Anyone with any non-elective political experience?

[Rockefeller]

Please detail any non-elective political experience you may have had.  This includes things such as serving as a staffer, intern or aide to either a Congressperon, Senator, governor or state legislator.  Internships or employment with any executive agency is also noteworthy. If anyone has ever served in the White House that would be really cool!

I'll go first.

I recently served as a United States Senate page under Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS) from September 2011 to January 2012.  All of the staffers I talked to would always comment on how lucky I was because I got to be on the floor everyday and see all 100 Senators on almost a daily basis.  A lot of the Senators are really cool and nice to the pages (Inhofe, Milkulski, Franken) while others are absolute d-bags (Kerry, McCain, Paul)--a guess spending your life in the shadow of failed presidential campaigns will leave one pretty sour.  Other cool Senators were Pryor, Ayotte, Collins, Thune, Coons and Cardin.  Also, Reid is has a much better sense of humor and is less awkward than McConnell.

Granted, I was a Republican page so I did not interact with Democratic Senators as much, but I had enough interaction with them to form opinions of them.  I got to see a few House members--like Kristi Noem, Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor, Louise Slaughter, Deb Wass-Schultz, and Dennis Kuchinich.   

We also got to meet the Vice President, who is a much nicer guy than the President (got to meet him too).  Was on the House floor for the SOTU and I got to stand right behind Michele Bachmann, who had her fair share of comments. 

All in all, it was an awesome experience and nothing I ever do again will probably compare to it.  I hope they decide to keep the program for future generations and its something I'll for sure be pressuring my kids into doing!

Has anyone else ever served as a Page?  Or any other staffer-like position?

Please discuss... 

[Assistant to the Regional Manager Cathcon]

Sounds nice. I think hcallega became a page for DC or something like that. Did you do this while in high school, and if so how did your entire moving and school situation work out?

[Jayhawker]

That's really neat! I've done paging, but only on the state level. Almost all the one's I encounter there are very pleasant, though I have had a few experiences, both with Republicans and Democrats, that weren't as pleasant.

Other than that, I've done a lot of volunteer work and served as the county coordinator for a Congressional campaign, and am also on my town's election board. All of this pales in comparison to your cool experiences, though!

[Rockefeller]

Sounds nice. I think hcallega became a page for DC or something like that. Did you do this while in high school, and if so how did your entire moving and school situation work out?

The United States Senate operates an independnet school, the United States Senate Page School, in the basement of Webster Hall (the page dorm).  Pages enrolled during the fall or spring terms are enrolled in four classes and courses are offered in math, English, science and social sciences.  Tutoring for foreign languages is available.  All classes are taught to AP standards.  For example, I took Calc, Brit Lit, Chemistry and Political Science.  Even though I was not enrolled in any AP classes for that semester, the classes I took at page school were of comparable rigor to Calc AB, AP English Lit, AP Chem, and AP American Government. 

School started promptly at 6:15 a.m. and lasted until an hour before the Senate convened.  If the Senate did not convene that day or did not convene until after 11:30 a.m., then classes ended at 10:45 a.m.  We would typically have full class days on Mondays (because the Senate wouldn't come in until after lunch) and on Fridays (because the Senate doesn't typically convene on Fridays).  On days that the Senate did not adjourn until after 9 p.m., all homework assignements from the day before were not due and no tests could be given the next day.  If the Senate went past 10 p.m., classes for the next day were cancelled.  One time we went until 3 a.m.

Students earned 0.5 credits for every class taken, plus a credit for "cooperative education" for paging.  Because my school operated on a semester-based system where a student earns a whole credit every semester, I came back behind on credits.  I am currently doing "Credit Recovery" to catch back up, but its really easy and I won't have any problem graduating with on-time.

[Rockefeller]

That's really neat! I've done paging, but only on the state level. Almost all the one's I encounter there are very pleasant, though I have had a few experiences, both with Republicans and Democrats, that weren't as pleasant.

Other than that, I've done a lot of volunteer work and served as the county coordinator for a Congressional campaign, and am also on my town's election board. All of this pales in comparison to your cool experiences, though!

I might be paging for my State Legislature this summer.  Strange as it sounds, I'm actually excited about it.  While Jackson isn't as cool as DC, a lot more actually gets done at the state-level and the pages in Jackson are much busier.  The life of the Senate page is one of boredom, hours of Quorum Call interupted only by the occasional floor speech.

[Assistant to the Regional Manager Cathcon]

Sounds nice. I think hcallega became a page for DC or something like that. Did you do this while in high school, and if so how did your entire moving and school situation work out?

The United States Senate operates an independnet school, the United States Senate Page School, in the basement of Webster Hall (the page dorm).  Pages enrolled during the fall or spring terms are enrolled in four classes and courses are offered in math, English, science and social sciences.  Tutoring for foreign languages is available.  All classes are taught to AP standards.  For example, I took Calc, Brit Lit, Chemistry and Political Science.  Even though I was not enrolled in any AP classes for that semester, the classes I took at page school were of comparable rigor to Calc AB, AP English Lit, AP Chem, and AP American Government. 

School started promptly at 6:15 a.m. and lasted until an hour before the Senate convened.  If the Senate did not convene that day or did not convene until after 11:30 a.m., then classes ended at 10:45 a.m.  We would typically have full class days on Mondays (because the Senate wouldn't come in until after lunch) and on Fridays (because the Senate doesn't typically convene on Fridays).  On days that the Senate did not adjourn until after 9 p.m., all homework assignements from the day before were not due and no tests could be given the next day.  If the Senate went past 10 p.m., classes for the next day were cancelled.  One time we went until 3 a.m.

Students earned 0.5 credits for every class taken, plus a credit for "cooperative education" for paging.  Because my school operated on a semester-based system where a student earns a whole credit every semester, I came back behind on credits.  I am currently doing "Credit Recovery" to catch back up, but its really easy and I won't have any problem graduating with on-time.

Wow. I can't imagine being ready for school at 6:15 when I can't even get to my 7:30 school on time. I can see how my love for comedy central would get in the way of my work too. Damn.

[Paul Kemp]

Yea.

[Pacific Councillor Big Wiggly Style]

Wow, that sounds really cool! Is Rand Paul really a d-bag though?

[A-Bob]

No paging, but your experience sounds awesome.

I was going to be one of our state house member's intern for a semester (Which was cool that I know her well since most people have to go through an application process without a contact and are rejected due to so many applicants), but I couldn't make it work with my schedule, which is unfortunate. There is a possibility I do it next year starting in Jan with the new session (her district has moved a few points more R so it is unlikely she will be defeated), but unfortunately I have classes I must take that are the two last blocks (we take half or classes one day and then half the next). Oh well :/ Hopefully I can do it in college!

[ChairmanSanchez]

I might intern next summer, but thats so far away right now that I don't think alot about it. I am, however, a regular volunteer for Adam Hasners campaign. That allowed me to meet Tim Pawlenty, and many more famous surrogates are planned for this summer.

Wow, that sounds really cool! Is Rand Paul really a d-bag though?

I pictured him as a d-bag, but it would not surprise me if he was frequently moody.

[Proud Lieberal from Northeast]

Cool experience, man. Btw, how is Senator Cochran personally?

[Emperor SJoyce]

That sounds awesome. I could never do that cause I'm in IB, but I've paged for FL House; a week in a hotel in Tallahassee doesn't hold a candle to that though.

[Yelnoc]

I applied to be a page in the House, but my Representative didn't get to appoint any that year.  I'm currently volunteering with the Buddy Roemer campaign, so I suppose that counts for something.  And I'll be going to Boys State in a little over a month, which is sort of political.

[Assistant to the Regional Manager Cathcon]

Plans right now are to become an elections inspector & to elect someone a state delegate for Ron Paul.

[Progressive Realist]

I stood next to John Burton in the elevator at the California Democratic Party State Convention in 2010.

Oh, you meant actual work experience. Sorry, no.

[Big DaddyTX]

I spent some time on the staff of Chris Shays as an LA. Was an interesting experience, but I wasnt a big fan of it. I was able to go back to working on his campaigns, thats where teh fun was.

[Hatman]

I am currently an intern for a Member of Parliament (Bruce Hyer, I-ON, formerly NDP).  I have also interned for another MP (Peter Julian, NDP-BC). I'm currently on contract, so I'm getting paid instead of the normal volunteer work.

[PASOK Leader Hashemite]

Well, I'm now a public servant for four months, but otherwise I've canvassed for two political campaigns in 2011.