PARTICIPANTS
John Miller
We filmed in Senator Brownback‘s office for some time before we met John Miller (maybe he was hiding out from us?), but we heard everyone saying things like, "Has Colonel Miller seen this?" and "What did Colonel Miller say?" right from the start. As Legislative Director, John brought the office expertise and policy strategy to match David Kensinger‘s political savvy, but there was always politics in the policy too. They were a good team that year we were there.
John had come from Army intelligence to work on the Hill some years earlier, many of them later spent with Senator Strom Thurmond‘s office. On a good afternoon, often a Thursday or Friday, we‘d even be lucky enough to be around when he‘d get in the mood to do a few impressions he had picked up in the midst of all that South Carolina hospitality. It must have been quite a switch to move to a young Kansas Republican as a boss, but that‘s where John‘s professionalism came through. We got the impression he loved the Senate, and wanted to make it a good place for his people to work, as well as to serve his boss with the best counsel he could provide. His own office was frequently a gathering place -- staff seemed to feel they could work out all sorts of problems with his help, and besides, in the mood to talk or not, he was the sole keeper of the gigantic office popcorn tin.
After John left Senator Brownback‘s office, he moved out to Denver, and eventually married another Brownback office alumna, Jana Novak. We were at their wedding, in Washington in the spring of 2008. Congratulations, John and Jana!
