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Aranthan Steve Jones II

AJ Jones
Aranthan Steve Jones II ("AJ")

Can do guy

Aranthan Steve Jones II ("AJ") is the highest ranking African American Health Policy Advisor in the U.S. House of Representatives.

There's no "to do" list for AJ in his current job.

When you work 12-15 hour days, six days a week, in a job that is both "an adrenaline rush" and causes "constant insomnia," there's simply no time to make lists.

"Everything that comes to Congress and in this office is a crisis," Jones says. "Any direct or in-direct political or policy flare-up - it becomes priority number one for us."

That's a quote that most Congressional staff members could say. It's just that, for Jones (B.S. '99 in anthropology and sociology and minor in African American studies), work has been one crisis after another, since he became the Director of Policy and Research in US House of Representatives' Majority Whip Office shortly after Democrats seized control of Congress in the November elections. The Majority Whip Office is third highest leadership office in the US House Representatives and will be headed by Congressman James E. Clyburn (D-South Carolina).

Majority Whip Clyburn selected Jones for the high level policy position because of his political acumen reputation of being Congress's "point-man" in regards to health disparity elimination policy, healthcare quality and finance policy, public health policy and other social policy issues. That reputation was garnered by Jones's policy work behalf of the Congressional Minority Caucuses (which represent over 150 members of Congress and is comprised of the Congressional Black, Hispanic, Native American and Asian Pacific American Caucus), Congressional Bicameral HIV/AIDS Taskforce, and as an advisor to over 15 health related Congressional Member Organizations.

His reputation was further buoyed by his work as Chief-of-Staff and Director of Hurricane Katrina Recovery Policy for Congressman William Jefferson (D-Louisiana).

When Congressman Jefferson tap Jones for the post-shortly before Hurricane Katrina and Rita devastated the Gulf Coast-he became youngest African American chief-of-staff on Capitol Hill.

"Congressman Jefferson and I developed a relationship while working together on healthcare legislation under the purview of the Ways and Means Committee."

Congressman Jefferson was a member of that committee before being removed in June 2006 because of potential ethical lapses and a pending federal investigation.

Jones's life changed greatly the last week in August 2005 when he and his family, including his wife Oluwatomi Ruth Fadeyi-Jones (B.S. '99 in business) and sister-in-law Ifeoluwa Y. Fadeyi-Omitowoju (B.S. '94 in Zoology) took a long overdue a vacation to Myrtle Beach, S.C.

"My wife pleaded with me not to bring my Blackberry," Jones remembers. "I was pretty much isolated from my work world, but I'm such a news junkie that I would rise early in the morning and go down to the resort's lobby to quench my CNN fix."

To his surprise, on the morning of August 30, 2005, two days into their vacation; TV networks were doing wall-to-wall coverage mass evacuations occurring in the city New Orleans as a result of Hurricane Katrina. Jones became immediately concerned because Jefferson's district encompasses much of the city that was now being inundated with water from the Gulf of Mexico and the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway.

"I began calling, the mayor's office, governor's office, and couldn't locate anybody or get a good feel for what was happening in Mr. Jefferson's district. Our vacation turned on this impending disaster," he said. "As congressional members, foreign dignitaries, white house officials and news reporters began to call me for information; I began to have a sinking feeling as though I had dropped the ball and that the disaster was spinning out of control." Hurricane Katrina and the rebuilding of New Orleans had consumed much of Jones' time since August 2005.

But even Hurricane Katrina couldn't compare to the crisis Jones would face in May 2006, when the FBI, in a move decried by both Republicans and Democrats in Congress, searched Jefferson's Capitol Hill office. The raid occurred just four days after Jones' second child was born and on the election day for mayor of New Orleans.

"I nor any one on staff was in the office that night and I was perplexed as to what was going on because the issues of concern didn't involve me in anyway and occurred prior to my appointment in the Congressman's office," Jones said. "What I had believed to be a mundane and somewhat dismissive investigative case now became national news. By that following Tuesday the event became a national calamity and grew into a congressional, presidential mushroom cloud."

"Even when Katrina happened, I don't think I had ever seen that many cameras pointed at Mr. Jefferson. I must admit initial anxiety made me consider if it was time to brush-up the resume. But I received a number of supportive calls from current and former members of Congress, the Mayor's office, Governor's office, family members and Katrina victims who all implored me to stay. So I prayed to God for guidance and pressed on."

"How else do you keep your nose to the policy grindstone, keep the office running, and ensure the recovery of a district where 1.5 million of its residents have been displaced and suffers from one of the worst natural disasters in world history with an investigation going on around you?" Jones wondered. "But at the end of the day you have to gather your resolve and realize that people are depending on you, the nation is watching, and God wants to see what type of character you have."

It's no wonder Jones doesn't keep a "to-do" list.

Despite Katrina, and the FBI, Jones has no doubt he made the right decision when he became Jefferson's chief-of-staff.

"I have no regrets," he said. "There were challenges of course but it was an incredible experience and it advanced me professionally and personally. I would not be at the level I am today without being tested and being able to have a testimony to share."

Prior to being named Jefferson's chief-of-staff, Jones worked as Mr. Jefferson's Ways and Means committee advisor for healthcare, social security, TANF, and unemployment issues.

Jones started his congressional career in 2001 serving as the health policy director for the Congressional Black Caucus and as a lead health advisor to the Select Committee on Homeland Security's Subcommittee for Preparedness and Response. He has received numerous national and international awards for his work in healthcare and was recognized by Ebony Magazine as one its 30 national leaders under the age of 30. In 2005, CNN's Headline News profiled Jones as one of five congressional staffers to be future national policy leaders and run for political office.

"I have been extremely blessed," Jones said, "and I have to acknowledge the training that I received from Iowa State University for giving me the foundation I stand on today. As a former Ronald E. McNair Scholar, I must give thanks to Drs. George A. Jackson, Eugenia Farrar, Gloria Jones-Johnson, Michael Whiteford, Dennis M. Warren (deceased), and the Anthropology and Sociology departments for giving me the tools for success.

"I'm a policy guy and it's an incredible honor to serve in the most powerful policy institution of modern times in this capacity. And who knows, there may come a day when I look for the support of the Iowa Caucuses for my future political endeavors."