Teen Takes Close Look at Senate : Government: Genevieve Nowicki hopes to parlay the experience she got during her year as a head page in Washington into a career in politics.

By FRANK MESSINA

Aug. 9, 1992 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

TRABUCO CANYON — At age 17, Genevieve Nowicki has an insider’s view of Capitol Hill that would make influential lobbyists green with envy.

Nowicki has just finished a term as head Senate page, where she met world leaders, dragged lawmakers out of the Senate cloakroom for important votes and gained a rare insight into how some of the most powerful men in the world conduct the country’s business.

“It’s like its own little world,” said Nowicki, who will start her senior year at Rancho Santa Margarita High School in September. “The Senate floor is full of tradition and formalities. When I started, I looked at the senators almost like demigods, but you start to realize that they’re human beings that have a very difficult and stressful job.”

A Senate page is the ultimate fly on the wall of Capital Hill. Their charge is to make the Senate floor run smoothly by setting up the room and bringing senators whatever they need: faxes, lunch, a Coke, courier services.

The head page’s job is considerably more intense. In addition to supervising the other pages, Nowicki was a communications liaison between the Senate floor and senatorial aides, the media and the Democratic Party organization.

She was also responsible for tracking down missing senators in time for roll-call votes, a job that gave her access to the fabled cloakroom.

The inner sanctum of the Senate, the cloakroom resembles a drawing room, filled with overstuffed couches, antique desks and phones. This is where senators retreat between votes to relax and prepare for the next bill, she said.

Congressional critics may take potshots at the Senate’s work ethic, but the pace is actually quite hectic on Capitol Hill, Nowicki said.

“They’re constantly working and they take their work with them all the time,” she said. “Sometimes when it’s early, the senators will sit back and talk about sports and things like that. But later in the day, it’s all business.”

Most aspects of life under the Capitol dome are split down party lines, including separate cloakrooms and groups of pages to serve the senators. Nowicki worked with the Democrats during the past year, watching senators deal with controversial votes such as Clarence Thomas’ nomination to the Supreme Court.

“It was a tough, stressful time,” she said. “During the breaks, even the pages would argue over whether (Thomas) should be nominated.”

Nowicki’s supervisors praised her highly. “She demonstrated terrific leadership abilities,” said an aide to Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell (D-Maine). “She was a great kid and everybody liked her.”

Nowicki, who hopes to parlay her experience into a career in politics, said one of the main lessons she learned during her year in Washington is how senators exercise power and control to push through legislation.

“It’s all about compromise and working together,” Nowicki said. “One of the concepts I had was that these are a bunch of individuals on individual ego trips. That had to be thrown aside because senators need each other to form groups and coalitions--otherwise they’d never get anything passed. It’s a complicated system and that’s why the experienced senators do better.”

The need to cooperate is also why legislators can rail against each other during impassioned speeches on the floor, then get along once the battle is over, she said.

“They get angry and argue intensely over the issues, then once they’re off the floor, next thing you know they’re chummy and having coffee,” she said. “They know they need to compromise to get along.”

Pages quickly learn which senators are likely to blow up at them if a mistake is made and who will snap their fingers for a soft drink or other refreshment as opposed to those who are friendly to them.

“A few are kind of reserved, but most are pretty nice,” Nowicki said. “Some will even ask our opinions about the issues because we’re the only young people they’re in constant contact with.” She declined to talk about individual senators.

Serving as a page does have its considerable compensations, among them a chance to get a firsthand glimpse of world leaders. During her tenure, Nowicki met former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, German President Helmut Kohl and Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who visited Washington in June.

“It was one of the most exciting times for us,” she said. “I don’t think any of us knew we would get opportunities like this when we signed up to be pages.”

About 30 to 60 pages work in the Senate, depending on the time of year. More are employed during the summer because of the break in classes. Pages are picked by senators, who view the position as one of the last forms of patronage available to them. The job pays about $12,000 per year and are highly sought after by youths who value the chance to make political connections and bolster their college resume.

Pages put in long days, attending school from 6 to 9:30 a.m., then working on the Senate floor sometimes until midnight. Far away from friends and family, they form a tightknit group that depends on each other for emotional support.

Nowicki recently received a letter from another former page who urged her not to forget the bonds forged in Washington.

“It’s like we go back home to school and instead of talking about national and world issues, it’s back to hair, clothes and boys,” Nowicki said. “But I learned things I’ll never forget, like presence, patience and a lot more diplomacy.”