Republican from Michigan

A coat rack stands in the corner of Rep. Dave Camp’s office on Capitol Hill. It looks like a weeping-willow tree, drooping with ties instead of branches and leaves. Dozens of them hang from it, and the Michigan Republican probably won’t ever put them away. “When I was first elected to Congress in 1990, a newspaper writer learned that I only owned two suits and three ties-so he wrote a column and told people to send me their ties,” says Camp. They did, and for a while every day was Father’s Day in Camp’s office, with guests bearing ties for the new congressman. Recalling this experience, which has more or less ceased due to new congressional rules on gifts, Camp jumps up from his seat and digs into the heap, showing off some of his favorites. Down deep, he finds one featuring Iron Man, the comic-book hero. Others display the logos of colleges and universities. He looks for his Adam Smith tie but can’t locate it. “Maybe it’s somewhere else,” he says.

Today, Camp owns a full wardrobe of suits and ties. He not only fits into Washington, he positively blends in, to the point of near obscurity. “He’s one of our hardest-working members, but a little below the radar,” says a Republican aide. “He’s not a publicity hound.”

About the Author

John J. Miller

John J. Miller, a former national correspondent for National Review, is the director of the Dow Journalism Program at Hillsdale College. He is the author of A Gift of Freedom: How the John M. Olin Foundation Changed America.

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A coat rack stands in the corner of Rep. Dave Camp’s office on Capitol Hill. It looks like a weeping-willow tree, drooping with ties instead of branches and leaves. Dozens of them hang from it, and the Michigan Republican probably won’t ever put them away. “When I was first elected to Congress in 1990, a newspaper writer learned that I only owned two suits and three ties-so he wrote a column and told people to send me their ties,” says Camp. They did, and for a while every day was Father’s Day in Camp’s office, with guests bearing ties for the new congressman. Recalling this experience, which has more or less ceased due to new congressional rules on gifts, Camp jumps up from his seat and digs into the heap, showing off some of his favorites. Down deep, he finds one featuring Iron Man, the comic-book hero. Others display the logos of colleges and universities. He looks for his Adam Smith tie but can’t locate it. “Maybe it’s somewhere else,” he says.

Today, Camp owns a full wardrobe of suits and ties. He not only fits into Washington, he positively blends in, to the point of near obscurity. “He’s one of our hardest-working members, but a little below the radar,” says a Republican aide. “He’s not a publicity hound.”

About the Author

John J. Miller

John J. Miller, a former national correspondent for National Review, is the director of the Dow Journalism Program at Hillsdale College. He is the author of A Gift of Freedom: How the John M. Olin Foundation Changed America.