Rep.-elect learning how to be lawmaker

The Clarion-Ledger, 11/18/8

Republican Rep.-elect Gregg Harper won’t join the House of Representatives until January, but he’s in Washington this week for lessons on being a lawmaker and to help select his party’s leaders.

“The volume of things that you have to learn is overwhelming at first,” Harper said.

He arrived in Washington on Saturday and already has attended briefings and been given stacks of documents that advise him on what to do – and what not to do – after he’s sworn in Jan. 6. Harper won the right to represent the 3rd District in Congress by defeating Democrat Joel Gill on Nov. 4. The district has been represented by retiring Rep. Chip Pickering since 1997.