Greg Pence’s congressional perspective is about to change from close observer to active participant. So he’s listening to advice from those who have performed the job.
The 61-year-old Columbus businessman was elected Nov. 6 to represent Indiana’s 6th District in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Republican and first-time office holder will be sworn in Jan. 3 on the House floor in the U.S. Capitol for the 116th Congress. He will succeed Republican Luke Messer, who replaced Pence’s brother, Vice President Mike Pence, when he instead ran to become Indiana’s 50th governor.
Greg Pence shared two pieces of advice he received from them.
“When people come out to D.C., see them, try to say hello to everybody that comes,” Greg Pence said of his brother’s advice. “Having been a person that did a lot of that, going to D.C. and meeting with your congressional delegation, I always really appreciated when congressmen gave a few minutes and said hello, or was able to sit down with us. So, I’m really committed to that advice.
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“The other was have your office where you live.”
Pence is taking the latter advice from Messer, for whom he served as statewide campaign finance chairman in Messer’s unsuccessful U.S. Senate bid.
Pence said he plans to have a district office in Columbus and live in his hometown on weekends and other times when Congress isn’t in session. Pence will live in a condominium near the Capitol when he’s in Washington working, he said.
How to set up offices in their districts and Washington was among the blizzard of information incoming congressmen learned in November during two weeks of freshman orientation.
Learning the job
Freshman congressmen started classes each day at 7:30 a.m., and had full days learning the mechanics of the job and important resources — everything from contacts for human resources, ethics and legal departments, to phone systems and computer software for constituent services, to budgets for their offices, to how to research and introduce bills.
Orientation leaders jokingly apologized for repeating a phrase to describe the learning process, Pence said.
“They kept saying, ‘We know you’re drinking from a firehose,’” he said.
The orientation was helpful, Pence said.
“I’ve started businesses before, so I know these things. But now I had a sense of here’s where you go to get that,” he said.
Freshmen members even picked out carpets and furniture for their offices during their time in Washington. Pence’s wife, Denise, helped him with decorating of his office, which will be Room 222 in the Cannon House Office Building.
After a full day of classes, the incoming members would participate in an evening event, Pence said. One involved the Republican freshman class visiting Vice President Pence at his residence, the Naval Observatory.
“That was fun,” said Greg Pence, who added that the other opportunity to see his brother during orientation was for lunch one day in the West Wing of the White House.
Pence said the second week of orientation was more political. Newcomers voted on leadership, steering committee representatives and on ranking members. Free time the second week involved interviewing potential staffers for Washington offices, he said.
Office business
Greg Pence selected Kyle Robertson on Nov. 26 as his chief of staff. The veteran political strategist served as general consultant to Pence’s congressional campaign and campaign manager for Mike Pence’s 2012 gubernatorial campaign.
In addition to having his main district office in Columbus, Pence will also have offices in Richmond and Muncie. The Columbus office will be behind the Bartholomew County Jail in half of the former Rich Eynon law office building, Pence said.
Furniture from Messer’s district office will be moved to the Columbus office so it can be open Jan. 3, Pence said. Constituent case files will be transferred electronically.
Having continuity and people with experience will be important for the offices, Pence said.
“You have to set the priorities for the type of people you’re going to hire, and we want to have world-class constituent service,” he said.
Taking care of constituents was emphasized during orientation, Pence said.
“If you take care of your constituents, that’s getting the job done. That’s 90 percent of the job,” Pence said.
Pence said he’s entrusting his chief of staff to hire the Washington office staff, and a scheduler has been hired. However, legislative directors and assistants won’t be hired until committee assignments are made.
“You want to get legislative directors that have some background in the assignments that you actually get,” Pence said.
Committee role
Freshmen were advised to apply for committees they want, have an interest in, think they could make a contribution to or are important to their districts, Pence said.
He has applied to be on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
“That’s what we heard on the campaign trail. That’s what important to the 6th District. That’s what’s important to the state of Indiana. We are the Crossroads of America,” he said.
Indiana is losing representation on that committee with the exit of Todd Rokita, who gave up his congressional seat in an unsuccessful U.S. Senate bid.
The committee assignments won’t be known until after the Democratic Party, which controls the House, has chosen the next Speaker of the House. The next speaker determines number and size of committees, Pence said.
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb wrote a letter of recommendation and endorsement for Pence for the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Pence said. Also, all seven Indiana congressional Republicans wrote a letter of endorsement for Pence for the committee, and explained why the committee was important to Indiana, Pence said.
The incoming congressmen also did his part to promote himself for the committee.
“I introduced myself to the leaders and ranking members, the leaders of (party steering) committees, and will continue to reach out to them to see if they have any more questions,” Pence said.
Home base
The job of a congressman will keep Pence busy, but he plans to return home as much as his schedule allows. He plans to travel to Washington the first day a congressional work week starts and return to Columbus as soon as it ends.
Wife Denise will remain in Columbus to run the antique mall businesses they co-own in Edinburgh and Bloomington, Pence said.
Rules exists about what types of businesses congressmen may own, and sometimes they must divest themselves of those interests. Pence said he’s double checking with legal experts on his situation, but doesn’t think he’ll have any issues.
“My wife runs that business,” Pence said of Pence Group LLC, which operates the antique malls.
Goal to achieve
He also checked about his status on IUPUC’s board of directors, and won’t have to give it up because he’s not compensated for the role.
Pence said he was exhausted from freshman orientation when he returned home from Washington on Dec. 1. After a day to recover, he resumed interviewing people for positions on Monday.
Since the election, the full realization of the job Pence is undertaking has begun to sink in, he said.
“I’m incredibly honored to have the job, and that’s the thing that kind of hit me. What an honor this is,” Pence said. “My goal is having been elected to this job is to spend as much time as necessary to make sure the people in the 6th District are happy they did that.”
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Name: Greg Pence
Political party: Republican
Age: 61
City of residence: Columbus
Occupation: Small-business owner
Education: Columbus North High School graduate, 1975; bachelor’s degree in theology and philosophy from Loyola University of Chicago; Master of Business Administration degree from Loyola University of Chicago, 1985; Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs, post-graduate work.
Background:
- United States Marine Corp, 1979 to 1984
- Union Oil Co. (Unocal), 1985-87, sales representative
- Marathon Oil Co., 1987-88, territory manager
- Kiel Bros. Oil Co., 1988-2004, vice president 14 years, president two years
- Co-Venture Resources, 2005-06, partner
- Circle K convenience stores, 2006-10, director of fuels
- Pence Group LLC, 1994-present, owner
- Exit 76 Antique Mall in Edinburgh, 2006-present, owner with wife
- Bloomington Antique Mall, 2008-present, owner with wife
- PMI LLC, 2014-16, owner
Community involvement: St. Bartholomew Catholic Church (finance committee), IUPUC Board of Advisors, Bartholomew County Redevelopment Commission, Easter Seals of Columbus, Columbus Waterfront Committee member, former chairman of the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce
Family: Wife, Denise; four grown children, Nicole, Lauren, Emily and John; five grandchildren
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