Van Hollen: Speaker’s other voice on Hill

No one in Congress is closer to President-elect Barack Obama’s incoming chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, than Rep. Chris Van Hollen.

But in typical Van Hollen style, the Maryland Democrat is taking steps to ensure that his key channel into the Obama administration remains his domain.

“I’m trying to persuade [Mr. Emanuel] to buy a house in my congressional district,” Mr. Van Hollen said with a slight smile during an interview in his Capitol Hill office.

“Obama moved his family, and I think Rahm - given the hours of the chief of staff, I think it would make sense,” Mr. Van Hollen said. “He’ll probably make a decision to do that.”

Such a move - which Mr. Emanuel would not confirm - would cement an already close bond between the calm and deliberate son of a diplomat and the fiery Mr. Emanuel.

“We have different approaches, but we have very similar goals,” said Mr. Van Hollen, who turned 50 on Saturday. His more youthful looks have been offset in recent weeks by the cane he has walked with since late December, when he had hip replacement surgery.

Besides having three children each, he and Mr. Emanuel share an interest in the “intersection of politics and policy,” Mr. Van Hollen said.

Mr. Emanuel brought Mr. Van Hollen to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) to help with candidate recruitment when he was chairman during the 2006 midterm election

Democrats that year regained control of the House and Senate, with a 30-seat pickup in the House. Mr. Van Hollen followed that performance in 2008 by picking up another 24 seats.

“I think we’ve both been successful in getting the results we wanted,” Mr. Van Hollen said. “I think we’ve learned from each other in many ways.”

Partly because of this relationship, the Maryland Democrat has been asked to serve as an assistant to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat.

Mr. Van Hollen’s new title - assistant to the speaker - was announced in December, and he has since hired six staff members and moved them into a temporary space down the hall from his seventh-floor Longworth Building office.

The post, created in the mid-90s by Rep. Richard Gephardt, Missouri Democrat, when he was minority leader, is Mrs. Pelosi’s reward for Mr. Van Hollen’s decision to stay on another cycle as chairman of the DCCC, which he has overseen for the past two years.

“What I said to the speaker after this last election is I’d be more than willing to stay on as the head of the DCCC, but I also wanted to have a policy role within the Democratic leadership,” Mr. Van Hollen said.

As he sees it, he can do as much, if not more, for the Democratic Party’s prospects this way than by raising money and recruiting candidates.

Story Continues →