Although Paul Blocher attended school in Poland and finds Europe fascinating, he came to D.C. for a career in politics and is now working as chief of staff for Rep. Chip Cravaack.
After two months at the Holiday Inn, he landed an unpaid internship as a staff assistant with Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.).
By November 2007, Blocher was a legislative director. That was also the year he met his future wife, Sarah, while moonlighting as a policy analyst for the House Republican Policy Committee. “A mutual friend of ours introduced us,” he said.
Was it love at first sight? “Ah, I’m kind of private about that,” he said. “I’ll just say we’re a great pair.”
With the help of a few connections back home in Wisconsin, Blocher was eventually hired as legislative director for Rep. Michele Bachmann, a Republican from neighboring Minnesota.
“It was a very fast-paced environment, and there was always something going on,” he said.
Bachmann has a reputation for high staff turnover, but Blocher had nothing but good things to say about her, sentiments that he echoed about his current boss, Rep. Chip Cravaack (R-Minn.), whom he started working for as legislative director when the former airline pilot came to Congress in January 2011. Blocher now serves as chief of staff.
“I respect Chip,” Blocher said. “He never ran for office [before]. He’s a role model ... how a politician should act.”
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