|
Collecting from Capitol Hill
Teen devotes life to gathering political memorabilia
By By Adrienne Schwisow (Associated Press)
The 17-year-old suburban Washington high school student has made it his mission to meet everyone with power on Capitol Hill. He wants their autographs and the autographs of anyone else who runs for political office anywhere in America. And if they don't mind, he'd like a photo. He recently had his picture snapped with 99-year-old retiring South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond. That left Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., as the last senator he has to meet. "I would really like to get the 107th Congress over with," Parkhomenko said. He rises early, at 5 a.m., and sends out five or six e-mails or letters a day to politicos nationwide who haven't yet joined his unofficial autograph club. His computer database at home in Arlington keeps track of the signatures he already has. He wrote, called or e-mailed everyone running in 2002 for statewide office in every state, though he hasn't yet mailed about 100 of the 900 requests. In five years, he's collected more than 5,000 autographs, from John F. Kennedy's scrawl on an index card to a greeting from Paul Hansen, this year's Libertarian candidate for Texas' 29th Congressional District. "Sometimes I feel like the autographs are kicking me out of my room," Parkhomenko said. "Over the summer I had a lot of candidates that just started sending me stuff. They heard about my collection and said, 'I'd be glad to add to your collection. I heard my friend did,"' he said. Long before New Jersey Democrat Frank Lautenberg made his political comeback, Adam pulled him aside in Georgetown for a snapshot. He carried President Clinton's bags at the Washington Golf & Country Club and walked away with his autographed score card and a $5 tip. He hassled Palm Beach County, Fla., officials until they agreed to send him one of the much-maligned Vot-O-Matic machines from the 2000 election. It came complete with a butterfly ballot and chads. The son of Ukrainian and English immigrants, Parkhomenko is a regular teenager - a senior who gets average grades, hangs out at school football games, has a part-time job, looks forward to college and still occasionally finds his voice cracking. It's just that he also loves a good filibuster. "A lot of people may not take politics seriously, but this decides what happens to you in life," Parkhomenko said, leaning against the stone wall outside Thurmond's office. "It's fun to be a part of it." The Texan strives to present all information fairly, accurately and completely.
If we have made an error, let us know about it here, or email managingeditor@dailytexanonline.com. |
Be sure to include your name, major, and classification. Submissions without this information are subject to deletion.
By clicking Post, you give The Daily Texan the right to publish your comments in any form, including online and in print in The Firing Line. Please limit your comments to 300 words. The Daily Texan reserves the right to edit all comments for brevity, clarity and liability.
You may also send Firing Lines to the editor at firingline@dailytexanonline.com