It’s time again for Take Five, when HOH talks with a member of Congress about topics relatively unrelated to legislative work.  

This week, Rep. John Delaney, D-Md., talks about Bruce Springsteen, the New York Stock Exchange and time with his four daughters.  

Q : I hear you’re a big Bruce Springsteen fan, when did you start loving the Boss?  

A : In high school is when it really started forming, so that’s when I really came to age with Bruce music, which was the late 70s, early 80s. It was kind of between [albums] Born to Run and the River .  

Q : Do you have a favorite Springsteen song?  

A : You know, I have so many. As a kid I loved Jungleland and more recently, it goes to [the Ghost of]
Tom Joad that’s been kind of a favorite. I just like what it symbolizes. And, I’ve seen Springsteen about 30 times in concert.  

Q : You’re a successful businessman, what is your biggest accomplishment in your business career?  

A : Well, I would have to say one high point that comes to mind was when we took my first company public, which was in 1996. And, standing up there with my whole team on the balcony of the New York Stock Exchange, ringing the bell. The New York Stock Exchange is right across the Hudson River from basically where I grew up, in this blue collar neighborhood of New Jersey. And I was 33 at the time, at the time I think I was the youngest CEO in the history of the New York Stock Exchange. For the whole team, being able to do that in a relatively short period of time, we had only started the [health care financing] company three years earlier, was a big thrill for all of us.  

Q : You studied biology at Columbia University, what did you originally want to do after graduation?  

A : I thought I would go to medical school and while I was at Columbia and studying biology and thinking of going to medical school, I did two things. I worked at St. Luke’s Hospital, which was a hospital right near Columbia, and I also worked up at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. And it became pretty clear to me based on doing that, that it wasn’t what I wanted to do. I largely was pursuing that because it was something my parents thought I should do, less because I was a good student.  

Q : You’re the father of four daughters and one of the closest lawmakers to your home, what do you do with your daughters in your spare time?  

A : I just like enjoying spending time with them, which often times is going to their activities, their games, whatever they may be doing at the time. And all the girls have had different interests across time. We tend to be pretty active, so one of the things we like doing as a family is spending time out in the mountains, whether it being skiing or hiking or any of those kinds of things.

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