith congressional members andst alt. RhondaHailes Maylett The Salt Lake Tribune him tall soapbox. “Tt takesall ofus to keep up with him.It’s a 15-hour-a-dayjob,” said Iverson, who has worked for Hatch for 23 years and enjoys gardening and singing in a Renaissance-era science at BYU and then went to workfor Utahns, The mild-mannered bureaucrat choral group. five years. Anyfree timeis spent in churchortrying to keep track of Hatch often can be seen on the Senate floor assisted by Manus Cooney, a Judiciary attorney and staff director. After 23 years as Hatch’s press secretary, Paul Smith retired and was replaced by former journalist Christopher Rosche as communications director. In the Utahoffice, state director Melanie Bowen and press secretary Heather Barney round out Hatch’s devotees. Both womenalso share campaign duties. Bowen, from Spanish Fork,is a BYU graduate who was oneof Hatch’sfirst three interns in 1977. “Wetry to be:an extension ofhis eyes andears,” she said, “so the senator hasa feeling for what his constituents wants.” The junior senator: Bennett, who made millions from Franklin Covey’s daily planner business, self-consciously uses a “corporate model.” His aides talk of his eventempered mannerthat makestheir jobs easy. The chiefof staff is 49-year-old Jim Barker, a lawyer raised in Virginia who studied political ang occasional practical joker lives with his family in Oakton, Va., and has run Bennett’sstaff for chaired by Hansen and that oversees the nation’s parks and public lands. Based in Farmington and Ogden, Steve Petersen is Hansen's go-to guy in Utah for issues, press, political activities and just about anything else. Two-term Cannon: High turnover andasexual discrimination lawsuit havebuffeted the staff a al eo a issues to “air outall the aspects of* (married to one of the senator's Sometimes Cannon wants strictly with staff” to get their opinions on an idea or bill. MacKay. the legislative direc tor, also grew up in Salt Lake City and worked for lobbyist Doug Fox* ley. His role with Cannon? “I'm the institutional memory at this point,” said the low-key aide, who enjoysflyfishing andgolf. Othertop staff includes DeeDee Rose, in charge of the Utah district office, and Jeff Hartley, the senior policy adviser, who often speaks for Cannon. A Salt Lake City na tive, heis well-connected totheintrigues Utah’s Republican Two-term Cook: of In anoffice circles. where forced staff departures, high turnover and revelations about Cook's erratic and overbearing temperament marred thestart of his second term, Connie Hume phrey nowis the linchpin as ad. term. But fresh ambition ministrative assistant equivalentofchiefofstaff. stability not is what heis after. “T'm different from Jim Hansen,” said Cannon, whosees himself as a booster of young people's careers. “I don't want the samepeople on my staff for 20 years. I'minto the “We pretty much depend on constituent groups to let us know when they want something. And the staff has a lot of input about what we think would be the best turningstaff over. I want peopleto way to go,” she said. “He has the leave, get on to something else.” Now, with womenin chargeof his Washington and Utah offices, final say, of course.” The 38-year-old he calls himself an “equal oppor: travel and is choir director at a Baptist church, somehow juggles getic 29-year-old woman, is thelatest in a string of chiefs ofstaff and other turnover the past year. She grew up outside Milwaukee and enjoys skiing, mountain biking, sailing and rock climbing. Like Hatch’s top assistants, Freemyeris non-LDS, which she describes as a non-issue. Married to Hansen aide Allen Freemyer, she took maternityleave in January weeksprior to being named as chiefofstaff. cousins). Another key aide is Corine Larson, a senior: policy adviser in Washington, with exper- “Needless to say it washectic,” she said of juggling her new job tise in defense, education and the arts. Freemyerstudied international affairs and political science at the Universityof Coloradoat Boulder. Upon graduationin 1992, she went Utah’s senior House member: very differently on every issue. facts, but he often “bats it around serving Cannon, nowin his second tunity”and “non-sexist guy.” Windsor Freemyer, an ener- aging energy fifth case, Bennett's internal executive committee that meets several Utah’s sentor senator: Sen. Orrin Hatch actually has two staffs, one his own and the other from his chairmanship of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee. A senator since 1977, he has a legislative director ~ district director - $92,000 communications director ~ $70,000 With 20 yearsin the MANUS COONEY, House, Hansen is an easy Judiciary counsel and read for his staff. And the staff director offices are run by women.In the rection is comprised of four women and two men. Overall, there are few minorities. PATRICIA KNIGHT, chief is trying to be among the staff, Barker, is a lawyer and efficientlot. His office issues adviser - | $127,500" BILL JOHNSON, military expert, leg. director $80,000 STEVE PETERSEN, Utah issues adviser who works on the House Resources subcommittee expenses $1,804,558 KEY STAFF: still is dominated by color. And despite Utah’s patriarchal conventions, four of the five times a year to set policy and di- Aside from Blockinger and Johnson, the third leg in the Washington tripod supporting Hansenis Allen Freemyer, a land. (exctuding Resources aides) | staff - $132,158 offices of the Utah delegation in manyways look like any congres- Sa “Staff need to understand that withfirst-time motherhood. unmarried woman from Indiana, who enjoys duties once filled by three top aides. Cook has noplansto find replacements. But Humphreyis unruffled by the added demands, mostlysticking to a 9-to-5 regimen. metimes things just don’t get done,” she said without concern. She majored in German and Western European studies in Ken. tucky, then got a master’s degree in international relations from the University of South Carolina: at Columbia. In Washington, she worked mainly for House Demo crats before joining Cook in 1997 Alaskanative KenMerritt, one of Cook’s three legislative assistants, sees his role as typical of Utahdelegationaides. “T'm kindof likeafilter for him four teenagers. In thelate ‘70s he assisted thenRep. Dan Marriott while Mike Leavitt, who would become Utah Rep. Jim Hansen, whose 10-term incumbency has made him moreof a big business than startup, said Western Republicans from Colo- “filter outstuff that has nothing to rado, Nevada andUtah — allowing he has “the best staff” since they her to keep alive her connection to do with Utah, or that he’s against, or that he’s alreadyon boardwith governor two decades later, was havestayed with him for years. the mountains anddeserts district director. Barker .also worked for the Wisconsin Republican Party. After graduating from Pepperdine University’s law school, Barker worked for Hansen as landissues counsel and then as chiefof staff. His currentrole is to try “to create the atmosphere so [other staff] can do their jobs,” he said. “There’s no right way or wrong way to run anoffice. Different of- fices function differently.” Barker and Chip Yost, another former Hansen aide and BYU graduate who now is Bennett's legislative director, oversee the . But four womenanchor Bennett’s internal steering committee, which helps set long-term priorities. Those women are press secre- tary Collipriest — a spokeswoman for Bennett's former Sen. Jake Garn — and Dixie Minson, Trish Kent and Jan Bennett Vicaimiyd % Newest Medical nem Treatment of herniated and degenerative discs to workin the nation’s capital for more than anything,” Merritt said. orhas dealt with.” His chiefofstaff, Nancee Blockinger, 65, is a stalwart of two de- cades whosteadfastly worked her wayup the career ladder and now runsa tight ship. She and Bill Johnson, a gung-ho legislative director with a Ph.D. in politics, share a Navy background with their military-cheerleading boss, whosedistrict includes Hill Air Force Base. Blockinger's deceased husband was a Navy captain, and she has madeher homein Washington ever since they married, In their daily preparations, the staff rarely have formal meetings. Instead, they talk among themselves and divvy up any press du- ties. 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