Retirees Work as Kansas Legislative Interns

After they’ve traveled around the world, where’s a retired Kansas couple to go next?

For Orville and LaVerne Cole, the answer was the state Capitol.

In committee rooms and marble hallways, in the Statehouse library and the cramped office of Sen. Robert Tyson, the Coles served as interns in the 1998 session, wearing pink badges usually worn by college students.

Orville Cole, 70, a retired attorney, helped Tyson translate the legalese contained in the bills that cross his desk. LaVerne Cole, 67, a former teacher, attended committee meetings, pored over newspaper clippings, proofread and ran errands.

They helped Tyson sort through issues and prepare a draft of his newsletter.

“I feel that at my age, with the legal experience I’ve had, if there was anything I can do up here, I have an obligation to do it,” Cole said.

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After Cole retired, the couple campaigned for Tyson and then became involved in rails-to-trails and other local issues. They share Tyson’s conservative philosophy.

Tyson thought he could use their help in Topeka, the state capital.

“I said, ‘If you can help, with your experience in reading and interpreting law, it would be invaluable up here to me,’ ” Tyson said.

The Coles, who had just returned from a trip to Vietnam last fall, had no winter travel plans. And gardening wouldn’t start for months. So they agreed to assist Tyson.

Otherwise, he said before the Legislature adjourned April 11, “I’d be down in Texas playing shuffleboard with a bunch of old codgers. I think it’s more exciting here.”

The Coles lived in a rented apartment, rising at 6 a.m. and working until 10 or 11 p.m.

“The work they have up here is overwhelming,” Cole said. “Lobbyists buttonholing them every time they turn around, piles of paperwork.”

“I was a critic until I got up here and saw what was going on,” Cole said. “It’s a sacrifice for these people to be here. You take three months off from your job, then work like a dog for 15 hours a day. You have to really want to be here to put up with that.”

The Coles also learned that legislative progress comes through compromise.

“That’s the biggest difficulty for us, because we’re so opinionated,” LaVerne Cole said. “You don’t get everything you want. But something gets through, somewhere along the way, hopefully.”

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After reading and interpreting Kansas statutes for decades, Cole saw the other side of the lawmaking process. And he didn’t like it.

“Our laws are too complicated,” Cole said. “Most are incomprehensible to lawyers, let alone the laymen who are in the Legislature.”

So Cole read a bill and “boil[ed] it down in a concise, understandable form” for Tyson.

By putting Cole’s 40-plus years of legal experience to work--free of charge--Tyson has become somewhat the envy of the Senate.

Senate President Dick Bond said he plans to seek an older intern for his office.

Sen. Stan Clark, whose office is close to Tyson’s, said he has been trying for two years to recruit a retired lawyer to help him.

“College students benefit through the experience, and they can use it as a springboard to some other positions,” Clark said. “The Coles are doing this out of pure love, to pay back the state of Kansas.”

There are 112 unpaid interns serving 165 legislators. All but a few are undergraduates at Washburn, Kansas or Kansas State universities, or law students at Kansas or Washburn. They track legislation and issues, help constituents and perform office duties.

But students must work around their class schedules, while seniors can be there full time, and bring maturity as well as experience to the job.

“Maybe we could start some changes as we look at the intern program,” Bond said. “The senior interns in many instances may be more helpful.”

Lawmakers could seek interns with experience that complements the lawmaker’s committee duties, such as expertise in workers’ compensation insurance, accounting or taxes, he said.

“I would love to have a retired intern with expertise in tax or law,” Bond said.

With their three children grown, the Coles are avid travelers. They’ve been to China three times and Europe 13 times. They also take part in the Elderhostel program for older people, which involves both travel and education.

“I think retired people have something to contribute,” Cole said of his Statehouse experience. “We really enjoy it, and feel like we’re doing something that counts.”