By Al Kamen
Monday, March 20, 2006

Politicians in Washington know bad things happen when you neglect the unglamorous but essential task of providing personal service to constituents.

Take the recent example of New York international banker and lifelong conservative Jeffrey Volk . Volk once worked in the Nixon White House for speechwriter Patrick J. Buchanan . He help draft Ronald Reagan 's economic platform in 1980.

Over the years he's contributed to and raised money for Republicans. In 1998, Volk was one of those who urged George W. Bush to run for president. He attended Bush's second gubernatorial inauguration that year in Austin and contributed to both Bush presidential campaigns, the Florida recount and attended the first presidential inauguration.

Volk, who saw the second plane hit the World Trade Center and ran away from a collapsing tower, found himself in New Orleans in August with his wife and daughter, a freshman at Tulane University, when Hurricane Katrina hit.

Volk figured they could ride it out at a downtown hotel. His daughter had no ticket home, he said and, besides, "usually they blow in and out." Not this time.

The huge hurricane struck on Sunday, and it wasn't long before arsonists and looters were prowling the streets, the hotel across the street was being ransacked, there were no lights and fresh water was barely running. Volk called the White House for help.

"I was sent to voice mail," he said, where he was told he could "leave your comments." He called back and asked to speak with someone from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. More voice mail. His third try got him to FEMA in Alabama, which had its own concerns. "I called a half-dozen times . . . there was no one to talk to."

"I decided I would call my senator," Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), whom he'd never met, Volk said. "An aide in Clinton's Washington Senate office took the call and said I needed to call Dan Burton , a caseworker in New York. When I called, he knew to expect a call from me.

"He basically said: 'What would you want Senator Clinton to do?' I said, 'Call [Gov. George E. ] Pataki and get the National Guard plane and send it down for the New Yorkers.' "

Burton could not get the plane, but "he called two or three times a day to make sure we were okay," Volk recalled.

"I can't begin to tell you how much that meant to us in that hotel," he said. "The fact that anyone in government cared that we were there meant maybe there was a list somewhere, maybe we could get out. It was enough just that someone in government knew we were there."

Finally, on Wednesday, hotel employees put together a five-car caravan to move the guests to Baton Rouge.

Upon his return to New York, Volk said he called a White House aide who told him they were getting overwhelmed with people calling to complain. "I said I wasn't calling to complain but to try to figure out how I was supposed to get out."

"I also arranged to meet [Clinton] and to say thank you for Dan Burton," Volk said. They had a long chat, and while "she and I don't agree on a lot of things," he said, there was common ground on key issues such as the need for a balanced budget, strong armed forces and health care concerns. "We need to get an informed debate going," Volk said. "I am thoroughly unhappy with the direction of our government."

The Dec. 11 Clinton fundraiser that he co-hosted raised nearly $100,000 for her Senate campaign. Would he support her in 2008 if she runs for president? "I probably would," Volk said.

Remember, constituent service.

Reporters at the Pentagon are still hoping to meet, perchance to interview, J. Dorrance Smith , who's been assistant secretary for public affairs since Jan. 4. One reporter spotted Smith leaving his office, but he accelerated before a question could be asked. Another apparently bumped into him in the men's room. And another body-blocked him in a hallway and managed to chat for a few minutes.

Things may not change soon because the Pentagon has decided to adopt the White House model of a communications director and a spokesman, with Smith directing and press aide Eric Ruff doing the speaking and the briefings.

Speaking of the Pentagon, retired Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers , who left his post as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in September, has joined the board of directors of aerospace giant Northrop Grumman Corp. Under ethics rules, he's not allowed to go near his old F-4 for two years.

Also across the river, Reuters reporter Charlie Aldinger , dean of the Pentagon press corps, retired last week after 22 years covering seven secretaries. Aldinger won a word of praise, on the record, from Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld , who said Aldinger -- "even I have to admit, almost always gets it right -- or about right."