In high school, Rep. Moore aides were on competing debate teams

Now Beukelman, 25, the newly promoted legislative aide in Rep. Dennis Moore’s (D- Kan.) office, has Naylor to thank for his recent promotion.

 {mosads}Beukelman attended Grinnell College and went to work for a New York law firm after graduation. Naylor, who is Moore’s new communications director, sensed that the position was not right for his childhood rival, and offered Beukelman the floor of his apartment to crash on while he looked for Capitol Hill employment.

 When a legislative correspondent position opened in Moore’s office last December, it seemed the stars had aligned for Beukelman and Naylor.

 “I had kind of been pegging him to work in this office for a while,” Naylor said.

 Beukelman now has his own bed in an apartment separate from Naylor’s, one of a few changes in their friendship. The men still debate political issues, but these days, the dialogues are more good-natured than competitive.

 “We’re like an old married couple,” Beukelman joked.

 The camaraderie Naylor and Beukelman share in Moore’s office is not limited to the childhood friends. New legislative correspondent Chloe White, who first interned for Moore in 2007, said she came back to the office for a second internship this past summer in part because of the good spirits.

 “I love the people … they are so, so funny,” the 22-year-old White said. “Not a day goes by that there’s not laughing about something.”

 White was inspired to work on Capitol Hill early on. Her third-grade teacher grew up with former Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.) and had a crush on him as a child. White then saw the senator during an elementary school field trip to Washington and decided to share her teacher’s secret.

 Bradley replied to White that the crush had been mutual — and the politician’s kindness immediately hooked White.

When White couldn’t find a job after graduating from Washington University in St. Louis, she asked to intern again for Moore, in whose district she resides. The gamble paid off — after a colleague left for graduate school, the office shuffled and White had a permanent post.

 “I love the energy — there’s always something going on — and being in the thick of things,” White said. “Even just writing letters is really exciting for me. I feel like I’m doing my small part, as tiny as it is.”

 Her hectic schedule has kept her away from her original motivation for politics; she doesn’t even know what Bill Bradley is up to these days.

 “I’ve been a bad Bradley fan,” White admits, laughing.

 Both White and Beukelman stress how lucky they feel to have been promoted — “I really just think I happened to be at the right place at the right time,” White said — and neither plan to chance fate again anytime soon.

 “I want to stay on the Hill for quite a while,” Beukelman said.