by Dave Rogers
Kathryn Brady posted a remembrance of her late father and my friend Joe Brady earlier today for his birthday. In it she asks for stories about her dad. I made reference to ‘my favorite Joe story’ but didn’t share it there… and eventually realized that it isn’t doing much good just sitting in my head.
I wrote it all out and it ended up being WAY too long for a comment.
So with Kathryn’s permission, here it is:
Happy Birthday Joe.
In 2005 after my second campaign for Congress against Patrick Kennedy, I was offered and accepted the role of Director of Constituent Affairs for then governor Don Carcieri. As such I was situated in an office with six other constituent affairs staff at one end of the State House on the first floor.
To understand this story you need to have an idea of what it is like to be a Republican staffer in the Rhode Island State House. In short, you are tolerated at best, you have no real power or influence and your time there is basically relegated to simply showing up for work, performing whatever small role you have and going home.
The ratio of Democrat to Republican at the State House is about 95/5, so if you are Republican staffer you are simply one of ‘those few people’ who don’t do much, say much or matter much. And that is if you are lucky enough to be anonymous.
I was far from anonymous.
My campaigns against Kennedy were very well publicized and it was clear to me immediately when I arrived at the State House that I was considered ‘the enemy’. For my Newport friends it is important to understand that politics matters in the northern part of the state and especially in Providence. It’s a spectator sport. I was recognized most places that I went in the city and while this was generally a pleasant and admittedly flattering experience, in the State House itself it was clear that I was to be ostracized. In later years I was told that I was seen as a potential ‘rising star’ and that anyone who helped me.. with ANYTHING.. was essentially giving aid to the enemy.
As it happens, Joe Brady and I held the exact same position, Director of Constituent Affairs, he for Speaker of the House Bill Murphy and I for Carcieri. The similarity ended there however.
Joe was ‘the man to see’ at the State House. Anyone who wanted anything knew that your first stop was Joe. He was the gatekeeper for the most powerful politician in the State (the Speaker runs Rhode Island and always has. This really isn’t even up for debate). So by extension, Joe was THE MAN in that building. Cross him at your extreme peril.
About my tenth day on the job, Joe Brady came to our office. Now just consider for a moment that in the approximately twenty months that I worked up there, I do not recall any other democrat EVER breaking the plane of our doorway. It wasn’t uncommon for folks to ask me where the Governors constituent affairs office was, even though most people passed it every day on their way in from the parking lot. My staff stopped working and looked up. They had all been there since Carcieri had first been elected two and a half years earlier and they knew who Joe Brady was. I did too but I also knew him from Newport and the Hibernian Hall.
Joe walks in and says “David, come walk with me” and holds the door open waiting for me to join him without another word. In retrospect, I thought I was in trouble. Sure, I knew Joe from Newport, but I really didn’t –know- him. The only thought that occurred to me as I asked myself why Joe Brady wanted me to ‘walk’ with him was that I must have committed some sort of State House party foul and was about to be admonished for this malfeasance. I was a little uncomfortable as I put on my suit jacket and departed the office.
“Hi Joe, what can I do for you?” was something like what I probably said as he locked his arm around mine and we began our walk. (like everyone, I was to come to learn that there was no such thing as a conversation with Joe without physical contact.)
He asked how things were going, was I finding my way around ok… just small talk until we came to our first door, a committee staff room just a few doors down from my own. As we entered, there were around half a dozen democratic staffers at work and I think two rose from their chairs at seeing Joe enter. “sit, sit Judy.. I just came in to say hello…” was Joes greeting, and then he went on, speaking directly to ‘Judy’ who seemed to be in charge, but in a voice loud enough for all to hear “Judy I’m not sure if you know my dear friend David Rogers, David just started working just down the hall” and he proceeded to introduce me to each person in the room, addressing each of them by name and perhaps asking about a child (again by name) or some other very personal reference.
I just went along with all this of course… seemed normal enough. And if I’m honest I recall thinking that this office was apparently significant to me in some way and was silently embarrassed that I had no clue why. I thought ‘ok, I’ll be in here a lot I guess and it’s important that I know these people. Joe knows how things work up here and he probably needs this office to work with the Governors people… or something.’ I made a mental note to figure out why… I had no clue.
…until we departed, took a left and went right into the very next door. Again, the staff in there seem to react as if someone important (Joe) just walked in, again work stopped, again Joe knew everyone in the room and addressed each by name… and again Joe made sure everyone in that room was personally introduced to ‘my dear friend David Rogers’.
Depart. Left Turn. Next Door. Repeat.
I just tried to look up how many offices are in the State House and couldn’t find it… but we went to ALL of them, all three floors. It took more than two hours. I needed a bathroom break and Joe waited in the hall while I did my business. Anyone we passed in the hallway, which included just about EVERY State Rep and Senator as the session was set to begin soon, was treated to the same introduction to Joes ‘dear friend David Rogers’.
Joe would offer anecdotes about the people we would meet as we walked between offices, who told good jokes, who to see about a specific issue, the name of a staffers child who may have made all-state in cheerleading or a Senators spouse whose birthday was coming up. Just a waterfall of information about my ‘co-workers’. I simultaneously marveled at just how much detail Joe knew about everyone and was dumbfounded about how I might retain even a fraction of it.
I met the State House that day, every person in it. And every person there knew that I was Joe Brady’s ‘dear friend’.
In later years Joe Brady and I did get to know one another, became good friends and I even gave a speech (in part recounting this event) at a fundraiser for him at Celtica when he was running for the National Director of the Hibernians.
But that day, at that time we were merely acquaintances. I remember asking him about it while we were walking the halls that day twelve years ago and I think he said something totally innocuous to the effect of “well you probably just don’t know anyone here” but he and I both knew that what he was doing was profoundly more than that.
Joe was making a statement. ‘Don’t screw with this guy, or you’re screwing with me’. I was special, I was Joe Brady’s ‘dear friend’.
A cynical person reading this might think there was some sort of unspoken benefit to be had for Joe in all this. Maybe he was trying to establish a backchannel to the Governor’s office, or plant a flag with a young pol who might end up somewhere in the future. I’d be lying if I said the thought didn’t occur to me. Nothing. Ever. I scarcely saw Joe again during my tenure there.
I also wouldn’t be writing this today.
I was treated differently after that. Nothing earth shaking mind you, but I was greeted by name everywhere I went up there. If I needed assistance from another office it was simply a call away. Mind you the work I did involved helping people out, navigating the bureaucracy of state government for citizens calling into our office, and any help someone would receive would indirectly reflect well the Republican Governor, so democratic staffers were often not too keen on offering it through our office.
But I was Joe Brady’s friend, and a request from me was treated as if it were a request from him. Shit got done.
The funny thing is that it was my fellow Republicans who seemed to have a problem with the fact that every democrat in the State House seemed to be my friend. I think they thought I was cavorting with the opposition or passing secrets or something, as if I had anything to pass!
I did ask Joe about it again however. As the years passed and I would run into Joe in town, I would tell (admittedly an abridged) version of this story to whoever Joe was with. And when we would get a moment alone, as I thanked him for ‘taking me under his wing’ I would ask why he took half of his day to walk me around.
Joe’s answer was always the same. He would grab my arm and pull me in so he could grab both my shoulders in his Joe Brady half hug, and as he looked right at me, frequently with tears welling up he’d say, “David, you’re my friend”. He had this way of looking at you like you were a long lost relative who had suddenly reappeared. At that moment you knew every word and every emotion of his was completely sincere.
I have tried to write this in a way that someone who never met Joe could have some sense of him… and I know that I have failed. To those of you who were fortunate enough however, I am willing to bet rent you have your version of this too.
It’s simply who Joe Brady was, and still is to me.
I hope I can be more like him.
About the author:
A two time candidate for United States Congress in 2002 and 2004, Dave is a former U.S. Navy SEAL who works as a consultant to the defense industry
