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Podcast: Tending to the Congressional Mind, Body and Spirit

Political Theater, Episode 15

House Chaplain Patrick J. Conroy, blesses the walnut tree during the tree planting ceremony in memory of Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., on Wednesday, April 18, 2018. Conroy announced his retirement this week. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
House Chaplain Patrick J. Conroy, blesses the walnut tree during the tree planting ceremony in memory of Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., on Wednesday, April 18, 2018. Conroy announced his retirement this week. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

Members of Congress are the players we see on stage, but the production that is politics would go nowhere without the backstage people making up the staff, the chaplains, sergeants-at-arms, chiefs of staff and more who make sure the show goes on. Ed Pesce, the editor of CQ Senate and a former congressional staffer himself, talks about those dynamics.

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