FALL 2008 / Volume 8 - Issue 1
Alum Serve Behind the Scenes in American Politics
By Scott Rainone
WANTED: Dedicated and hard worker needed to spend a demanding 14 to 20 hours per day, with few days off, as a vital cog in the American governmental and political system. Compensation: little or none, but the job will provide rewarding experiences and lifelong memories of your participation in a relevant, exciting and important sector of the American democratic process.
During the 2008 heated political season, three Kent State graduates are pleased that they answered a similar call and now sit near the front row of happenings in American’s system of government. While these alumni followed three different career paths, in different realms of the political landscape, they all share a passion for the traditional virtues of public life - dedication, often anonymity, discretion, loyalty and hard work behind the scenes.
Since his graduation in 2005 with a degree in political science, Doug Graham has been a researcher with the Democratic National Committee, while fellow political science graduate Alexis Mundis has spent much of her time since leaving campus in 2007 traveling the United States as a campaign staffer for Hillary Clinton's presidential bid. Shane Wolfe, a 1997 broadcast journalism graduate, went from Kent State to the inner halls of the White House, to the heat of Baghdad with the Coalition Provisional Authority, to his current post as press secretary for Dirk Kempthorne, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior.
These Kent State alumni all share a passion for the equally important roles they play.
“Government — along with politics — is what makes this country run. I can't think of a more rewarding career,” says Mundis, who spent the spring as a Clinton campaign organizer in Ohio, Indiana and South Dakota.
”I wanted to do something that was important and relevant. I think I've found that here,” Graham, a presidential campaign researcher says. “The speeches, debates and appearances make a lot of difference, but I'm not really sure most people realize all the hard work that is needed behind the scenes."
While Graham and Mundis are knee-deep in the current battle for the next American leader, Wolfe plays a different role, serving an outgoing administration. Wolfe became involved in the Bush administration in its infancy when his tenacity paid off with an internship in President George W. Bush's media affairs office in 2001. There he was involved in day-to-day White House operations, as well as serving as part of the president's advance team. In 2003, after graduating from law school, he joined Coalition Administrator L. Paul Bremmer III as a spokesperson in Iraq, spending a year in the country's capital after the toppling of Saddam Hussein. Wolfe moved to Washington to the Interior Department and has served two cabinet secretaries since his return.
“I consider myself pretty fortunate to be a part of the effort (in Iraq) at that time,” Wolfe says. “You could say I had an almost front row seat to some pretty historic events.”
Shane Wolfe (center) joins U.S. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne (left) during a television interview at Red Rock Canyon National Recreation Area near Las Vegas. The area is part of the more than 500 million acres of U.S. land managed by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
For Mundis, it was firefighters kicking in an Indiana campaign headquarters door to inform her and her boss that the building was on fire. While much of their hard work was destroyed, the fact that the next morning former President Bill Clinton picked the two up in his motorcade and came to the site to rally volunteers and staff is a lasting memory.
For Wolfe, it was the once-in-a-lifetime experience of coming face-to-face with former Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein as he was going to stand trial, or his first meeting with President Bush on the South Lawn of the White House while he was an intern.
While many of us might be star-struck running into Democratic leaders like Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton or Nancy Pelosi, for Graham it’s just another day at his office, located in the country’s seat of power.
“I think people would really be surprised by how much gets done in Washington. It seems to most observers that we suffer from endless gridlock. However, there is a dizzying amount of activity in Washington,” Graham says.
Wolfe agrees; “There are tremendous amounts of cooperation and give-and-take relationships here that get great things accomplished. Many, many people in Washington, including Secretary Kempthorne, are truly committed to serving the American citizens.”
Wolfe's journey to the heart of the seat of American democracy took a nontraditional route through the newsrooms of Kent State student media outlets TV2 and the Daily Kent Stater. Graham and Mundis were both part of the university's well-regarded Washington Program in National Issues, which provides participants with up-close experiences with the U.S. political system and policy issues and firsthand knowledge of the structures of government.
”The program prepared me for exactly what I'm doing today. It provided me with the advantage and the tools to be successful in the real world,” says Mundis, who interned in Clinton's U.S. Senate office. ”Senator Clinton is an amazing, caring and compassionate person. She made a point to know all her interns’ names and little bit about them and provided us with a great experience and a lot of responsibility.”
Graham, who interned with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee while at Kent State, echoed the praise of the WPNI program. ”The Washington Program allowed me to learn about the city and our government up close. I instantly caught the 'Potomac Fever.’”
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