Interview : Senator Flake 's Office

“Hey, instead of going to the office, why don’t you meet the head of the PCAR in the Capitol rotunda instead, help them out today. I think it’ll be a good learning experience.” “What’s the PCAR?” I texted back to my boss, but I moved on without an answer. It was my second year interning at a lobbying firm in my state capital, and I had started to feel like pretty hot stuff.

At exactly nine o'clock, I heard the strike of the president’s gavel at my first Noehren Hall Senate meeting. I immediately noticed the familiar and bubbly personality of Madi Stahl. Coincidentally, I previously bumped in to Madi several times during Welcome Week. We talked about our majors and common interests from high school. However, through all of our interactions, she never once brought up her highly regarded position. That is what makes Madi unique; she’s just a genuinely kind student, who happens to be excellent at her job.

As I approach graduation, like many before me, I wondered what I was going to do with the rest of my life, with the hope of finding a career path that I would love. For me, I always have thought about furthering my education by going to law school or getting into politics. As I grappled with the decision of what would by my next step, I started to look for jobs in line with my qualifications and interests. My sister sent me the link to this internship, telling me to apply and saying that she knew the job is something that interests me. The moment I opened the link I was filled with excitement. This was the opportunity I was looking for! I am interested in this internship because it is an exciting opportunity to experience the operations of

I interviewed Jarrid L. Green, a Project Associate for The Center for Social Inclusion (CSI), whom I connected with through University of Maryland’s Alumni Advisor Network. I chose to interview Jarrid because of his work with social policy and his ability to make himself available for a phone interview. Jarrid’s perspective provided some key lessons that have also been emphasized throughout the Practicing Public Policy course, including (1) jump into the work you want to do, (2) you do not need to be an expert, (3) building coalitions and motivating your stakeholders’ riders and elephants is incredibly important, and (4) remind yourself that change is slow, so always consider what is possible.

Fittingly, I believed that incessant buzz word, "flip-flopping," to be a contemptible show of weakness. Whether or not my impressionable young mind fell victim to Tea Party propaganda, I cannot say--it's easy to buy into the narrative where firm, uncompromising leadership is the ideal and compromise is un-American. Unfortunately, political theory rarely imitates political reality. Inevitably, I realized that our most prolific lawmakers shift their stances to align with the public, not mislead it. It should come as no surprise that I now find impetuous, pseudo-passionate zealotry inhibitory to national growth and the most repugnant form of

For five years, Mr. Larry Lavender served as the chief of staff for Representative Spencer Bachus on the House Financial Services Committee. In 2012, Lavender was recruited by a law firm representing JPMorgan, a banking and financial institution, and left the committee. Although this move disbanded his professional link to Bachus, the two still maintained a personal relationship, and Lavender also communicated with former colleagues without seeking “any official favors or actions” (Revolving Door). Because of the relationship between Lavender and Bachus and through efforts made behind the scenes, JPMorgan avoided testifying against one of their clients in the House of Representatives. This sequence of events illustrates what is referred to as the “revolving door”, which is a system that “shuffles former federal employees into jobs as lobbyists, consultants and strategists” . In this system, former public office holders become lobbyists because they already have relationships with people they have worked with or for in the past. Within the practice, there has been evidence of corruption through the manipulation of bans and the undermining use of professional interactions. The spinning of the revolving door prompts government officials to make laws that “reflect the preferences of ‘industry lobbies’ rather than the ‘will of the people’” As the revolving door continues to spin more

What was missing or disappointing, if anything, about this internship? What was especially rewarding and educational?

At first, I was looking for an archival internship in which I could do research using primary sources. This qualification limited the internships available for me. I also wanted to get away from Western Massachusetts, because after growing up here and spending the last few summers working here at Smith, I felt like it was time for a change. I found internships at presidential libraries across the country, as well as historical societies. When I expressed my interest in archives to someone from my hometown, who work for the Clerk’s Office of the House of Representatives, she encouraged me to get into contact with the Office of the Historian. I applied for an internship in their office and was lucky enough to be chosen. The reason why I chose to work for the Office of the Historian rather than an independant archive or a historical society is because the information available through the Office of the Historian, although focused on Congress, is vast in terms of people covered, time covered, and I have no limits on my research. Another quality that I appreciated in this internship is that it seems more collaborative than other ones I was applying for. This internship requires you to work in an office, do individual research and collaborate with other historians on much larger projects. I also think that being in Washington, D.C. will allow me an enriching experience working in a place with history everywhere you look

From this experience I can say that I did also acquire new skills on how to better manage my time when I am working with time consuming work. My multi-tasking skills have improved and I was also able to learn how to organize tasks in such a way so that it is completed in an efficient manner that represents quality work. I also realized that I am quick to adapt to changes in the work environment and I pick up really quickly on new tasks that I am taught to complete. From my whole internship what I value the most is two things. The new skills I was able to better and the relationship that resulted between the managers I worked for. Working with Beverly was very beneficial, she is very helpful in helping you with anything you do not understand. By getting the chance to work with Beverly I was able to network out which is very helpful. I would also recommend this experience to others because it is helpful and will give you an idea of what you want to pursue. From this experience I have come to the conclusion on what interests me even more in the healthcare field and what I would like to

My learning has been enhanced by beginning to understand the complexities and angles of policy change which I believe will bode well in my future

In a broader sense, this internship would be my first job with the government. Having an internship with the government would teach what it is like to work for the US, and whether or not I meld well with the values and structure of the system. Another broader point is that part of my job would be writing real world and real time analysis. This internship would test my ability to write well and concisely under pressure, so that others could understand complicated situations and information

Throughout my time interning for Wayne County Economic Development Corporation I spent many of my opening hours in a office doing research, analyzing data, writing memos, creating the entire system of how the corporation organizes and shares information, along with sitting in on meetings ranging from development of parcels to legal matters. From the beginning my supervisor continuously stated that this is a learning process and that he had hired all three interns to instill and familiarize us to what world is like outside of school classrooms and the library. After a few weeks on getting to individually know each intern I was selected for a special work load that only I would be sanctioned to work on to see my potential, as I was informed.

Yes they did take in to account you political party affiliation but they were really trying to pair you with the office legislative assistant and research analyst. Being that they are the ones that you would being working day in and day out with Ms. Behnke wanted to make sure that is would be a fun and productive experience for everyone. This at first was lost on me and other, but when I have to go to other offices I can see were all of their hard work came in to play being that the in the individual the intern is working for be it the legislative assistant or research analyst are alike in more ways than not. Witch in the grand scheme of things this makes scene do to keeping the state government running smoothly when introducing new people in a work environment for a short period of time.

This internship has provided me with the tools to start a new career. I was able to apply what I have been taught in school into the workplace. I consider myself to be one of the most fortunate interns in the program. I was able to travel with the executive team to healthcare conferences and listen to lectures from other healthcare executives about how to implement population health strategies. In addition to listening to lectures I was able to network with healthcare executives from across the nation.

I was very excited to begin my internship at Paul Hastings, as it was my first real experience in corporate America. I’ve had multiple internships before, but I never felt like I was pushed into a better professional. Upon beginning this internship, I was looking forward to a challenge and that is absolutely what I got.