Top Congressional Aides Little-Known but Highly Influential

In some ways, Phil Schiliro’s job is similar to that of a congressman: He runs a legislative office. He helps craft legislation. He stands in for his boss, Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), at meetings all over Capitol Hill.

Yet deep down inside, Waxman’s chief of staff has sometimes wished for an additional responsibility that even his accommodating boss can’t grant him--the right to vote on the floor of the House.

So Schiliro did what many top congressional aides dream of, and ran for office himself.

The 38-year-old lawyer took a leave of absence from Waxman’s staff, moved back to his parents’ home on Long Island in New York and fought intense election battles in 1992 and 1994 for his hometown congressional seat.

Both times, he narrowly missed in his quest to become Rep. Schiliro.

His situation, however, illustrates the unique status of top aides to members of Congress. Their responsibilities are huge, their influence immense and their salaries pretty close to what their bosses make. Yet they are often as anonymous as the congressional interns who answer the phones and sort constituents’ mail.

“They are among the most important people on Capitol Hill,” said Richard Shapiro, executive director of the Congressional Management Foundation, which studies the hierarchy of the Hill. “They run 435 offices with huge budgets and they make a whole range of political and strategic decisions.”

Deemed “administrative assistants” in Hill parlance, these top staffers are far more powerful than secretaries.

In the transitional world of Congress, they frequently have more legislative experience than the members they work for, and they know, for instance, the last time lawmakers tinkered with Medicare or the minimum wage.

Gene Smith, 53, started her congressional career in 1976, when her current boss, Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City), was in the California Assembly. Her experience includes stints with former Utah Rep. Allan T. Howe, former Wyoming Rep. Teno Roncalio, former Louisiana Rep. Gillis Long and former Colorado Rep. Timothy E. Wirth.

She became Berman’s top staffer in 1986 and raves about her work environment.

“There are very many members of Congress who have the reputation of yelling at their staff. There are many, many horror stories,” she said. “Howard is the best boss imaginable. . . . He is not a prima donna.”

Janet Faulstich is an Easterner who has made a career of working for Los Angeles lawmakers.

She began in 1965 as a staffer for former Rep. James Roosevelt and later spent a decade with his successor, Thomas Rees. She signed on with Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills) in 1977, when he was first elected to Congress, and has been at his side ever since.

It is unlikely her name will ever appear on a ballot.

“I’m a behind-the-scenes person and I really get my motivation from seeing a well-run office, where we all know our roles, we can find things in the files, the mail gets answered,” she said. “All those little details are important to me.”

Just what will be thrown her way changes dramatically from day to day, Faulstich says.

“Last week,” she said, offering an example, “someone in our office was in a terrible traffic accident and I had to make sure her job was still being done.”

Once in the top spot, administrative assistants oversee office budgets of nearly $1 million, two dozen staffers and a never-ending stream of paperwork. Specific chores, however, vary widely.

“Every office is its own fiefdom,” explained one longtime chief of staff. “Every office really reflects the member.”

Some administrative assistants are also the chief legislative handlers, such as Bob Cochran, 38, who works for Rep. Howard (Buck) McKeon (R-Santa Clarita) and pores over drafts of bills on his way into work on the subway.

Others are more like office managers, such as G. Maxine Dean, 73, who was the longtime executive secretary for Rep. Carlos J. Moorhead (R-Glendale) before taking over the administrative assistant post in 1993.

“You have to respect your boss and his position on the issues,” said Dean, who has worked for Moorhead since his first term in 1972. “This is a pleasant place to work.”

*

The top staffers to members in safe congressional seats may spend little time on fund-raising and political concerns, while those whose bosses are facing competitive campaigns sometimes become year-round campaign managers--although they must technically handle campaign matters on their own time.

The bureaucracy acknowledges the clout of the chiefs of staff. Just like the elected officials they work for, top staffers must submit financial disclosure forms outlining their investments and outside gifts. And lobbyists know that a lunch with an administrative assistant is the next-best thing to a meeting with the lawmaker.

The pay is the highest of any Hill staff position, with salaries not uncommonly exceeding $100,000. The boss pulls down $133,100.

A 1994 review by the Congressional Management Foundation describes the average administrative assistant as a 41-year-old white male with a college education and a salary of $81,166.

Men hold 66.3% of the positions, while whites fill 88.8%, the study found. Those who hold the top jobs frequently have educational backgrounds more impressive than those of the people actually debating the issues in front of the C-SPAN cameras, with 21.3% holding master’s degrees, 15.6% law degrees and 2.5% doctoral degrees.

*

The key to success, top staffers say, is learning the boss inside out and also knowing when to challenge his or her views.

Cochran, who became McKeon’s administrative assistant in 1993 after nine years as Moorhead’s district director, said adjusting to his new boss took a solid year.

“I was so comfortable with Carlos. I knew him. I knew his style,” Cochran said. “Then you go to work for a different member with different ways. I had to start all over again.”

Such is life on Capitol Hill, where members’ terms last only two years and the average administrative assistant stays on the job just over four years.

Awaiting the aides outside government are the same opportunities available to members of Congress--lobbying, lawyering, consulting and a variety of other issue-oriented ventures.

Some, like Schiliro, try to take that last difficult step up the congressional ladder--to become members themselves.

After all, being chief of staff gave him command of a vast array of issues, knowledge of the ways of Washington and fund-raising contacts rare for a first-time candidate.

Waxman himself wrote to political action committees on Schiliro’s behalf in 1992, saying: “Phil’s race is one of my highest priorities this election year and means a great deal to me. . . . I am strongly urging your PAC to consider making a contribution to his campaign.”

Schiliro said his first run for office was prompted by a rare vacancy in his hometown congressional district, combined with a frustration in being unable to vote or directly contribute to debate on the issues of the day.

Yet even though he has twice tried to leave his job, Schiliro calls his position ideal. He says his campaigns were really compliments to Waxman, not attempts to escape him.

“I was inspired by Henry and the job he does,” Schiliro said. “If I could have been half as effective as Henry, I would have been a more effective congressman than most.”