Capitol Press Corps Colleague Goes to Dark Side
My good friend and fellow state political reporter, Mike Rosen of Austin's Fox 7, is headed to flackdom. Rosen confirms he's headed to the office of US Rep Michael McCaul, R-Austin, to be his communications chief.
This is tragic. The capitol won't be the same without him. I'm not the only one who feels that way. Here are some tributes gathered from other friends in the press corps:
"Most of all I'll miss Mike's ability to remain calm under pressure, talk non-stop to fill whatever news hole they throw at him and be the consumate news professional. What I will not miss about Mike - is having to compete against him!" -KEYE-TV political reporter Keith Elkins
"Mike's adherence to fact and disregard of conventional wisdom has no place in a Republican congressional office." -Democratic consultant Jason Stanford
"I'll miss his 10-minute questions at press conferences. They educated me on
the stories and gave me the chance to balance my checkbook and do my taxes
between answers. :) Good luck Mike!" -DMN Capitol Reporter Karen Brooks
"I'll miss comparing baby pictures on the floor of the House. Oh, and trying to teach him - a professional television journalist - how to use YouTube. Good luck, Mike!" -State Rep. Mark Strama
"I'll miss his deadpan "You Don't Impress Me" facial expression." -Laura Stromberg, Kinky Friedman for Governor press secretary
"I will miss Mike Rosen because he was the second best dressed person at Fox 7." -Fox 7 producer John Craven
We can certainly remember Mike for his multiple liveshots on the South side of the Capitol and his unflappable style. But if you start missing him, let's not forget he's preserved on film forever, as the "US journalist" who interviews "Marianne Pearl" played by actress Angelina Jolie in the flim A Mighty Heart. Rosen has his own page on movie website imdb.com and everything.
We'll miss you at the Capitol, Mike! If you want to write a line or two about what you'll miss about Mike, email me and I'll add it to this post, or leave it in the comments.
UPDATE (Sunday 1:39pm): I didn't make this clear earlier, and I noticed it was a pretty glaring omission - Rosen will stay in Austin for his new job -- he doesn't have to go to DC. So that's awesome.
I'll never forget the hundreds of hours that Mike and I spent sitting outside the sealed door of the Governor's Press Conference Room during special session school finance negotiations. It became a kind of "prisoner's dilemma" for TV reporters: If the other station's news crew leaves, then you can leave too. However, if you leave and they stay, then you risk getting scooped by the competition. If they leave and you stay, then you can bill your news department for more overtime, but get quizzical looks from the capitol tours.
Dang it all to hell. Now, who am I going to do smoke break/interviews with?
By my count, there are 4 Southwest Houston guys who are now in and around Austin politics - Glenn Smith, Harvey Kronberg, Mike Rosen, and me. Smith Kronberg and I all went to the clearly superior Bellaire High School. Rosen went to the clearly inferior Westbury, Bellaire's arch-rival. (thank God I'm not biased!) Aside from most of the members of their drill team, the Rebelettes, looking pretty scary to us, there were two other main differences:
1. we kicked the hell out of Westbury in Baseball every year.
2. Westbury had a bullriding team, and Bellaire didn't.
Between all those line drives launched by Bellaire's hitters, and all those bulls, it is no surprise that many Westbury students' brains were significantly scrambled by graduation time. Thus it is to Rosen's credit that he has mustered up enough noodle juice to be the damn good reporter that he is!
Also, since Bellaire was the magnet school for languages, many graduated multi-lingual. Meanwhile, those poor Westbury kids were lucky to have somewhat rudimentary skills in even one language, if they managed to pass English...which also may explain why Rosen has been in broadcast journalism instead of print. Ahem.
...and of course the two of us have been having this argument for years, with great glee.
Rosen, since we're friends, I wish you the very best of luck, and congratulations! However, since I'm also a Democrat, I don't want to wish you **THAT*** much luck, since you're going off to flack for a freakin' Republican.
Go Cards! Go Rosen!
Rosen is off to D.C.? What a loss for the Capitol press corps. The good news? Someone to drink with in our nation's Capitol that was, at least once upon a time, marginally sane. That makes him a standout in the madness on the Potomoc.
Who can forget his endless pursuit of Robert Talton.... out the office.... up the stairs ... around the corners ... all the time managing to keep the mike in front of the state rep while his cameraman probably suffered permanent back injury trying to keep up. Don't even remember what the issue was that Mike was asking about... just the pursuit.
Ouch Harvey. Surely there is SOMEONE in DC who used to be sane with whom you could have a drink?
(And for the record, not that Rosen can't speak for himself, he'll be doing the job from Austin).
Well, I don't know whether I'm still sane or not, but I for one am looking forward to buying Rosen a beer at the Hawk and Dove once he gets his ass up to DC. Buddy, shoot me an email when you get here! Austin's loss is our gain!
-Jay Maguire
Congratulations and good luck to a fine reporter. Welcome to the otherside of the rope.
I look forward to meeting Mike's successor at KTBC. He/she is obviously next in line for a job in Rep. McCaul's office following the Hirschfield/Rosen model.