Instructions for chauffeuring a Congressman-- are these ridiculous or acceptable?

In My Humble Opinion
1

An internal memo/instruction book meant to help aides effectively drive their boss around his home district leaked, and Politico has a write-up, which they describe as an “agonizing 8-page memo on how to chauffeur a congressman.”

The Congressman, Indiana Republican Todd Rokita, is in a heated primary for a Senate seat, and he suspects it was leaked by his opponent.

Some of the requirements:

-Always have a supply box that contains “gum, hand sanitizer, business cards, bottled water, napkins and Kleenex, Lozenges-brand cough drops, a stapler and stapler remover, Post-it notes and Shout wipes, among other items.”
-“Rokita needs a hanger in the car for his jacket.”
-“Never allow him to be photographed with a drink in his hand.”
-“[Do] in-depth research on each event, including knowing each event’s ‘greeter’ and how Rokita will recognize him or her.”
-When picking him up in the morning, " ‘have a cup of black coffee available for him’ and to ‘empty the trash bin if there’s anything in it.’ They’re also instructed to ‘back the vehicle out of the garage and turn it around so you can exit the driveway when Representative Rokita gets in the car.’

Plus a bunch of other things; you can read all about them in the linked story.

So my question is: Is this list ridiculous or acceptable?

I’m inclined to say this is all a big nothingburger. Much huh-do about nothing, and it’s a little ridiculous that this is actually a story. These guys and gals representing us are under enormous pressure to constantly be “on,” and with cameras on phones and social media and aggressive constituents and bloggers posing as journalists, I don’t blame them for wanting to be highly managed and prepared for the day. I would’t want to be caught off-guard either, and this is the whole reason they have a staff, to take care of stuff like this. If rock stars and actors can have lists like this, it only makes sense for the people actually running our country to have a list of things to make things go smoothly for them, even if it means putting things like “He often uses the travel time to make phone calls, catch up on email, read and prepare for the day’s meetings and events. Please do not interrupt his prep time with unnecessary conversation” into the rule book.

What say you? Is this guy a prima donna, or just being smart and prepared?

2

I see nothing wrong with it at all. To the extent that there is anything possibly wrong with it, it is our government’s overreliance on having rich people with chauffeurs lead it. But this is a really weak way to make that legitimate point.

3

At least there’s no demand to remove all the brown M&Ms. :smiley:

4

If they pay for the service, I say it’s fine. On the other hand if they demand concierge service from illiterate underpaid drones, I say it’s crappy.

About the rockstar contract riders. Some journalists love to point out all the VERY specific requirements as if they’re ridiculous, 2 points…

1 All these things are paid for by the artist and it’s easier/cheaper to have a local crew runner get them locally than send a band roadie into a strange town to find them or carry all the supplies around the country/ world.

2 The brown M&Ms thing was to make sure the contract was REALLY looked at. That contract specifies more SAFETY requirements than food and booze requirements. If they can’t get M&Ms right, do you wanna trust their stage/overhead light trusses?:smiley:

PS. Never ever send a roadie into town with money!:smack:

5

This is embarrassing:

If you can’t keep track of your phone and wallet, how are you supposed to be a congressman?

6

You’ve never left the home without your phone or wallet and had to go back and grab them (or deal with not having them for the rest of the day)? I imagine as a Congressperson, the shittiness of not having access to these things becomes magnified (as would time wasted going back to get them), so I would think having a staffer do a check just makes sense.

7

I like the part about no photos with a drink in his hand. I wonder if that’s been a problem in the past.

8

That’s what I thought too.

9

My own favourite concerns the newly installed Prime Minister Clement Attlee making a whistlestop speech-making tour of Scotland in the later 1940s with his vast entourage — him driving Mrs. Attlee in one of those strange little two-seaters along with their dog straight for the border.
In those more physically difficult, yet less pompous times he probably made all his own arrangements.

10

I think that’s a common requirement (read: not outlandish) for anyone in the public eye. Also they don’t like being photographed with a forkful of food halfway in their mouths.

11

This doesn’t seem like a big deal to me.

It isn’t just about chauffeuring. From the memo (I read it) it’s clear the duties of the job are more like an assistant. It includes things like how to meet with the press and making sure to get the names and contact information of people the Congressman talks to.

There’s a checklist and it’s relatively long. But there’s nothing unreasonable about it. It’s mostly a bunch of office supplies.

The thing about not taking pictures of the Congressman with a drink in his hand is there. But that’s political reality. There’s a section in the memo that talks about the trackers who follow the Congressman at all times when he’s in public trying to get an unflattering picture of him and how to deal with them.

Overall, this is a memo about how the Congressman is a busy man and has a really full schedule. He needs to use all his time efficiently, stay on schedule, and avoid mistakes that waste time. Any competent politician should have a memo like this. There may be good reasons to vote against Todd Rokita but this memo isn’t it.

12

I lock my own doors, so, no, I never forget my keys. I have left my phone at home before, but I’m not a congressperson, so I don’t make calls all day long.

Of course people forget these things, I just thought it was an embarrassing line item for the chauffeur.

13

Hillary lost track of all her other devices except for one for months. And she was going to be President.

14

Yes, but has anyone ever produced her drivers’ orders to keep track of them? Because that would be embarrassing.

15

If I had to write out detailed instructions on how to do my job, it would probably seem very ridiculous and micro-managey. The vast majority of the memo seems to be telling a totally inexperienced person how to do things that someone with a couple years’ experience would know to do in their sleep. Maybe the guy has a couple quirks, but it doesn’t seem all that bad.

But my reading of the memo is that maybe his office is using interns to do work that a paid staffer really ought to do. Or maybe they have a huge amount of turnover in the staffer that does the driving.

16

The memo start out saying “As the driver and/or advance person for Representative Rokita, your primary job is making certain that the day’s travel and events proceed as planned and that the Representative is on-time to events and able to focus on the event and not the logistics behind the event.”

So these instructions aren’t for a limousine company or a hired driver. It’s for campaign staff who accompany the Congressman to campaign events and act as assistant for the day. Part of the duty for one of them is to drive the car, because it’s better for the whole campaign if the candidate spend that time preparing for the event than driving. This has nothing to do with the candidate being rich.

17

You reckon the woman who ran her own email server to guard against villainous Sec-State staffers snooping into her entirely private State Department is going to hand over her decisions to some lowly underling ?

18

No, that’s why it would be embarrassing.

19

A quick scan of the story didn’t reveal anything unreasonable to me. The rider is a dignitary, and his staff is expected to meet his requests. In the case of this particular dignitary, here is his list of requirements. As a public servant, the public expects his mind to be on matters of state, not where to find a post-it note.

Remember, too, that rules are to guide the wise and command the foolish. The default position is that a fool may find himself bound by them, but so might be the wise…

20

The lobbyists keep track of his wallet.