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old Congressmen or people who aren't on the Hill and want jobs on the Hill, and he interviewed a great number of people. We were only hiring five at that time, because I think our total staff was going to be about ten -- five there and five in New York. And he interviewed a large number and then culled them down, and I think actually culled them down to maybe ten. In his order of priority as he saw them, and Ronay Menschel, then Ronay Arlt, was the number one person on his list -- and I saw them in that priority and I took the first five. I mean I did not find any problem in accepting his judgment. I must say that they were all, with one exception, good. There was one woman -- I can't even remember her name now -- but she wasn't any good. She was lazy. I decided early in my life that I was going to fire, as painful as it is, if it doesn't work; and she was the first person I'd ever fired. Her name was Laurie, not the Laurie in this office, who happens to be supurb, but the Laurie down there. She was just awful. And not only was she awful, but we also found after she had left a lot of unanswered mail on her desk, which she had squirreled away, because we get a lot of mail down there. In any event, I called her in and I said, “It isn't working, and you've got to get another job. You can have time, but you've got to get another job.” Very painful.

I don't know if I ever told you about the only patronage position