August 28, 2009 – At J Street we don’t “do” politics or lobbying. But public policy is affected by so much of our work: our economic development efforts, helping build new companies, and by our clients creating new jobs as business leaders and entrepreneurs. Our consultants have had an active role in real politics, on both sides of the aisle. Here J Street co-founder Jim Wolfe reflects on his personal experiences with the late Senator Ted Kennedy:
I suppose every Senate staffer in the past 45 years has their own “Teddy Kennedy story” – entering any room he was a larger than life presence, but with an uncanny ability to make the youngest person or most junior staff feel at ease. And because he seemed to be everywhere at once in the Senate, at one time or another I suspect the Senator bumped into all of us working there. My own interactions with Senator Kennedy came very early after I arrived on the Hill – just 3 weeks out of law school, in the summer of 1981. I was working for Senator Dan Quayle on the staff of the Labor and Human Resources Committee, a committee that Kennedy had formerly chaired. The labor committee became a key battle ground in President Reagan’s first Budget Reconciliation Act, a huge piece of legislation that put the entire Federal budget into one bill. With that one bill Reagan was attempting to wrestle control of the Federal budget, and its deficits, from a reluctant Congress.
Staff were assigned to work on the bill late into the night for days on end, and Senator Kennedy offered us his “hideaway” office in the capitol. Most of the public never know that very senior senators have separate, one-room studies in the original Capitol Building. Most staff never see the inside of these private little sanctuaries.
Working with Larry Horowitz, Sen. Kennedy’s chief of staff, and a few other staff from Sen. Hatch, we retired to this cubbyhole working sometimes until 2 or 3 am. The first time I walked in the room, I had a sense of adventure, but tinged with ennui. Here were walls of framed pictures: of President Kennedy sailing, of Rosemary Kennedy as a girl, of Bobby Kennedy running barefoot along the beach, of Teddy Kennedy as a boy next to Jack and Bobby. Pictures I had known only in history books – but here, faded and waterstained, covered mostly in fine dust like someone’s little used basement den. A short, green, worn leather couch filled one corner, and a table covered in used gin & tonic glasses (molding limes still floating at the bottom) stood in the center. It was clear that not even the janitors were often allowed through. I understood then that this whole Kennedy history – this legacy – was in the end a personal history of living people. Not so ordinary, but still just people. People like all of us.
Celebrating the successful negotiations and passage of the budget bill, Senator Kennedy shared a bottle of beer – one remaining forlorn bottle, passed around the room while we all stood. He thanked us, republicans and democrats alike. He told jokes. He told us – with good natured irony – we should do it again sometime.
Ted Kennedy was an enormously successful person because he was genuine, in person. While I admire the writings of Machiavelli, I don’t agree on this one point: The Italian poet wrote it is better to be feared, than liked. Ted Kennedy taught us a successful leader – however we may disagree - can still be human, and very much liked.
