Just before Congress left Washington for lawmaker’s monthlong August recess, Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) was being interviewed by Bloomberg Government journalist Jonathan Tamari (who only recently served with me on the board of the Regional Reporters Association).
I waited in the wings — while eavesdropping, of course — until they wrapped. Then I politely pounced.
“I’ve got a random one for you,” I tell Cramer.
“You never do have a random one,” Cramer laughs. “He’s always never random. Weirder than a three dollar bill.”
“This guy always does!” Tamari quips.
“That’s professor! Take one of my courses,” I reply.
“I'd like to take one of your courses,” Cramer says.
“Mark Meadows told me that,” I recount of my last conversation with Meadows in the Speaker’s Lobby — as a wood burning fireplace crackled and the hours ticked down to a government shutdown Meadows helped orchestrate — weeks before former President Donald Trump tapped him to be his chief of staff. “I was like, ‘If you come to my course, you’re going to have to speak a little bit, sir.’”
I’m a veteran congressional correspondent. Since 2016, I’ve been a Lecturer at Johns Hopkins University (MA in Gov’t). On most social media I’m @MattLaslo.
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Sen. Cramer to Prof. Laslo: "I'd like to take one of your courses"