Harnessing Power, Responsibility & Controlled Chaos as Chief of Staff
One former chief paints a grim portrait, suggesting the job is like trying to swim with cinder blocks tied around your feet. A “war board” helps the current House chief survive. The Senate chief says he was initially just hanging on for the ride.
So it goes for Utah’s legislative chiefs of staff — at once lionized for their key roles orchestrating Utah’s annual lawmaking session — all the while operating under the magnifying lens of legislators, lobbyists and the political press. To a person, both current and former chiefs of staff insist building trust across Utah’s Capitol Hill engenders confidence and ultimately success. But it’s never easy, they say. It requires the right skill set. And it takes time.
Joe Pyrah, who transitioned from veteran Deseret News reporter to serve as late-Speaker Becky Lockhart’s Chief of Staff, says he thought burning the midnight oil as a political reporter had prepared him for the Legislature.
“I had no idea what I was in for,” Pyrah recalls. “I’ve seen it from three sides now: from a journalist to a chief to a lobbyist. Until you’re behind those doors, you don’t understand the depth and difficulty of getting 104 people through 45 days.”
Shouldering immense responsibility while wielding considerable power is delicate, political veterans point out. Add to that the scrutiny of being unelected but in the limelight, and the job presents an odd juxtaposition of feeling thankless, while pipelining political dopamine.
The key, chiefs say, is to ably define priorities, calmly captain the ship through the storm, and always reflect the will of the policy maker.
Chris Bleak, that state’s first House Chief of Staff for former Speaker Greg Curtis, notes the title “chief of staff” was first appropriated as a political role by military general-turned-President Dwight Eisenhower. The genesis, he suggests, is apt.
“It’s about triaging or managing expectations,” Bleak says.
Landing The Plane
Directed by Rob Reiner with a script from Aaron Sorkin, The American President features Michael Douglas as Andrew Shepherd, who plays a widowed sitting president who falls for a lobbyist (Annette Bening). The romantic dramedy highlights how well Martin Sheen, who plays chief of staff A.J. MacInerney, does with Sorkin’s dialogue. Soon after the two would team again for “The West Wing.”
A.J. to President Shepherd: “Oh, you only fight the fights you can win? You fight the fights that need fighting!”
Then later…
President Shepherd (after playing pool): “Is the view pretty good from the cheap seats, A.J.?”
A.J.: “I beg your pardon?”
President Shepherd: “Because it occurs to me that in 25 years, I’ve never seen YOUR name on a ballot. Now, why is that? Why are you always one step behind ME?”
A.J.: “Because if I wasn’t, you’d be the most popular history teacher at the University of Wisconsin!”
President Shepherd: “F%#! You!”
Abby Osborne doesn’t have to manage a U.S. President but instead steer the agenda of 75 Utah House representatives — along with varying hopes, wants and needs — as House Chief of Staff.
“They’ve all got something they’re trying to accomplish and my job is to help them,” Osborne says. “I work to make sure they’re not hearing five critical things on the same day.”
That translates into frequent meetings with lobbyists, fiscal analysts, staff from the Utah Senate and Governor’s Office and even minority party leadership. “I really take a keen interest in the budget because it’s so critically important,” Osborne adds. “There’s always things that are going on that we’re being strategic about.”
As the chaotic final week careens to a close, surprises can be the norm. For instance, while lawmakers attended a rally for Ukraine, Osborne was rushing to get a related Ukraine resolution, stuck on the floor, resolved and eventually to the Governor’s Office. It’s the same story for more impactful policy.
“It’s all a game of chess,” Osborne explains. “Figuring out what the next move is and how we get things across the finish line — if they’re funded or not? Sometimes they die, sometimes they make it. Sometimes we bring it back for an interim or bring it back for another session.”
Passing a $25 billion budget and 500-plus bills is a unique challenge, agrees Senate Chief of Staff Mark Thomas, who says “I thought I knew the Legislature until I came to the Legislature.”
Despite working as an election director under different administrations, Thomas argues nothing quite prepares one for the demands on a chief of staff.
“It’s a totally different process,” he says. “You’re managing all the bills instead of just a few you’re interested in. You start out being proactive, you end up being reactive. You are trying to balance all of that with trying to push the whole agenda forward.”
Both Thomas and Osborne point to predecessors as mentors who they continue to consult. Osborne says even though Bleak, Pyrah and former House chief Greg Hartley are now on the other side as lobbyists, “we’ve got to stick together.” She points to their common community, citing as an example the book “The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency.”
For his part, he gives a nod to learning from former Governor Herbert, Lt. Governor Bell and Cox, President Niederhauser and President Adams, former Speaker Greg Hughes and Speaker Brad Wilson, whom he collectively calls “some of the great politicos of our time,” as well as former Senate chief Ric Cantrell.
In crunch time like now, Thomas says his role is to help Senators understand the pros and cons and reactions and pitfalls of each bill. He and his team work to frame the agenda for the public by saturating social media, penning Op Eds, offering media availability, and wading through hundreds of citizen emails.
“We really go through those carefully, and it’s helpful,” he says. “My measurement is the state of Utah as a whole. The Senate can’t do anything by itself. You’ve got to have the House. You’ve got to have the governor. We must work together.”
Define the Job or Let the Job Define You
Peter Corroon, elected Salt Lake County Mayor in the wake of the Nancy Workman scandal, promptly named as chief administrative officer (essentially COS) Doug Willmore, a complete unknown and wild card in Utah political circles. Immediately, the newcomers began to shake things up following discoveries from news reports that ranged from widespread abuse of taxpayer-funded college tuition reimbursement to timecard anomalies. Willmore proved a shrewd operator and became the bogeyman for Republican leaders trying to usher public funding for a Real Salt Lake soccer stadium, which Corroon opposed. The slew of headlines prompted one of the salty tongues among Democratic Councilmembers — that era included Randy Horiuchi, Jim Bradley and Joe Hatch — to say disdainfully, “Who the hell is Doug Willmore?”
From the public’s vantage point, the Utah Legislature serves as an exercise in countless committee hearings and floor votes to ultimately square the Governor’s vision with the state’s actual policy agenda. Pulling back the curtain, individual egos, shifting alliances, and messy internal politics can be a shock to the system, particularly for a fresh-faced chief of staff.
“You get hired for a skill set but especially that first year, you don’t know what the hell you’re doing,” Pyrah says. “Just as you figure out how to swim, they tie cinder blocks to your feet.”
That’s because the chief of staff role is all encompassing. They sit for every single meeting. In between placating politicians, a chief must manage relationships with staff, auditors, the attorney general, governor’s personnel, mayors, media and more.
“They are managing these relationships externally and internally,” Bleak explains. “They have to be patient. They have to be savvy not only to policy and process and politics, but to be attune to them to give good advice to the Speaker or the reps. Everyone up here tracks in information. You have to be both an information monger and also be discreet with it.”
Thomas, now in his fourth session as chief, says he’s learned not to lean too right or left, especially with hot-button items that ultimately must become palatable to the public.
This year alone, lawmakers and staff have wrestled with tax cuts made possible by federal COVID-19 relief funds, education funding, including a hotly charged voucher debate, ongoing drought, vaccine mandates for businesses, affordable housing, and generational investments.
“I don’t believe you can come in and be heavy handed and try to define the whole role,” Thomas says. “You have 29 Senators, you have a great staff. You’ve got a lot of people to work with. You’ve got to be a little humble. On the flip side, your time is short and you do have to define it.”
Now in her third session as chief, Osborne’s tenure started with a focus on tax reform but has since pivoted to the ongoing pandemic. How does she deal with the pressure?
“I’m very much a planner so I like to set out goals,” she says, calling the House Caucus Priority Goals ‘my baby.’ I’ve got a war board in my office where I’m tracking bills and appropriations so I can accomplish goals for the session. I don’t think that’s been done with former chiefs, but that’s just my style.”
Osborne, who spent time in the private sector before nonprofit work with the Chamber, says she enjoys all the collaboration but that the job is not for the faint of heart.
“The process is so fascinating to be a part of,” she says. “We’re government employees. We’re not killing it on the financial side, but for my time in public service, there is nowhere I’d rather be.”
Neither Osborne nor Thomas have had much of a breather due to Covid, Bleak says. That’s meant more Zoom meetings and more planning summits to accommodate Speaker Wilson, a known planner, even though the nature of the Legislature is to be “reactive.”
Both chiefs of staff sit in regular meetings with the governor, speaker, joint leadership and fiscal analyst. “How to manage this or portray that?” Bleak asks rhetorically. “They have an opportunity to influence things in that regard.”
At the same time, Bleak insists “if you’re not reflecting the will of the policy maker, then you’re not going to last.”
Pyrah, who says trust is one’s capital on the Hill, agrees. “At the end of the day, everybody figures out that personality has to be shelved,” he says. “People on both sides of the building and the second floor figure that out.”
Trust, Discretion and Not Crushing the Arc of the Covenant
Before it became cartoonish at the end, the early seasons of the political drama House of Cards showcased not only the cutthroat nature of power politics from the nakedly ambitious but unscrupulous Majority Whip Frank Underwood, played by Kevin Spacey in his quest to be president, but the messy means by which he accomplished it. Underwood’s tactics were most-often undertaken behind the scenes by character Doug Stamper, his icy, emotionless, and brutally efficient Chief of Staff. Played by Michael Kelly — Stamper bears a close resemblance to Salt Lake County’s Willmore — the COS is both unwaveringly loyal and loathe to smile.
So what does it mean to be a good chief of staff? Both Osborne and Thomas place meeting with Democrats, albeit a super-minority in Utah, among the criteria.
When Thomas was hired, the hiring committee included Democrats for the first time. “To me, even prior to coming to the Senate (working with the other side of the aisle) was an important part,” he says.
Obsorne meets with minority leadership a couple times each week and says understanding their priorities is critical for collaboration. Such bipartisanship, she maintains, is more common than the public sees.
“It never gets talked about and it’s unfortunate because it happens every day,” Osborne says. “Respect is the key thing, they respect each other. That’s why it works. That’s why it doesn’t work in Washington, D.C., where they can’t be in the same room together. But here, there is a respect.”
Utah, the chiefs are quick to cite, currently enjoys the lowest unemployment rate and lowest death rate, while ranked as the second fastest growing state. That is evidence, Osborne and Thomas say, that collaborative leadership has worked, despite the pandemic.
“We’re doing something right,” Osborne smiles.
Legacy for such a high-profile job, often comes down to loyalty, Bleak says. Upon being tapped as chief of staff by Curtis, Bleak remembers he pledged his loyalty in return for never being undercut in public. “I’m not even sure we had that many private moments,” he says. “You can be a paper pusher or you can be something significant… but it’s all a grant of power from the speaker.”
There’s also the unsung details that a chief of staff bears. That can include planning schedules for special sessions, granting vacation time, and even ordering dinners in a pinch.
After one contentious debate, Bleak remembers telling Curtis a joke that drew a deep laugh. “I remember his wife saying, ‘that was so good of you to help him decompress and make him laugh,’ Bleak recalls. “You have to remember they are people.”
At the same time, Pyrah says comprehending the chief of staff role, and maintaining trust, is crucial. He’ll never forget a biblical story told by Cantrell about the Arc of the Covenant. The gist, Pyrah says, is that only an assistant could actually touch the Arc, but once they did, the Arc fell and killed them.
“You can see things going off the rails,” Pyrah says. “But you are a chief, and as soon as you realize those limits — because you’re not elected — the better off you’ll be.”
