With all the people who have known and worked with Paul Ryan
during his years in Washington, there are surely hundreds of
stories to go with Governor Romney’s choice for vice president in
2012. Here’s mine.
It was very early on a Saturday morning down by the Chesapeake
Bay and the local ospreys were already up, hunting and making those
ridiculous chirps which are so unworthy of such a majestic bird.
There was the first bare sign of light from the bedroom window
overlooking the fields, but not yet enough to see if the deer were
out for breakfast. For some reason I decided to get up and as usual
turned on TV for the latest news, then headed for the kitchen —
and heard….
…reaction…Romney…surprise…secret…Paul Ryan… (WHAT??!
TURN IT UP! ) selection…running mate…PAUL RYAN….
OMG!!!! IT’S PAUL WHO HAS BEEN CHOSEN FOR VICE PRESIDENT!! I
grabbed the phone and called the friend who I knew would be as
wildly excited as I was. Though it was not yet 6:00 a.m. she was
lying in bed holding the phone and answered “Can you believe
it?”
That friend and I worked with Paul at Empower America, a think
tank founded in 1993 to study and develop serious conservative
policy. The Clintons were in the White House, the conservatives
were out and there was much work to do.
The enterprise started out in an unfinished office with the
usual construction mess and with a staff that had to make do with
whatever they could find. One of these was a very young Paul Ryan
who I found sitting on a crate and working on an old computer that
rested on some plastic drums. He was working on economic
policy.
Paul came to Empower America as a policy analyst to work for and
with some serious thinkers and doers: Jack Kemp on economic and
monetary policy, Bill Bennett on social and cultural issues, Jeane
Kirkpatrick on foreign policy, and Vin Weber on politics and
strategy. Paul was incredibly dedicated to his work with a
knowledge of issues that was more than impressive and the bosses
knew it. But along with that the staff knew how kind, how
unpretentious, how helpful — and how good Paul was to work with. I
think every staff member — high or low — counted Paul as a
friend. And as for work ethic, one evening when I was anxious to
call it a day, Paul told me he had to hurry to his next job waiting
tables at Cactus Cantina. And now the policy wonk by day and waiter
by night is on his party’s Presidential Ticket!
From Empower America Paul headed to Capitol Hill as a staffer
and when the chance came, as an elected member of the House of
Representatives. One day as he was moving into his new office, a
few of us stopped by to say hi. By nature congressional staffers
are quite protective, and we were not expected nor particularly
welcome for just barging in and saying we are his old colleagues
here to wish him well. But a voice came from the inner office “I
hear you, Manon, come on in!” Happy day.
I last saw Paul at his mentor Jack Kemp’s funeral. As he entered
the National Cathedral he was met by officials to escort him to a
place of honor on the front row. Heading down the aisle Paul
spotted the old Empower America staff sitting together and stopped
— as his escorts kept going. He said, “Oh, look! It’s the whole
gang!” and then called everybody by name. When Paul Ryan ascends to
the vice presidency and spots a bunch of old friends somewhere, I
think he’ll let the Secret Service keep going and do the same thing
— greet his pals. Go, Paul and go America’s Comeback Team!
