Hanging prominently in the New York office of Sen. Charles Schumer (D) is a large board covered in Polaroid pictures of current employees, or as they are better known, the “Schumerland Staff.” Even volunteers make the board.

What Schumer himself calls “a family” has proven to be more of an elite training ground for those interested in furthering their political careers. Veterans of Schumer’s office have gone on to run for seats in Congress, the New York City Council, the State Legislature and top staff positions in politics and government in New York, Albany, Washington and further afield. One even works for Prince Charles.

“We’re everywhere,” said Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Brooklyn/Queens), who began his career with six years as an aide to then-Rep. Schumer. “It’s kind of like—what was that show or movie that they came out of pods? Body snatchers. It’s kind of like we’re all Schumer body-snatchers.”

Weiner left Schumer’s office to run successfully for City Council. Seven years later, with Schumer running for Senate, he ran for the House seat his old boss had held for 18 years. His opponent was Daniel Feldman, another former Schumer staffer who had taken the Assembly seat which Schumer once held. Weiner won, and was succeeded in the Council by Michael Nelson, yet another man who had cut his teeth as a Schumer aide.

Next year’s city elections could do even more for the Schumer legacy. Weiner is running for mayor again, and considered by many to be the frontrunner. Council Member David Yassky (D-Brooklyn), meanwhile, is running for comptroller. If both win, two of the three citywide positions will be held by men who got their start in Schumer’s office.

That prospect, like anything to do with the success of his former staffers, clearly excites the state’s senior senator.

And the excitement of that continuing connection seems to run both ways, as 10 of his politically prominent former staffers on this nowhere near complete list explain.

But though they were happy to talk about working for Schumer, one topic remained off limits: the list of karaoke favorites sung at the annual reunion party.

Schumer would not reveal them either.

“Top secret,” he said.


Alan Maisel
Age: 63
Position with Rep. Schumer: Brooklyn Administrative Assistant, 1982-1985
Current Job: Assembly Member

What is the most valuable thing you learned from Schumer?
“Well, the thing that was significant about Chuck and his success was that he was totally committed to getting people the help they needed. The staff was schooled at that. People got returned phone calls. The office was very successful. That was one of the reasons for his success—people knew that he was listening.”

What memory sticks with you?
“He would come into the office on Friday and ask how many people came into the office. If there weren’t a lot, he would go out and talk to the people.”

Why did you leave?
“In 1985, I got married. I was 39 or 40 about the time. Working in the office was a young man’s game. I couldn’t work nights and weekends. I went back to teaching—I was assistant principal at Shellbank Junior High.”




Stu Loeser
Age: 34
Position with Sen. Schumer: Press Secretary and Communications Director, 2003-2005
Current job: Press Secretary for Mayor Michael Bloomberg

How does your current job compare to working for Chuck Schumer?
“Working for the mayor is a heavier load to carry, but there’s more people to do the work. The per-person workload is higher in Chuck Schumer’s office than any place I’ve seen or been.”

What is the most valuable thing you learned from Schumer?
“Brevity counts.”

What do you miss most/least?
“It’s not an original thought, but a lot of people compare working for Chuck Schumer like working for the Marines. If you talk to most Marines, they miss the intensity, they miss the camaraderie, they miss the sense of a team working together for so hard and so long for a shared purpose, but it doesn’t mean they want to go back. People have fond memories of Paris Island, but it doesn’t mean they want to move there.”


Michael Nelson
Age: 62
Position with Rep. Schumer: Director of Community Services, 1988-1995
Current job: City Council Member

What is the most valuable thing you learned from Schumer?
“Don’t think of anything as being impossible. Never second-guess things that constituents say or are concerned about.”

What memory sticks with you?
“There was a spate of vehicle vandalism in Park Slope. Schumer called a community meeting with officers from the 78th Precinct. It was a very hot night and members of the community packed into a school. A community member asked the station chief what he was going to do about the crime wave, and he responded by saying that the precinct was understaffed and there weren’t enough officers to patrol the area, etc. Chuck stood up and said, ‘Captain, if you’re going to tell all these people here, who came out tonight in the heat, that you can’t do anything about this, then I’m going to get someone who can.’ The captain backtracked, saying that of course he would find the staff to patrol the area. After that meeting, the problem went away, and officers did patrol the area.”

What do you miss?
“What I miss most is being affiliated with the great name of Chuck Schumer. I do not miss not being my own boss.”




Michael Cusick
Age: 39
Position with Sen. Schumer: Director of Constituent Services, February 1999-2002
Current Job: Assembly Member

How does your current job compare to working for Chuck Schumer?
“Having worked for Chuck for the years that I did has definitely prepared me for the rigors of an elected official. It’s something I’m able to know—nothing is too big to tackle when you’ve worked with Chuck and witnessed his hard work.”

What memory sticks with you?
“We all have war stories of different events. The one thing that we have in common? We all think we have a great Chuck Schumer impression.”

What do you miss about the job?
“I really miss the high energy, the high intensity and the constant workings of his Senate office and working with him. The things I don’t miss the most—I don’t know if there is anything. It was a great four years and it was something to anybody who’s interested in serving should do.” 




David Yassky
Age: 44
Position with Rep. Schumer: Chief Counsel and Minority Counsel, 1991-1998
Current job: City Council Member

How does your current job compare to working for Chuck Schumer?
“They’re surprisingly similar. Both are legislative jobs. Here, I set my own agenda and follow my own sense of what’s important to be working on. But I don’t have the smartest person in politics to constantly be asking questions and getting guidance from.”

What memory sticks with you?
“I’ll just free associate. The time John Dingell, who represented Detroit, came up to Chuck to congratulate him on outfoxing him on a bill. I remember Dingell complimenting Chuck in graphic terms on being the most persistent person he’d ever dealt with.”

Why did you leave?
“To come back to New York. I could not be away from New York for another month.”





Daniel Feldman
Age: 59
Position with Assembly Member Schumer: Investigative Counsel for Subcommittee on City Management, 1977-1980
Current position: Special Counsel for Law and Policy for State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli


How does your current job compare to working for Chuck Schumer?
“It was a much more combative position. The way Chuck described the job when he offered it to me, which was accurate, we’re offering you a hunting license to go after waste, corruption and mismanagement in city government. We utilized the leverage of embarrassment. The idea was if we found bad things going on, if we could establish a credible threat of continued bad publicity for whoever was doing these things, that’s a pretty good way to get people to stop doing them.”

Most valuable thing you learned from him?
“I learned many things from working with Schumer. First of all, I didn’t know what NMA stood for. No measurable audience. When you’re trying to use news coverage as a tool, you’d better understand what that means. You’d better get the coverage that has an audience.”

What do you miss most/least?
“He was a lot of fun. He can be very funny. His PR genius was astonishing. And he was a great mimic.”



Daniel Squadron
Age: 28
Position with Sen. Schumer: Special Assistant and Co-Author, Positively American (2003-2005)
Current job: Candidate for State Senate

How does your current job compare to working for Chuck Schumer?
“They’re similar, because in both cases they’re about working hard, getting out there and trying to pack as much into a day as humanly possible.”

What memory sticks with you?
“There’s so many. The first time I met him—I was interviewing for the job. He came in, it was a Sunday morning. And he had just gone on as much of the Five Boro Bike Ride as he was able to. He went without any staff just because he loved it. And he came in and said, ‘What a great morning.’ And then he had a press conference and then I sat down with him and was just blown away by his intensity and intelligence.”
 
What do you miss about the job?
“Just the incredibly high level on which he and his staff operate all the time. There’s never any question out of focus, which is ‘What can we do for New York State?’ High level, intense and focused at all times. The least? I would say sleep deprivation, but I’m suffering through it right now.”

 



Micah Kellner
Age: 29
Position with Sen. Schumer: Intern, Deputy Campaign Finance Director, 2000-2001
Current job: Assembly Member

How does your current job compare to working for Chuck Schumer?
“Chuck really instilled the thought of ‘full steam ahead.’ He put in 110 percent into everything, and I use Schumer’s ethics as a model for my own.”

What is the most valuable thing you learned from Schumer?
“Always focus on the middle class. People want to talk about their issues, and most people, whether they are or are not middle class, think of themselves as middle class.”

Why did you leave?
“To follow my dream of being a filmmaker in Los Angeles.”


Risa Heller
Age: 28
Position with Sen. Schumer: Communications Director 2005-2007
Current job: Communications Director for Governor David Paterson

How does your current job compare to working for Schumer?
“The fact that Albany and Washington are both capital cities is where the similarities end.”
 
What is the most valuable thing you learned from Schumer?
“You don’t get what you don’t ask for.”

What memory sticks with you?
“Having to pitch a press conference at my family’s Passover seder. They all looked on in horror as I made calls from the table.”


Benjamin Lawsky
Age: 38
Position with Sen. Schumer: Chief Counsel on Senate Judiciary Committee, 1999-2001
Current position: Special Assistant to Attorney General Andrew Cuomo (D)

How does your current job compare to working for Chuck Schumer?
“With Andrew, I help oversee a somewhat larger agency with more than 600 lawyers. What’s similar is it’s still a job at the intersection of law and politics, which is both interesting and fun. As bosses, Chuck and Andrew are similar.  Both extremely hardworking. On a scale from one to 10, both get 10s for how hard they work.”

Most valuable lesson/piece of advice that he gave you?
“There’s no substitute for hard work, combined with an unwillingness to take no for an answer.”

What memory sticks with you?
“At some point in 2001, I had a family member who was very sick and I headed back to my hometown. This was soon after President Bush had taken office and just after Sen. Jeffords had switched and given the Democrats control of the Senate. Chuck was swamped, right in the middle of crisis after crisis, and a new takeover of the Senate.  But despite all of that, Chuck took the time to call me every day to see how my family was doing. And that has always stuck with me. Chuck’s response has always reminded me that there are more important things than work—like family—no matter how important the work might be.”