Assyrian, native of Iraq works for the Congressman Radanovich

Wanting to do something more in life, she joined his Modesto staff last month.

By Michael Doyle / Bee Washington Bureau
Nov. 21, 07 22

WASHINGTON -- Evlene Andrews left Iraq for good.

Now, the Baghdad native and naturalized U.S. citizen is finding out what the civics textbooks don't teach. She's connecting Northern San Joaquin Valley residents with Congress, as a newly hired staffer in the Modesto field office of Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa.

The work puts Andrews, 29, at the intersection of politics and constituent service. It's a high-stakes but often low-glamour place where performance can shape a congressional reputation or turn an election. Andrews, and staffers like her, track down Social Security checks. They navigate Medicaid. They find benefits, run interference and explain policy.

"I'm not telling you I'm a superwoman," Andrews said. "I have lots of help." Indeed, congressional help abounds. Every House member can hire between 14 and 19 staffers for their Washington and district offices. All told, some 20,000 staff members serve individual lawmakers and various committees.

At the top, staff salaries approximate the pay for members of Congress. Radanovich chief of staff Ted Maness, for instance, is earning about $156,000 a year. Other San Joaquin Valley lawmakers pay their chiefs of staff about the same.

Valley lawmakers likewise pay their field staff roughly equivalent salaries, many in the vicinity of $36,000 a year.

But few, if any, congressional staffers share Andrews' background as a foreign-born Assyrian, someone who came of age directly under the reign of Iraq President Saddam Hussein.

"She seems like a wonderful young woman; she brings a lot of enthusiasm to the job," Radanovich said, explaining that "it was an added plus" that Andrews was an Assyrian born in Iraq.

Andrews' hiring reflects both her own persistence and some constituent-minded calculation on Radanovich's part.

Andrews lived in Iraq until 1997, a member of the country's minority Assyrian community. Her Anglo-sounding last name, she said, reflected her family's Christian roots. She studied accounting for a year at Baghdad University before moving to Europe and then, in September 2000, to Modesto to join her sister.

"I was looking for a better life," Andrews said, adding that she has no interest in going back to Iraq.

In coming to Modesto, Andrews joined an estimated 15,000 other Assyrians living in the San Joaquin Valley. It's one of the largest such populations in the country, centered in part within Radanovich's district. Radanovich explained that he was talking about staff needs to an Assyrian supporter in Turlock -- a man, it turned out, for whom Andrews' sister was working.

A part-time student at Modesto Junior College, where she is studying for a bookkeeping certificate, Andrews had been working for a bank. She had let her sister know, in no uncertain terms, that she was interested in more stimulating work.

"I am a complaining person; I always want to do more. I was looking to move up, to do something different with my life," Andrews said. "My sister got sick of hearing it every day."

Radanovich subsequently hired Andrews last month to serve as one of three staffers in the Modesto field office.

People bring their complaints and, Andrews said, she tries to find answers. In time, she says, she just might want to go to Washington.

"I'm learning the issues as I go along," Andrews said.
The reporter can be reached at mdoyle@mcclatchydc.com or (202) 383-0006.