At first, Sandi Magaoay Skousen balked at the idea of a feature story on her as the Washington, D.C. press secretary for U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye. In her professional role, Hawaii’s senior senator is the center of Skousen’s universe, and
At first, Sandi Magaoay Skousen balked at the idea of a feature story on her as the Washington, D.C. press secretary for U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye.
In her professional role, Hawaii’s senior senator is the center of Skousen’s universe, and she worried that a spotlight’s glare on her might take some of the luster off her boss.
Smart woman that she is, however, the first Kaua’i-born press secretary to serve Inouye managed to spin the story into one about the virtues and work ethic of the senator with the fourth-most seniority among his 99 colleagues.
Like the time he had three of his female staff members expecting babies within weeks of each other and transformed a room in his office into a nursery, buying a new crib and having the room redecorated.
“Happy workers produce more,” Skousen said, echoing one of Inouye’s many mantras.
Among the recipients of the senator’s famous graciousness and thoughtfulness is Pono Skousen, the 8-month-old son of Sandi and Darrin Skousen.
Darrin is in his third year of law school at American University in Washington, D.C. The family lives in Arlington, Va., not far from the home of former Vice President Al Gore.
That’s a long way from Waimea, where Sandi M. Skousen (she took Magaoay as her middle name after marriage) was born and raised.
After graduating from Waimea High School, she obtained a bachelor degree in journalism from the University of Hawai’i-Manoa and worked for the Associated Press, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Pacific Business News and Bank of Hawai’i.
Going back to school, she got her masters degree in business administration, also from UH-Manoa, before joining Inouye’s D.C. staff.
Inouye’s press secretary for two years, she initially was faced with the learning curve associated with her first job in the public sector, complicated by the inevitable politics involved with working and living in the world’s most political city.
Her job is easier than other press secretaries’, she says. Her boss works well with the media, enjoys good relationships with the Washington press corps, and doesn’t need to have Skousen incessantly hounding the media for positive press coverage. While other senators and representatives have media entourages with specialists who focus exclusively on Internet, radio or print media, Skousen is a media relations staff of one.
If she were still in the private sector, working in public relations, her job would be to sell a product. With Inouye, his work speaks for itself, she said.
Skousen, 32, is continually amazed at Inouye’s ability to retain information. When she shows him the list of media inquiries and the bills associated with those inquiries, it Inouye who briefs the press secretary, not the other way around.
“He’s very patient with me,” said Skousen.
Inouye, 76 and still tireless, expects his staff (20 people in Washington, 10 in Honolulu) to work as hard as he does.
On the Hill, Inouye’s staff, like the senator himself, is among the most veteran of any office. It has a good mix of young and old, said Skousen, who also had high praise for Jennifer Sabas, Inouye’s top aide in the Honolulu office.
Asked about the high turnover of press secretaries in Inouye’s office, Skousen laughed. “He outlasts his press secretaries,” she said.
There have been several over the years, as Inouye has been in the Senate since 1962. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from Hawaii’s statehood in 1959 to 1962.
Skousen says life hasn’t changed that much since Sen. James Jefforts of Vermont left the Republican party to go independent, swinging the majority of the Senate to the Democrats.
That slim majority shift (50 Democrats, 49 Republicans, one independent) and resulting reorganization gave Inouye as the chairmanship of the Committee on Indian Affairs, which also takes up many Native Hawaiian matters.
It also gave him the chairmanship of the Subcommittee on Defense in the all-important Committee on Appropriations. He also chairs the Subcommittee on Communications of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.
“I just get more calls related to the committees,” Skousen said of how her life changed after the balance of power shifted in the Senate.
As the man who has been a senator longer than all but three of his current brethren, Inouye essentially picks his committee assignments and chairmanships, she said.
In addition to handling the daily deluge of press requests seeking comment from or contact with Inouye, Skousen writes personal and official correspondence for the senator.
While discussing briefly the tense situation in the nation’s capital regarding the search for Pentagon intern Chandra Levy, Skousen used a press-secretary’s dexterity in successfully dodging followup inquiries, even one asking if she had a theory about what happened to the missing aide.
While loving life in Washington, where world-class museums, concerts, road trips and other cultural and social options abound, Skousen also longs to return one day to her home state.
“I know I want to be in Hawai’i some day. I miss home, I miss family, I miss the food, the beach, the get-togethers,” she said.
She met her husband, an Arizona native, in Honolulu.
She’s the daughter of Tony and Marjorie Magaoay of Waimea. She has two sisters and two brothers: Tamara Brilhante and Wendi Russell, and Barry Magaoay and Tony Magaoay.
Having taken a few weeks off after the birth of her first child, Skousen admitted it was a bit difficult to return to work and leave her son with a babysitter. Working for the gentlest giant on the Hill made it easier to get back at it, she said.
Part of her work routine includes reading about a dozen newspapers a day, as well as various trade publications associated with the committees on which Inouye serves.
Inouye doesn’t have a newspaper clipping service to keep track of where, when, how and why his name is mentioned in newspapers outside Hawai’i.
He owns a cell phone, but it is turned off more than on. According to Skousen, Inouye figures he managed well enough without today’s technologies before they came along, so he can continue to do so in today’s Internet-driven world.
Congressional press secretaries meet as a group once a week, discussing mainly bills and other issues anticipated to come up on the House and Senate floors.
“It’s stressful and fast-paced,” she said, but it’s obvious she loves where she is and what she does.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
