Typical Day

Typical Day

You stagger out of bed at 5:00AM, take a hot shower, and down three cups of coffee. You listen to NPR as you drive into work, taking special note when the local political correspondent gives her the rundown on the big issues the Colorado state legislature will be voting on this session. By 7:00AM, a trooper in blue is waving you through the entrance to the State Capitol. It's just another day in the life of a legislative aide.

Your first task of the day is to run down to the floor and pull bills for your boss, State Representative Ima Paul-Attition. This early in the legislative session, most of the bills are up for a first or second reading, rather than a final vote. You spend twenty minutes tugging folders out of your rep's packed file cabinet and stacking them neatly on her desk, acquiring a couple of painful paper cuts along the way.

With that task done, you collect your rep's mail and hoof it up to her office on the third floor. Once you're in the office, you listen to your rep's phone messages, but there's nothing unusual: a constituent who needs help with an unemployment issue; a lobbyist who wants to meet for a chat; a constituent who has an idea for a bill.

You make a note to call the two constituents back for more information, and you pull up your rep's electronic calendar to see when she might have time available to talk to the lobbyist.

Now it's time to hit the email. Yeesh. Seventy-five new messages have appeared in your rep's inbox since you checked her email last night at 6:00PM. You move fifty of the emails over to a special folder marked ""OMG""; the emails all have the same subject line, begging your rep to vote against in-state tuition for undocumented high school students, and many of them likely come from folks living outside your rep's district. You'll handle them later…or you'll make the intern do it.

The other emails are from other state legislators, the party communications office, industry groups, and constituents you've already been dealing with. Some of the emails simply contain information; others are invitations. They all require responses. You start typing.

At 8:30AM, Representative Paul-Attition walks through the door. She's just in from an informational meeting for legislators on health care issues in Colorado, and she unloads a pile of literature on you.

"Look through it when you get a chance," Rep. Paul-Attition says. You add the literature to the leaning tower of papers, folders, and brochures in the corner. One of these days, you'll go through it all. One of these days.

You pass several invitations over to your rep; you've already made notes on each invitation as to her availability. She scribbles "OK" or "Pass" on each invite, and hands them back to you.

You tell your rep about the lobbyist who wants to chat. He's with the teachers' union, and your rep wants the union's backing on a bill she's putting forward this session. Your rep okays a meeting for tomorrow afternoon.

Then, she's off to the floor. The office is yours. Time for another cup of coffee.

You spend the morning plowing through email, answering phone calls, and entering events on your rep's calendar. You manage to file away some of the literature she's brought in over the last few days. By the time lunch rolls around, you're starving and jittery from all the caffeine you've consumed, but you've got a mission to accomplish first.

You make a run to the local Panera, buy lunch for Rep. Paul-Attition, and deliver it to her as she's walking into her afternoon committee meeting. Then, it's back to the office, where you scarf down your own bag lunch.

You have stuff to do, but a committee is debating an education bill in the basement of the State Capitol. You head down there for thirty minutes and listen as the rep sponsoring the bill and his supporters testify about the bill, its purpose, its cost, and its expected effects. The committee members ask several questions. In the end, the bill passes committee.

At 1:00PM, you're back in the office and calling those two constituents who left messages. You tell the constituent with the bill idea that your rep already has a full slate for this session, but take down what he has to say and promise to pass it along. It might make a good bill for next year.

The constituent with the unemployment issue is another story. She bends your ear for fifteen minutes because she can't get the unemployment checks she's entitled to. You're sympathetic; you take down her tale of woe and contact information, and promise to find out what's going on.

You contact Anna in Legislative Services and tell her what's up with the constituent. She knows exactly who to talk to about the constituent's issue, and says she should have an update on the case within twenty-four hours. You pass that info on to the constituent, who's pleased as punch that her state rep, as represented by you, cares about her plight.

At 2:45PM, Rep. Paul-Attition walks in from her committee meeting. You go over a couple of emails with her, and she has a message she wants you to post on her website. By 3:00PM, she's on her way to meet with a mental health organization on the south side of Denver.

You spend the rest of the afternoon on social media tasks. You tinker with your rep's website, put a couple of updates on Facebook and Twitter, and accept a state senator's friend invite. As the session continues and the real debates start, you'll become more active on social media, providing real-time information as to what's happening with your rep in committee or on the floor.

At 5:00PM, you decide you've done as much as you can do. You and three other legislative aides head out to the 16th Street Mall for an early dinner. You mention to your friends that you've decided to run for Jefferson County Party Secretary, and they applaud. With your master's degree in political science, your three years of service as a legislative aide, and your work with the party in JeffCo, they think you'll be a shoo-in.

You're home by 7:00PM and in bed by 10:00PM. With another four months of the session ahead of you, you're going to need your beauty sleep…and a lot more coffee.