Chenoweth Has Trouble Keeping Staff Together During First Three Weeks In Congress, Idaho Representative Has Lost Three Top Staff Members, But Chief Downplays Turnover

She’s been in Congress for three weeks and Rep. Helen Chenoweth, R-Idaho, has already lost three top staffers.

The remaining crew includes several members of Chenoweth’s church and most of the staff of Consulting Associates, the Boise lobbying and government relations firm Chenoweth founded and ran for more than a decade.

Her chief of staff, a former bureaucrat from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, said he’s confident Chenoweth now has a stable core of Washington, D.C., and Idaho assistants.

Shortly after winning North Idaho’s seat in Congress, Chenoweth hired her pastor, Steve Meistrell of the Capitol Christian Center, to run her Washington, D.C., office as her administrative assistant. After leaving his post as associate pastor in Meridian, he decided not to stay in Washington, D.C., two weeks ago.

Meistrell said he decided not to stay after he realized he belonged in the ministry, not in politics. “I would have loved to have done the job,” he said. “It came down to really hard core, what am I to be doing while I’m here on earth, breathing air.” He is leaving Idaho for Portland to get some more training at a Bible college there.

Chenoweth’s scheduler - the person in charge of the busy calendar of meetings squeezed in between congressional action - was to be longtime Republican worker Charlene Stewart. Stewart quit this month. Efforts to reach her for comment were unsuccessful.

Chenoweth’s campaign press aide, Tracy Mitchell, stayed on after the election, but resigned Wednesday. Chief of staff Brent DeArmond said it became clear that House ethics rules would not permit Mitchell to work for Chenoweth while maintaining his outside business interests. Mitchell is part-owner of a Lewiston radio station and a public relations company and would have had to give those up to work for Chenoweth.

Legislative aide Andy Kelly has left Chenoweth’s staff as well, although his was a less senior position.

Efforts to reach Chenoweth for comment were unsuccessful. But DeArmond downplays the turnover.

“Finding the right people for the right jobs is very important,” he said Friday. Chenoweth needs people who not only agree with her politics, but can perform the technical tasks required, he said. “We’re really happy with the staff we’ve got.”

Longtime Republican congressional staffer Phil Reberger said it is always hard to start a congressional staff from scratch. “When you start out from ground zero, which I’ve never done, you’re going to go through those shakedown periods,” he said. “That’s just to be expected.”

But State Controlller J.D. Williams, the lone statewide-elected Democrat remaining in Idaho, said he is worried Chenoweth will end up with a staff that gives her a narrow view of the issues.

“Whenever you have a personnel shake-up like that it’s a concern, but I think we have to remember … the people of Idaho voted for a very, very conservative lady to be their congressman,” he said.

“Hopefully, she’ll be able to develop a staff that will reflect the overall interests of her district.”

DeArmond said the Coeur d’Alene and Lewiston offices ought to be open and ready to handle constituents’ needs by the end of the month.

Chenoweth’s longtime business partner, Vern Ravenscroft, will be a part-time natural resources expert on the Boise staff, DeArmond said Friday.

At Consulting Associates, Ravenscroft earned his living helping small hydropower developers win licenses and find financing for generators powered by small dams and water diversions.

In some cases, his pay was tied to gross earnings from the plants. Consulting Associates has since been dissolved.

Other former Consulting Associates staffers hired by Chenoweth include Scott Hoover and Rhonda Tilden, who are now case workers in the congressional office.

Fellow parishioners from Capitol Christian Center include Teresa Sinigiani, Dean Lester and Sharon Kruse.

Sinigiani is Chenoweth’s receptionist, Lester runs her computer system and Kruse is a receptionist in the Boise office.

Chenoweth’s Washington-based administrative assistant will be Keith Rupp, a former staffer for Rep. Charles Canady, R-Fla.

Senior legislative assistant Suzanne Cross was hired from the staff of Rep. Denny Smith, R-Ore., and legislative assistant Al Garesche is a former staffer of Rep. Conrad Burns, R-Mont.

Chenoweth’s legislative correspondents - in charge of answering letters from voters - are Nathan Olsen, a former intern for Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho; and Joe Mertz, a former staffer on Oliver North’s U.S. Senate campaign.