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Paul J. Reagan '82, chief of staff to U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., replies modestly when asked about his experience learning to navigate the Senate after working almost 20 years in the House of Representatives.
"Trying to learn the Senate rules is a lot like learning to drive a car on the wrong side of the road," Reagan says. "It's harder than if you didn't know how to drive at all."
Taking a low profile in Washington, Reagan advises Webb and manages his staff of about 40. Webb, in his third year, is an independent-minded former Republican and decorated Marine combat veteran of the Vietnam War.
"As one of the most ego-less people with whom I've ever worked -- in a world of titanic egos -- Paul often has just the right foxhole mentality joke to get you through the crisis of the day," says Ellen Qualls, a former colleague now working as a strategist for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Reagan, 49, is a Norfolk, Va., native. He learned the highways and politics of four different congressional districts when working for a series of Virginia congressmen. As communications director for Gov. Mark R. Warner between 2001 and 2005, Reagan applied his skills statewide. Afterward he worked as a senior vice president for Richmond-based McGuireWoods Consulting.
In the Senate, Reagan has occasionally served as an anchor of stability for Webb, the sometimes-fiery newcomer. A former Secretary of the Navy, Webb won passage in 2008 of a landmark education benefits bill for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is intended to give these modern veterans aid roughly equal to what was provided to World War II GIs and is estimated to cost $78 billion over 10 years.
Reagan not only manages Webb's Senate staff on a daily basis, but also helps establish legislative and constituent priorities and tends to the effective handling of casework. There are other duties, too. After President Obama moved into the White House this year, Reagan was responsible for interviewing more than 80 candidates for federal judgeships, and U.S. marshal and U.S. attorney positions in Virginia. The interview process has helped Webb make recommendations to the White House.
When Reagan was top aide for Rep. Jim Moran, a Northern Virginia Democrat, he supervised a smaller staff and also handled writing and press duties. Reagan could look at his outbox at week's end and measure what he had accomplished. But in the Senate, "My time is spent in meetings, dealing with staff; there are fewer things that are concrete achievements," Reagan says.
Webb praises Reagan as "the consummate professional" who "knows every region and locality in Virginia and virtually all of the key individuals in state and local government" and who "never fails to take a measured, carefully considered approach when we address issues of national importance."
Susan A. Magill, former chief of staff to then-Republican Sen. John Warner of Virginia, says Webb "could not have picked a more experienced, articulate and knowledgeable chief of staff. I can think of no one who understands the leaders and issues throughout the commonwealth as well as Paul." She described Reagan as "a master of the legislative process, a communications guru and [he] knows everyone on the Hill." Magill is a former rector of the College's Board of Visitors.
The affable, 6-foot-4-inch Reagan is fond of the College, where his mother and three older brothers also graduated. He earned a law degree from George Mason University.
He has what he calls an "old-school" view of his role. "I remember a time when [congressional] staff was sort of anonymous," Reagan says. "When I came, I was told 535 people have voting cards -- and everyone else is a clerk. I have sort of tried to follow that."
The veteran aide shows a willingness to resist conventional views about Washington. He challenges a frequent critique of Congress as beset by increased political partisanship and instead points to changes in the news media.
"You have this 24-hour news cycle. It has caused members to be more reactive and focus on a quick hit in the media. I'm not sure that is a good thing," he says. "The notion that this place is more partisan than 25 years ago, I don't buy."
Reagan gives an impression of enjoying his job, despite high stress and constantly changing public needs -- such as diplomatically handling 30,000 requests for the 400 tickets allotted to Webb for Obama's inauguration in January. "This job," he says, "is the culmination of everything else I've done in my career."
Photo courtesy of the Office of Senator Jim Webb
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