House panel chief aims to tame government

If Congressman Tom Davis invited you into his office, the first thing you'd notice - after he asked where you're from and recited an encyclopedic breakdown of your district's recent congressional races - is the lack of bare wall space. Nearly every inch is covered with photographs, many featuring Davis and political celebrities, entertainment luminaries, sports kingpins. He would describe favorites - Davis with Sen. John Warner, fellow Republican and Virginian, whose seat he is believed to covet; Davis with rock star Jon Bon Jovi; a younger Davis receiving his high school diploma (from the U.S. Capitol Page School, where he was class president) from then-President Johnson.

But your eyes eventually would wander along the longest wall, up to the ceiling and next to the clock. There, you'd see something terrifically out of place: a 6-foot-long, 186-pound stuffed and mounted bull shark. In a room devoted to the cult of personality - Davis' and others - which chronicles a rise from Senate page to Republican Party star, you might look at the creature, turn to Davis, and ask, "What's with the shark?"

There's a story: Davis caught it during a fishing trip off the coast of Florida. But aside from that tale, there is a fact: No more perfect personal symbol could hang in his inner sanctum. The world's oceans contain more than 350 shark species. Almost all share a common trait: If they stop moving, they die. Unlike other fish, which suck water into their gills to extract oxygen, most sharks can take in water only by swimming forward so that it passes over slits on the sides of the head. The shark spends its life in constant motion, looking for prey, praying for air. Stop him and you stop him permanently.

Find out more about Davis, the powerful and frenetic House Government Reform Committee chairman, by reading Shane Harris' story "Perpetual Motion" in the July 15 issue of Goverment Executive.