Hot Interns in Love
I noticed that the legislative research council is doing their yearly intern hiring.
I think it might be late this year, but if they open it up again as they sometimes do, don't hesitate. If you're a collegiate reader of SDWC - no matter what your major is, I would advise you to run and sign up. You will not regret it.
Out of my intern class back in 1988, one was a student body president after that, one ran a congressional campaign, one is a county level official, Rich Sattgast is now a state official, and many of the others remain politically active to this day. I myself went from inactive in politics, to intern, and straight to working for the State GOP (and the rest is a long slide down into the pits of history).
I can name so many people involved in politics at a high level who were college legislative interns - including the Governor who interned for Mary McClure - that if you have even a passing interest in politics, it's mandatory.
Speaking to the more, ah, socially oriented among you, it's also kind of fun.
Okay applicants, it's not like LRC is going to tell you about this side of it. Among the stacks of bills and committee reports, hidden between the rows of law books, the legislative session is reminiscent of the best "meat market" bar you ever saw. Except during the day, there's no alcohol, and everyone is dressed nicely.
You knew it was an interesting session when one of the first things we heard from our Intern Coordinators Scott Peterson (now head of Business Tax at Dept of Revenue) and Dave Ortbahn (still with LRC) was that because of problems in prior years, social fraternization between legislative interns (various ages of college), and the legislative pages (who were High School Seniors) was very much discouraged.
"Fraternization? What?" I was still relatively naive to the process, and we get zinged on hanging out with high school girls before we even meet our legislators? And I thought to myself, "What have I managed to step into here?" Apparently, Intern/Page canoodling had been prevalent in the recent past, and "The MAN" was putting his foot down.
Regardless of party we interns hung out together, because we were all in it together. Some, like me, had duty with Jim Hood, the House Judicial Committee Chair. He didn't get a lot of letters, and I was a whiz at keeping his bill books updated.
Others, didn't have duty, they had prison sentences. Back then the dreaded intern assignment was getting the tireless Representative Jan Nicolay and her 15-18 hour days doing intense and very technical appropriations work. There's a reason why she knew her stuff in and out and up and down. She worked that hard. And her intern did too. We might have felt pity, but also were glad it wasn't us.
Since Jan has been out of legislative service, I've heard that the dreaded assignment is now Frank Kloucek. Rumor has is that a couple of his interns have spontaneously combusted from the work assignments. And others have managed to recover nicely after some quiet time at the HSC in Yankton. But it's only a rumor.
There were hook-ups and break-ups and nights that we might prefer to forget and all the little twists of a social microcosm compressed into a 35 day legislative session. Intern/Page canoodling was kept to a minimum. I only found out at the very end of the first two week Page rotation that one of them - and a pretty one at that - thought I was hot and she had a canoodling interest with me.
My reaction? "What? Who?" The response from one of my fellow interns who had informed me of this was "The one who keeps coming over to Representative Hood's desk when you're there, you idiot." Dammit.
I made some good friends during that session, and more importantly, I made some excellent contacts. I got to know many of the people I ended up working with during my time with the Republican Party. I, like many others have remained active in politics and it was the best political education available. Much better than what you're going to learn in a class. Humor about canoodling aside, this is real world stuff. There is no substitute.
Although, my missed canoodling opportunity was probably for the best. The Page Coordinator was my old swim team coach's wife who I had known for years. I was Interning in my hometown, and the Page in question just happened to be staying with my mom's work partner. Despite only a three year difference, being a youthful 21 to the page's 18, I didn't want to have to discuss the finer points of Legislative Page canoodling with my mom.
I think it might be late this year, but if they open it up again as they sometimes do, don't hesitate. If you're a collegiate reader of SDWC - no matter what your major is, I would advise you to run and sign up. You will not regret it.
Out of my intern class back in 1988, one was a student body president after that, one ran a congressional campaign, one is a county level official, Rich Sattgast is now a state official, and many of the others remain politically active to this day. I myself went from inactive in politics, to intern, and straight to working for the State GOP (and the rest is a long slide down into the pits of history).
I can name so many people involved in politics at a high level who were college legislative interns - including the Governor who interned for Mary McClure - that if you have even a passing interest in politics, it's mandatory.
Speaking to the more, ah, socially oriented among you, it's also kind of fun.
Okay applicants, it's not like LRC is going to tell you about this side of it. Among the stacks of bills and committee reports, hidden between the rows of law books, the legislative session is reminiscent of the best "meat market" bar you ever saw. Except during the day, there's no alcohol, and everyone is dressed nicely.
You knew it was an interesting session when one of the first things we heard from our Intern Coordinators Scott Peterson (now head of Business Tax at Dept of Revenue) and Dave Ortbahn (still with LRC) was that because of problems in prior years, social fraternization between legislative interns (various ages of college), and the legislative pages (who were High School Seniors) was very much discouraged.
"Fraternization? What?" I was still relatively naive to the process, and we get zinged on hanging out with high school girls before we even meet our legislators? And I thought to myself, "What have I managed to step into here?" Apparently, Intern/Page canoodling had been prevalent in the recent past, and "The MAN" was putting his foot down.
Regardless of party we interns hung out together, because we were all in it together. Some, like me, had duty with Jim Hood, the House Judicial Committee Chair. He didn't get a lot of letters, and I was a whiz at keeping his bill books updated.
Others, didn't have duty, they had prison sentences. Back then the dreaded intern assignment was getting the tireless Representative Jan Nicolay and her 15-18 hour days doing intense and very technical appropriations work. There's a reason why she knew her stuff in and out and up and down. She worked that hard. And her intern did too. We might have felt pity, but also were glad it wasn't us.
Since Jan has been out of legislative service, I've heard that the dreaded assignment is now Frank Kloucek. Rumor has is that a couple of his interns have spontaneously combusted from the work assignments. And others have managed to recover nicely after some quiet time at the HSC in Yankton. But it's only a rumor.
There were hook-ups and break-ups and nights that we might prefer to forget and all the little twists of a social microcosm compressed into a 35 day legislative session. Intern/Page canoodling was kept to a minimum. I only found out at the very end of the first two week Page rotation that one of them - and a pretty one at that - thought I was hot and she had a canoodling interest with me.
My reaction? "What? Who?" The response from one of my fellow interns who had informed me of this was "The one who keeps coming over to Representative Hood's desk when you're there, you idiot." Dammit.
I made some good friends during that session, and more importantly, I made some excellent contacts. I got to know many of the people I ended up working with during my time with the Republican Party. I, like many others have remained active in politics and it was the best political education available. Much better than what you're going to learn in a class. Humor about canoodling aside, this is real world stuff. There is no substitute.
Although, my missed canoodling opportunity was probably for the best. The Page Coordinator was my old swim team coach's wife who I had known for years. I was Interning in my hometown, and the Page in question just happened to be staying with my mom's work partner. Despite only a three year difference, being a youthful 21 to the page's 18, I didn't want to have to discuss the finer points of Legislative Page canoodling with my mom.
Comments
Great post, thanks.