By John Dinusson, House 1992
John, sponsored by Cong. Tim Penny (D-MN.) and Senator Paul Wellston (D-MN) was often asked about his Page service, “What did you learn?” He reflects:
“No matter how storied the politician, how senior the Member was in the leadership, I learned that we are all just kids at heart. I once watched a very senior Congressman (Majority Leader), who will remain unnamed, attack a box of chocolates at the station where the Pages waited to be assigned runs thinking he was unseen. First he stuck his finger in the bottom of several chocolates, to see what filling each one had. Then he selected a chocolate, took a bite, and returned it to the box. He finally landed on the caramel chocolate and walked away leaving the poked and bitten chocolates for the others.
“Another time I tested the will of the chief of the Democratic Pages on the floor. My punishment was to be sent over to the Republican side to do a little penance for a few months.
“Yep. ‘Just kids.’”
After his Page service, John Dinusson worked for the Tibetan Liberation effort producing the Tibetan Freedom Concert with Adam Yauch of The Beastie Boys. He then logically became a venture capitalist and is now an entrepreneur and CEO of a medical device company, OrthoCor Medical, in Minneapolis.
