On Friday November 18 the IRI interns were given the opportunity to have lunch with Congressman Kolbe. Congressman Kolbe was a Representative from Arizona and now currently lives in DC and is on the IRI board. Congressman Kolbe went to the Page School here in D.C. and worked for Barry Goldwater. This was particularly interesting to me given that Barry Goldwater played a big influence on my ideology. It was a great experience, he told us about his experiences and then we were open to ask questions on anything we wanted. A lot of the conversation was taken up with thoughts and comments on the Super Committee and Boarder Control. It was interesting to hear his takes on the boarder control situation after we had the policy salon with Eugene. Our lunch lasted around an hour and a half and it was great to hear his positions and ideas on some of the leading problems in the political world today. At the end he expressed his willingness to help us out in any way he could including letters of recommendation and potential job leads he may know of. It was very nice of him to take time to come visit with us and help all of the interns out.

-BS