During the first several weeks I worked for Councilmember Leventhal, curious council staffers would appear in my cubicle, just to see if I was real. "So, you're the famous Dan Reed?" they'd ask. "Well, I hope you're not going to write anything about me on your blog." I spent the rest of my year there wondering if I had earned my coworkers' trust, and I think I had, so long as Just Up The Pike was unconcerned with the gossip at 100 Maryland Avenue.
Of course, someone who is interested in that is Adam Pagnucco of Maryland Politics Watch, who got his start writing for this very blog over four years ago. It's tremendously anti-climactic to write about him stepping down from MPW again after he sort-of quit back in June but, lo and behold, here is stepping down for real because he has an actual job - as newly-elected Councilmember Hans Riemer's Chief of Staff:
No way you can staff and blog at the same time? Funny you say that, Adam. (How does that explain your blog-mate, Chevy Chase mayor David Lublin?) But in leaving his blog to work at the County Council, you prove yourself a much smarter person than I'll ever be. Hopefully, it'll save you a lot of grief from your new coworkers. (Staffers of the Montgomery County Council: I'd watch my back in case a new, anonymous political blogger appears on the horizon. You know, one with a name like "Padam Agnucco" or something.
That said, Adam Pagnucco helped this blog become what it was and I have long turned to him for advice, though I'd say there's a lot to be learned "on the inside," for him as it was for me. There may be a learning curve, but I'm sure he'll serve Councilmember Riemer and the residents of Montgomery County well.
Of course, someone who is interested in that is Adam Pagnucco of Maryland Politics Watch, who got his start writing for this very blog over four years ago. It's tremendously anti-climactic to write about him stepping down from MPW again after he sort-of quit back in June but, lo and behold, here is stepping down for real because he has an actual job - as newly-elected Councilmember Hans Riemer's Chief of Staff:
But now it’s time to get back to reality, and that includes employment. I am going to be incoming Council Member Hans Riemer’s Chief of Staff. Hans and I have been friends for years and we agree on the issues, but there’s more to it than that. Hans is part of the next generation of county leadership, which also includes Craig Rice, many of our state legislators, the Young Guns and a new group of civic activists. I know most of them and I have great confidence in their ability to take our county and our state to a better place. I’d like to do my part to help. Hans is one of the best of them, so working for him is a can’t-miss opportunity.
That said, there is no way – NO WAY – I can be both a legislative staffer and a political blogger. It could never work and we all know that. That’s why this time my departure is for real.
No way you can staff and blog at the same time? Funny you say that, Adam. (How does that explain your blog-mate, Chevy Chase mayor David Lublin?) But in leaving his blog to work at the County Council, you prove yourself a much smarter person than I'll ever be. Hopefully, it'll save you a lot of grief from your new coworkers. (Staffers of the Montgomery County Council: I'd watch my back in case a new, anonymous political blogger appears on the horizon. You know, one with a name like "Padam Agnucco" or something.
That said, Adam Pagnucco helped this blog become what it was and I have long turned to him for advice, though I'd say there's a lot to be learned "on the inside," for him as it was for me. There may be a learning curve, but I'm sure he'll serve Councilmember Riemer and the residents of Montgomery County well.
2 comments:
Thanks Dan!
Amazing. Yet I guess it's too bad he wasn't hired as the Media Liaison.
I actually salivated for a second there, imagining Mr Pagnucco spending hours every day and days every week for years at a time, carefully and thoughtfully crafting cheerful happy blurbs for submission to the editors of the Washington Post.
Well, I suppose I shall just have to make it a point to contact Councilman Riemer's office first with any of my exceptionally frequently recurrent totally legitimate and absolutely urgent requests-for-service from the at-large Council members.
And I pray that Robin Ficker will do the same. ;)
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