April 19th, 2012

Suzie Dershowitz is the most recent fellow to join POGO, and she’s working on public policy issues with Angela Canterbury, the Director of Public Policy. Suzie graduated in 2010 from University of California, Berkeley with a degree in political science. Since coming to POGO, Suzie has already gotten plenty done on the Hill: she’s helped shine a light on the defense budget, advocated for the STOCK Act and pushed for more oversight of service contracting.

The Watercooler spoke to Suzie about traveling, roast chicken, and of course, public policy.

Watercooler: What made you decide to come back to the District after attending college at Berkeley?

Suzie Dershowitz: After graduating I first moved to New York City for an international affairs internship at a U.N. watchdog organization. I quickly realized that although I love the Bay Area, New York and D.C. had more to offer in terms of jobs I found interesting. Since I grew up in D.C., it has been an easy transition back to the East Coast. I miss the mountains and the beach, but ultimately my interest in government and policymaking is what brought me back to the District.

Watercooler: What do you like to do when you’re not at work?

SD: I like going to concerts, being outside (camping, hiking, etc.), and reading lots of news. I also love movies—I just recently discovered E Street Cinema and they have a great selection of independent films.

Watercooler: What is your favorite place you have traveled to?

SD: This is tough. I studied in England at Oxford for a couple months and really enjoyed it, but I would probably have to say Istanbul, Turkey. I was only there for one day and I want to go back to explore more of the city.

Watercooler: How did you become interested in public policy?

SD: I come from a family with strong progressive social values, so I became engaged early on. I registered to vote for the 2004 Presidential election during high school and that was eye-opening. I became increasingly interested at Berkeley—I majored in Political Science and took public policy courses through the Goldman School like “Wealth and Poverty” with Robert Reich.

Watercooler: Do you have a strange/special/secret talent?

SD: I can make a great roast chicken, and I like to think I am good at Scrabble.

April 4th, 2012

If you’ve checked out POGO’s blog some time in the last nine months, you’ve probably seen Dana Liebelson’s byline. Dana joined POGO in August 2011 as our Beth Daley Impact Fellow and has covered everything from the Air Force mortuary scandal to World War Z .

A Montana native, Dana has a degree in international affairs from George Washington University. She has written for outlets like Change.org, the International Center for Journalists, and Märkische Allgemeine (a Berlin newspaper), and has a regular column in The Week.

The Watercooler recently caught up with Dana to chat about her time at POGO, international journalism, and indie rock.

POGO Watercooler: What have you learned so far in your time at POGO?

Dana Liebelson: Before I came to POGO, I only focused on international affairs—my understanding of national politics was comparatively dim. Now, I use strange acronyms and am fluent in Hill-ese like the rest of the staff. Specifically, I expanded my knowledge on whistleblower issues, lobbying, national security, and contract oversight exponentially. I learn new stuff every day. POGO is like going back to school! Actually…I think I learn more here than school.

Watercooler: What are your three favorite pieces that you’ve authored? What did you like about working on them?

DL: At POGO my favorite pieces were:

• Story on Rep. Walter Jones, because it was my first opportunity to interview a Member of Congress.
• Story on whistleblower Mike Helms, because this was one of the more complex breaking news stories I have ever covered, and it required a lot of in-depth work with Inspector General reports.
• Coverage of Camp Lejeune water contamination, POGO has been on the front lines of breaking news about the Navy/Marine Corps efforts to cover up the tragedy, and I’ve gotten to do a lot of work with our Director of Public Policy, Angela Canterbury. I really feel like we’re making a difference to the victims of the contamination.

Watercooler: How is journalism in Germany different from journalism in the States?

DL: I worked at a newspaper in Berlin last summer, and soon learned that in Germany, people who are interviewed for the news have the right to review and edit quotes before they are published. I found it weird—it’s as if people can revise history to suit themselves.

Watercooler: Tell the Watercooler about your band!

DL: I play electric violin in the D.C.-based indie rock band Bellflur. We play in the D.C. metro area, down south, and up in New York and Pennsylvania. As fellow POGO musician Bryan Rahija surely knows, it’s a total blast. We wear animal masks at shows. I’m the zebra. I’m also learning drums, but I’m not performing them any time soon in public. Meg White would school me.

Watercooler: Pretend it’s the year 2017 and you’re the editor of POGO’s blog. What’s the blog look like?

DL: The POGO blog is projected into people’s brains while they sleep. Blog writers are cyborgs with perfect grammar and a standardized level of snarkiness. We can instantly transmit POGO material into the minds of Members of Congress, and they have no choice but to champion transparency and good government at congressional hearings….I didn’t get enough sleep last night.

February 23rd, 2012

POGO is just now settling into our new office on the fifth floor of 1100 G Street NW. We moved to the space on December 20, after spending five years on the ninth floor. The new space is the result of the great office-hunt of 2011, which spanned over 30 different spaces in the Washington, DC metro area. Ultimately, we decided there really is no place like home (POGO used to occupy the fifth floor before we moved to the ninth floor).

The Watercooler recently spoke with Keith Rutter, POGO’s Chief Operations Officer about renovating the space, POGO’s mission, and the plight of the new dishwasher. Find a video with photos of the new space below!

Watercooler: Did POGO have an “aha” moment, when we realized we needed more space?

KR: When we moved, we were busting at the seams—and had been for a while. We didn’t have enough work spaces or desks for folks, especially over the summer, when we tend to have a lot of interns at POGO.

Watercooler: How is the new office an upgrade from the old one?

KR: The building provided money to work with an architect and general contractor to renovate the space, which was our first opportunity to do so. The architect took some of POGO’s publications and looked at our website, and came back with the idea of designing the office around an “open government” theme. That’s what led to our current open office design. We rarely have closed-door meetings because our office culture is to work very collaboratively. [POGO Executive Director] Danielle Brian and I, who have always shared an office, don’t even have a door now.

Watercooler: How did POGO take cost efficiency into account?

KR: We always try to wear two hats—one being fiscally conservative with our contributions, and the other being relatively professional. Members of Congress and congressional staffers visit us, as well as funders. With that in mind, we wanted to portray an image that reflects our work. POGO celebrated its 30^th anniversary in 2011 and we wanted our space to reflect our history and where we hope to go for the future. We were able to use reclaimed barn wood instead of regular drywall on some walls in the office so it allowed us to save money, open up the office, and give the place a warmer feel. The office has energy-efficient lighting and the kitchen bar is made of recycled metal. Some recycled items were too costly, but we do feel good about the office being significantly more environmentally-friendly and we came in within our budget.

On a side note, our architects are going to be entering POGO in an architectural contest for most economically designed space. We take that as a badge of honor in terms of being fiscally conservative.

Watercooler: Why is there a television monitor in the front room?

KR: The architects, in studying our program work, thought that our videos are some of POGO’s most dynamic sources of information. They really thought it was important to have a monitor in the reception area that could have some of our videos playing, so that new people who visit the office could be drawn into our work very quickly. We were able to buy it as part of our build-out budget—the money given to POGO by the building to renovate our new space.

Watercooler: Do you think the new dishwasher is going to cause more kitchen squabbles, or less?

KR: I think that after an adjustment period, it will cause less. However…there will be an adjustment period.

See photos of our new space in the video below!

December 16th, 2011

Andre “3000″ Francisco is POGO’s Communications Associate. He makes awesome videos and podcasts for POGO, writes for the blog, is a Tumblr extraordinaire, and solves technical problems that stump the rest of the communications team. He hails from the frigid land of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and graduated from Northwestern in 2009 with a degree in journalism. The Watercooler caught up with Andre about journalism, weird food, and gallivanting through foreign countries.

Watercooler: So you’ve taught English in both South Korea and Hungary—can you tell us about it?

AF: I taught English in Seoul for one year and in Sarkad, Hungary for six months. Both experiences were very different—Seoul is a giant city, and I was at a small private school. In Hungary, I was in a rural town working in a public school. I learned a lot—in Hungary for example, it was difficult to explain the concept of racism to Hungarian seniors. We were studying Martin Luther King and civil rights, and they didn’t grasp why it was important. I tried to connect it to the large Romani population that is discriminated against in Hungary. In Korea, most of my stories are about kids coughing into my mouth.

Watercooler: Interesting…do you have a favorite Korean food?

AF: There’s this Korean chain called Red Mango. If you get your frozen yogurt to-go, they tape a little pouch of dry ice on top of your frozen yogurt, so sometimes, the yogurt freezes on the inside of the container. Then, you can combine it with hot water from spigots that are in 7/11. And you end up with your own foaming fog thing on the street.

Watercooler: Do you have a favorite Korean restaurant in the DC area?

AF: There’s a place called Honey Pig in Annandale, Virginia. It’s authentic in all the right ways, which means it mainly has bad Yelp reviews. The menu is permanently on sale, and they serve intestines.

Watercooler: You started your own blog about the homeless population in Chicago—how did you get the idea?

It started as a class project. I reported on the different kinds of services available to the homeless in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood. Then, I did another class project about Chicago’s homeless being outsourced to Indiana. So after I went to Elkhart, I started my blog. In my free time, me and a photographer for Do 1 Thing hung out with a 19-year-old homeless man. Homelessness in the U.S. is an important topic, and the homeless have interesting, unique stories to tell.

Watercooler: You have a lot of nicknames at POGO—what’s your favorite?

AF: Kimchi boy is not my favorite. I like the ever-changing aspect of Thacker’s—I started at Andre 2000, but after I helped him with technical problems, I got up to Andre 25,000.

December 9th, 2011

Lydia Dennett is POGO’s winter intern. She has been working closely with National Security Fellow Ben Freeman on issues related to the Foreign Agents Registration Act, spending many long days at the Department of Justice in a locked room, poring over mounds of documents. Lydia is originally from Portland, Maine, and she graduated from Hartwick College in 2011. The Watercooler talked with her recently about the streets of Portland, European history, and fish from the Nile River.

Watercooler: What is your favorite part of Portland, Maine?

LD: It’s a very hip city. It’s really small. But they have a huge art culture and music scene. In the old port it’s all cobblestone streets right on the waterfront with bars and places to go see music and a million art galleries—one on every street—local businesses, and a farmers’ market. It’s great. I love it.

Watercooler: What do you do when are not at POGO?

LD: When I’m not at POGO, I’m typically at home. I’m staying with my aunt and uncle for free, so the deal is that I help out around the house. I have my friends from college down here, which is great. I try to do at least one cultural thing each weekend, like go to a museum or concert. Then I go out at night to Adams Morgan or wherever.

Watercooler: What did you study in college?

LD: I majored in English literature and European history. What I liked most about it…In English it was great because I got the chance to take a lot of different classes. Like westerns in fiction and film, which was a great class. We got to read great books like Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. What I liked most about my history major was that my school gave you the chance to choose one area in the world. I was absolutely fascinated by European history.

Watercooler: What is your favorite place that you have traveled to?

LD: I’ve done a lot of traveling. My absolute favorite place was Egypt. As a bit of a history nerd, it was great to be able to go there with one of my history professors who loves the country and the history. There is nothing better than being able to crawl into one of the pyramids. I’ve also been to Cuba—that was great. Greece—that was great. I got to go to Cuba because my sister married a Cuban and the wedding was in Cuba.

Watercooler: What was the worst or weirdest thing you have ever eaten?

LD: When I was in Egypt we went to a really cute little restaurant on the Nile in Aswan. Since we were part of a group, they just served you without you ordering. We got this fish soup that had some weird fish in it that they caught in the Nile, which is sketchy at best. It was gritty and sandy. It was absolutely inedible. No one ate it.

November 3rd, 2011

By ANDRE FRANCISCO

We hope you faithful Watercooler readers have finished all our Spring Reading recommendations, because we’ve got another round of suggestions. This time it’s the blogs that feed the daily curiosity of the POGO staff.

They range from wonky to hobby-focused to purely eye candy, but we hope you find them all interesting. And please let us know what your favorite blogs are, besides POGO’s of course, in the comments.

Dana Liebelson, Beth Daley Impact Fellow
Foreign Policy Passport
101 Cookbooks
Pitchfork

Jake Wiens, Investigator
Danger Room
BoingBoing
NFC East Blog

Continue Reading »

October 11th, 2011

By CHRIS PABON

I (and many others here in the POGO office) are huge fans of HBO’s True Blood. We all have our favorite characters, and mine happens to be Pam, the snarky, Swedish vampiress whose face melts off in season four. The character is played by actress Kristin Bauer, who as we found out, is also a good government advocate.

How do we know? In July, Kristin Bauer re-tweeted a POGO report on how to save almost $600 billion dollars over the next decade in defense spending.

I also happen to enjoy going to conventions, and decided to attend the Monster-mania Con in Hunt Valley, MD this month because both Bauer and Lauren Bowles (who plays a Wiccan waitress on the show) were there. I had the opportunity to meet Bauer, and can personally testify that she is friendly and nice (nothing like her vampire alter ego.) She not only signed an autograph for me, but agreed to take a picture with the POGO bumper sticker (evidence attached).

Yes, I was kind of star struck: she is a class act and extremely cool.

Chris Pabon is POGO’s Director of Development.

August 1st, 2011

Johanna Mingos joined POGO in the fall of 2010. Whether she’s pitching in with massive undertakings like POGO’s SEC revolving door database or devising a system to keep track of investigators’ Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, she’s always made things go more smoothly here in suite 900 and has been an invaluable part of our team. In addition to her work as Data Specialist at POGO, Johanna is studying biology at Northern Virginia Community College. The Watercooler recently caught up with her to inquire about her work at POGO, pathology, and her favorite restaurants in her neighborhood in DC.

Watercooler: What do you like about working at POGO?

Johanna Mingos: I love the office atmosphere. It’s amazing how much important work we’re doing while having way too much fun at the same time.

Watercooler: What’s your favorite POGO program area and why?

JM: My favorite program area is the one that I’m working on that day. My job allows me to experience the behind-the-scenes pieces to so many of the areas that I try to learn as much as I can while I’m working on any project.

Watercooler: We hear you’re kinda into pathology. What’s one of the most interesting diseases you’ve come across in your studies?

JM: Smallpox. From its devastating history and eradication to the continuing debates over the remaining stockpiles, smallpox is fascinating science.

Author Richard Preston illustrates just how dangerous smallpox can be and it was his “Dark Biology” trilogy that sparked my interest in this virus. Another great read about smallpox history and eradication is Smallpox – Death of a Disease.

Watercooler: What’s your favorite restaurant in the Capitol Hill area?

JM: My favorite date-night restaurant is Acqua Al 2, just across the street from Eastern Market. The menu is full of fantastic pasta dishes. As much as I would like to try something new, I always find myself ordering the Topini al Gorgonzola (gnocchi with a gorgonzola sauce).

For after-work pitchers of margaritas, it’s La Plaza on Pennsylvania Ave. Grab a table outside and enjoy people (and pet) watching and lots of good eats. Bonus: complimentary tequila shot after your meal!

Watercooler: You’ve sat at several different desks during your time at POGO. Which spot is the best?

JM: Considering all factors—location, chair, and computer—my preferred workspace is the window desk in Bryan and Pam’s office. It’s often a hub of activity, conversations, and spur-of-the-moment meetings.

Watercooler: You’ve been an enormous help with our Provoke Accountability sticker distribution project. What’s the most interesting place we’ve ever sent a sticker to? What’s your favorite Provoke Accountability photo in our Facebook album?

JM: Schenectady, NY. Because I like to say “Schenectady.” Try it. Favorite photo, hands down, is the sticker on the horse’s…bumper?

July 19th, 2011

“It’s a marathon, not a sprint.”

The Watercooler editorial board hears those words all the time from Keith Rutter, POGO’s unflappable Director of Operations. But recently, Keith, along with Pam Rutter, POGO’s Web Manager, and Erin, Pam and Keith’s daughter, put those words into action, and traveled to San Francisco to participate in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer—a two-day, marathon-and-a-half jaunt to raise money for the fight against breast cancer. The Watercooler recently caught up with Keith to find out what inspired them to make the trip and to get the lowdown on the whole experience.

The Watercooler: Why did you decide to walk 39.3 miles in two days for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer?

Keith Rutter: The short answer is that Pam’s brother Wayne was going to do it with his office in San Francisco. He asked Pam to join him and we all decided to take part.

The long-form answer is that POGO’s small, tight-knit family has been directly affected by breast cancer. It started with [POGO General Counsel] Scott Amey’s sister, Cheryl. She was in her 30s and married with two young kids when she died because of breast cancer. Then Pam’s mom, who had moved in with us to seek better treatment for her breast cancer, lost her battle. And last year, as many of you know, after a long, seven-year struggle, Beth Daley succumbed to breast cancer. Right now, friends of POGO—Mary, Shelly, and others—are battling breast cancer. Doing what we can to help stop breast cancer was a no-brainer. POGO staff and alums were very generous in donating to the cause. Finding a cure for breast cancer is not in POGO’s mission, but we are all on board to find a cure.

The Watercooler: What kinds of people participated in the walk?

KR: That was one of the things that was really amazing. The walkers were very diverse. Folks of all ages—our daughter Erin was the youngest person in the walk—from all over the country participated. We were surprised at how many companies and groups had teams of walkers. I swear I saw t-shirts with something like “Dockworkers to Stop Breast Cancer” on them. KRTY, a country music station in San Jose, sent a bus of 65 walkers. They also had a van with a bunch of folks who circled the walk route. They were the greatest folks. (But they did play a lot of Toby Keith ). We heard that over 1,900 people started the walk, and that didn’t count the hundreds or more of folks who lined the streets.

The Watercooler: Can you describe what a typical moment on the course looked / felt / sounded / smelled like?

KR: Most of the walk was surprisingly like if you mixed Mardi Gras and the Tour de France.  There were hundreds of folks who lined the streets where we walked to cheer you on. Many of the folks were in costumes. You saw everything from cops in pink tutus to women in big feather masks with angel wings. The only thing that was consistent was that everything was pink.

Folks along the route would pass out candy, bottled water, inspirational buttons and even beads.  A lot of people brought boom boxes and would blare music and dance while they were encouraging you to keep going. You would pass some folks and they would wait until everyone would pass and then get in their cars—or some on bikes—and then drive ahead on the route to cheer walkers on again. There were even long stretches for a few miles where we were walking on a path through marshlands of Marin county and there were folks there with crazy outfits and music yelling “Go go go!”

We were also very thankful that it was in San Francisco, because Washington experienced an incredible heat wave when we were gone for the walk. So we were thankful for the cool temperatures of northern California. As for the smell, well, it was a mix of sweat, suntan lotion, and ocean breeze. Your standard victory smells.

The Watercooler: Which mile was the hardest?

KR: Bet you are thinking some of those famous San Francisco hills we went up. Or maybe you are guessing the last mile. But actually the hardest mile was crossing the Golden Gate Bridge on Sunday. The bridge walkway, which was about eight feet wide, was jammed with not only over a thousand walkers, but also hundreds of tourists—both walking and on bikes—and also lots of hardcore cyclists looking like they were in the Tour de France. Folks going both ways on the bridge. Bikers not wanting to stop riding and walk their bikes. It was bedlam. And we had walked over 30 miles at this point so we were tired and were not as patient as usual.

The Watercooler: What was your first thought when you crossed the finish line?

KR: “What do we have to do to check out, because we have got to get to our hotel.” We had to beg the hotel to let us have a late checkout and we thought we would be back in plenty of time. But, it took us over an hour longer to complete the walk on the second day than we thought. So we crossed the finish line, checked out of the walk, posed very quickly for a few photos, and literally ran…well, some of us did more of a hurried hobble. We had to rush back to our hotel and grab our stuff and had a couple minutes to spare. It was more “Yakety Sax,” the song from Benny Hill, than it was the theme from Rocky.

July 7th, 2011

Rohail Premjee joined POGO as an intern this summer. He hails from Fort Worth, TX, is an eagle scout, and has served as a two-term Page in the U.S. House of Representatives. He’s currently a student at Dartmouth and plans to major in Government and minor in Public Policy. The Watercooler recently caught up with Rohail to find out about his experience at POGO, the meaning of his name, and bad drivers.

Watercooler: What attracted you to POGO?

Rohail Premjee: Having worked in Congress before, I really wanted to look at policymaking from a different perspective. I see that POGO is great for me because it is a top-notch non-governmental organization that really advocates causes I value, such as government accountability and transparency. Working at POGO has already taught me how we can work to make government more open and ways we can help strengthen congressional oversight.

Watercooler: What’s the best part about working at POGO so far?

Rohail Premjee: The close-knit environment. Everyone is so personable and not cold-shouldered. And they really want to teach you, which is great!

Watercooler: Where do you see yourself in ten years?

Rohail Premjee: Mmmmhhh I’m hoping to have already completed a graduate degree, but I don’t know in what. I can see myself working in a city like DC or Seattle.

Watercooler: The Watercooler understands that your name translates to “boy who likes to travel.” What’s been your favorite trip of the last three years, and where do you want to go next?

Rohail Premjee: Either Toronto or London, maybe even my stays in Chicago or DC—I love big cities. While I’ve been to Germany before, I want to explore it again, but this time visiting all its major cities such as Berlin and Frakfurt.

Watercooler: Which drivers are worse: DC drivers, or Dallas drivers?

Rohail Premjee: DC, BY FAR.