Capitol Weekly’s Top 100: Jay Dickenson

81. Jay Dickenson

The Committees on Appropriations are where so many bills go to die. Each year scores of them go to the Suspense File, where their fate is determined almost exclusively in back rooms well out of sight of the public and us pesky reporters. Which is why Dickenson and his counterpart in the Senate (Senate Appropriations Staff Director Mark McKenzie) are both represented on this year’s list. Because who do you think advises the committee chairs and staff and other assorted players on the merits of those bills? Lobbyists of course. Other advocates. But lobbyists can come and go. So can Committee Chairs. But stalwarts like Dickenson tend to stay for years (eight as the director, 12 overall with the Committee), and with that comes the kind of institutional and policy knowledge that inspires those same Committee Chairs to lean on them on issues big and small. So others may have the bigger name and the fancier suit, but Dickenson has the true insider’s edge.