A Very Interesting Article About Michael Astrue That I Missed

Here is an article I missed that appeared in the Belmont Citizen-Herald on March 9, 2007, shortly after Michael Astrue became Commissioner of Social Security. Belmont is the Boston suburb where Astrue lived before becoming Commissioner of Social Security. By the way, Mitt Romney also lives in Belmont.

Belmont resident Michael Astrue was in Washington, D.C. this week, but he wasn’t there to check out the museums, see the cherry blossoms in bloom or soak up the nation’s history.

He was there to become a part of it.

Astrue was sworn in as the new commissioner of Social Security on Feb. 12.

This is the second time Astrue has been an employee of the federal government — he was general counsel to the commissioner during the Reagan administration.

“It’s fun and unusual to come back two decades later. My old office is about 20 feet away from my new one,” he said.

Astrue was in Washington until 1992, when he moved back to the house he and his wife bought in 1985 on Benton Road. He started a law firm, then served as CEO of several biotech firms, including Biogen in Cambridge.

His wife, Laura Mali-Astrue, is better known to the children of Belmont as “Madame.” She has been a French teacher at the Belmont Day School for the past 14 years. This will be her last year at the school. She will join her husband in Washington in June.

The two have been “empty-nesters” since last fall, when their daughter departed for her first year of college. Their son James is a sophomore at Georgetown University in Washington.

“It will be nice to live close to him without being down his back. He told us we aren’t allowed to live within three blocks of his dorm. The place we really like is about 12 blocks away,” Astrue said.

He said James will be happy because his parents will bring their dog, Maggie, an English springer spaniel named for Margaret Thatcher.

“We got Maggie when the kids were little. They wanted to name her after a famous British woman, and the only ones they knew were Margaret Thatcher and the Spice Girls. I pushed for Margaret Thatcher,” he said.

In his new job, Astrue is responsible for administering the retirement, disability and survivors insurance programs that pay out more than $580 billion annually.

He thinks he landed the job because of an appealing blend of private management and public service experience, he said.

Many, many years ago, he said, he was a law clerk while attending Harvard University. His fellow clerk also eventually settled in Belmont, where he lives to this day. His newest job is state representative, and his name is Will Brownsberger.

The Astrues won’t be leaving Belmont for good. The commissioner’s term is six years, Astrue said, and they don’t plan to become a permanent part of Washington. He said they will probably rent out the house on Benton Road, the same way they did when he was in D.C. over 20 years ago.

“We’ll miss Belmont, but we’ll be back,” he said.