Mike Michaud Settles Into His New Digs
WASHINGTON, Nov. 21, 2002–Democratic Rep.-elect Michael Michaud eagerly steps up and chooses lucky number 39 out of 53 in Thursday morning’s housing lottery, an event organized to determine the order in which new congressional members select their offices for the 108th Congress. Michaud and his chief -of staff, Peter Chandler, then spend the morning checking out what’s available, and deciding–down to the wall coloring and floor carpeting–what would best suit the congressman-elect’s new digs.
“Settling in is overwhelming because they throw so much at you,” confesses Michaud, who looked at more than a dozen offices before committing to his new address: 437 Cannon House Office Building. While touring the building, Michaud cheerfully introduces himself to the current occupants and asks questions about the office space. Most important to him is not the view or the shininess of the furniture but how few minutes it would take him to get to the floor for votes.
It’s been a week since Mr. Michaud went to Washington and he’s definitely had his hands full with decisions and to-do lists. In addition to the pile of books and papers handed to the freshmen at their many orientation meetings and receptions, each new member was issued a new cell phone, laptop and BlackBerry organizer for emailing-technologies he’s still figuring out and learning to love.
Michaud demonstrates how the BlackBerry displays his schedule and explains that the programmer was intended to smooth over communications during emergencies like Sept. 11, 2001, when many cell phone lines were down. The organizer can vibrate, send and receive messages without any interference, unlike cell phones (which often don’t work in the Capitol), and the congressman-elect says he’s “getting used to it all.”
The congressman-elect and Chandler have been living in the Hyatt hotel on Capitol Hill while working out of a temporary cubicle in the Rayburn House Office Building. He’s planning on renting right on Capitol Hill to beat the traffic, but prices, he says, “are a lot more than what I’m used to in Maine.”
Meanwhile, while searching for his other home away from home in the Cannon building, Michaud jokingly says to Chandler that the storage cage across the hall could be the chief of staff’s office. The two chuckle like two college freshmen picking out their dorm room and then get back to business, examining their list of real estate.
While he won’t have departing Rep. John Baldacci’s old office as desired, Michaud is still hoping to have some members from Baldacci’s staff join him by January 7 when the new members are sworn in and Congress convenes. Baldacci, a Democrat, won his gubernatorial bid Nov. 5.
“There’s so much to do with the 2nd District to get Maine moving forward,” says Michaud, who adds that he won’t have to miss the Pine Tree State because he’ll be making many visits home. “I want to go back and focus on the district and talk to people about issues.”
Michaud admits he never dreamed of being in politics, but river pollution and local issues pushed him into legislative positions for the past 22 years. Instead of complaining he wanted to make a difference. Now he says, “we can only do so much on a state level but the federal policies and federal government have a huge impact on the state of Maine.”
Now working under the roof where federal policies are made, Michaud isn’t too concerned whether he chooses slate blue walls or navy drapes; he says he’s just very excited about being in Congress, even if it’s in the minority.
“I would have loved to have been in the majority but that’s not the case,” says Michaud in regard to the Republican sweep. “But one thing about Maine’s congressional delegation is that it’s small and we’ll work [together] closely.”
Offering his optimistic smile, Michaud adds, “You just have to work with whatever hand you’re dealt.”
Published in The Bangor Daily News, in Maine.
