Ben Rich strode through the Cannon House Office Building Rotunda, the homestretch of his solemn task of conveying the “Pease Cactus” from his late boss, Rep. Bill Pascrell, to its new caretaker, Rep. Jimmy Panetta.
As Pascrell’s longtime chief of staff, Rich was infused with a sense of history about the transfer ceremony on Sept. 18, among the duties left to him in settling the affairs of the 14-term Democrat from Paterson, N.J.
“What year was that? Seven years ago? 2017. All of a sudden, I’m sitting in my office, and in walks Pat Tiberi and Earl Pomeroy, with a frickin’ cactus. And I’m like, ‘What the hell’s going on here?’ … Bill didn’t know what was happening,” Rich recalled of the handing-over of the Pease Cactus from the retiring Tiberi, an Ohio Republican, to Pascrell.
