Heller walks into a brave new world

Sunday, Nov. 19, 2006 | 7:16 a.m.

WASHINGTON - This is what happens when you're a new member of Congress: Your phone doesn't stop ringing, you don't know half the people who are calling and you can't possibly make all the events they invite you to attend.

Welcome to Dean Heller's new world.

Heller, the Republican representative-elect from Nevada's 2nd Congressional District, flew into town for Welcome Week, the Capitol Hill tradition that falls somewhere between corporate retreat and book-and-locker-day at high school.

He joined about 50 new lawmakers fresh off election victories for a few days of orientation punctuated by decision-making that will stay with him throughout his career - from votes for party leadership to choosing a new office.

After serving as Nevada secretary of state for more than a decade, he couldn't help but feel like "a freshman all over again." The week, he added, was shaping up to be kind of "like drinking from a fire hose." And it was only Tuesday.

As a freshman in the minority party, Heller knows the limits of his position. As much as he believes Republicans need to return to fiscal conservatism and ethics after the thumping they took in the midterm elections, he won't be leading that charge. As a newcomer, he says repeatedly, his role is to listen and ask questions.

He is reaching across the aisle to Nevada's Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley, and they have talked about having the state's three-member House delegation host weekly constituent breakfasts - something that had been a partisan affair under his predecessor, Republican Jim Gibbons, now the governor-elect.

Berkley warned that the new congressman will face resistance from his party on key Nevada issues such as stopping the plan to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain and keeping the proceeds from federal land sales in Nevada. The Bush administration wants both Yucca and the land funds.

Heller and fellow Republican Rep. Jon Porter will be "swimming upstream, and that's going to be a tough situation," she said.

Still, Berkley said with Heller's warm and open personality, Nevada's delegation will "get on much better."

On Monday night Heller rode a charter bus to the White House, where President Bush had invited all the new members and their spouses to dinner. He couldn't help but notice the heavy police activity on the streets - until he realized that the flashing lights were for him, because he was being escorted in a police motorcade.

There were tours of the Oval Office and the Rose Garden. Bush chatted with guests. Heller's wife, Lynne, couldn't pass up the chance to make a quick can-you-believe-where-I-am phone call to her sister.

The next morning was a class photo on the Capitol steps and by midday, he had made friends. "This guy," he said pointing to the empty seat next to him where Republican Congressman-elect Kevin McCarthy of California had been sitting. "And Heath," he added, nodding down the row where NFL-quarterback-turned-Democratic-Congressman-elect Heath Shuler of North Carolina had been.

He knew these were the days when party labels didn't matter as much as figuring out which way to the House floor.

"This is the most friendly time it'll ever be," he said.

That night he got a phone call from Karl Rove. The political mastermind of the Bush administration invited him to breakfast the next morning for a post-mortem on the elections with a handful of other Republican lawmakers.

By the time he got back on the Hill, the cliques had formed. No longer did the freshmen hang out as a group, but split into Ds and Rs to start the party leadership elections. Heller had been preparing for this. He knew "you better choose right" or face a career in the doghouse.

By Friday he was casting his vote for House Majority-turned-Minority Leader John Boehner. Boehner won easily, and Heller had passed his first test.

Next up: Where would he spend his workdays for the next two years?

His first office choice got picked in the Friday afternoon lottery by a congresswoman-elect from New York. Darn Democrats. The second choice, Longworth 1023, was his. He had never seen the place, but his aide told him it was a keeper.

When he and his wife went to check it out, they found a typical, cramped 1,000-square-foot Capitol Hill office. A friendly Democratic staffer displayed carpet swatches and paint samples for renovations. Later he could choose drapes.

Heller stepped into the suite that would become his office, and looked out the window on a bright Washington afternoon.

"That's not bad," he said, even as he noted the smokestacks in the view. "This is OK."