When Sam Brownback left the Kansas governor's mansion in January, he left behind dismal approval ratings, the ire of his fellow Republicans and a hefty order for more school funding from the Kansas Supreme Court.
Fast forward five months exactly, and a visibly relaxed Brownback was back in his element: making jokey sports analogies, ribbing his former aide Paul Ryan, boasting about his anti-abortion record in Kansas and asking the faithful for their prayers.
He was speaking at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., his new home.
It was far, both emotionally and geographically, from where he'd been. Trump’s nomination of Brownback as ambassador for international religious freedom in July came weeks after the Kansas Legislature overrode his veto to roll back his signature tax cuts, a stunning bipartisan rebuke of his policies.
It took six months and a tie-breaking vote from Vice President Mike Pence to bring Brownback's controversial tenure as governor to an end and send the former U. S. senator back to Washington, where he'd spent some of the most successful years of his public service career.
Brownback appears to have settled in just fine. As soon as he'd been introduced Thursday in his new role as ambassador, he wasted no time in drawing laughter from his appreciative audience.
"She forgot to mention my favorite title, though: Grandpa!" he said. "We have three grandchildren, five children, we're expecting 25 grandchildren and my favorite child will be whoever has the most grandchildren."
Brownback then teased Ryan, his former legislative aide who's now House speaker. "When he was a staff member for me early on, I tried to get him down in salary at the outset," Brownback joked. "I shouldn't have done that."
He also touted his anti-abortion record as governor, to applause, and recounted a story about meeting Mother Teresa when he was a member of Congress and her health was on the decline, like "Joe Montana when he played for the Chiefs," Brownback quipped.
Montana was a star quarterback with the San Francisco 49ers and played for the Kansas City Chiefs at the end of his Hall of Fame career.
"She was asking us for prayers. ... I thought, 'Ask us for a million dollars; that's more our wheelhouse,' " Brownback said. But he said he treasures her parting words to him: "All for Jesus."
Brownback, a Catholic known for his strong personal faith, said he loves his new job as ambassador for religious freedom "so much."
He loves it, he said, because "it is the protection of the pure, noble beautiful ... It is why we need your prayers because religious freedom is under attack all over the world."
Brownback did not say anything specific about what he's been up to as ambassador. But he was notably looser and more convivial than he had been in the final months of his governorship, as though a Kansas-sized weight had been lifted.
He said in an interview after the speech that he hasn't been following political developments in Kansas very closely — including the governor's race.
"I hear from friends," he said, "but I'm focused here."
Brownback said his wife had moved to Washington to be with him, a change from his days in Congress, when he commuted between Washington and Kansas.
The couple don't go back to Kansas a lot, he said.
Instead, Brownback's new gig has sent him all over the world. He's been to Turkey and Bangladesh and is headed to Nigeria soon, documenting religious persecution for the U.S. Department of State. Recently he had lunch with President Donald Trump, Pence and his new boss, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to discuss religious freedom with the president of Uzbekistan.
"The support of the administration has been outstanding," Brownback said.
His well-received speech at the breakfast followed a more somber one by Ryan, who now is retiring from Capitol Hill at the end of the year. He called for more "civil friendship" in public life.
On Tuesday, the State Department soon will release an annual report on religious freedom around the world, produced by Brownback's office.
"We have a big announcement ... not just the report but another piece (Pompeo) is going to announce. Stay tuned because it'll be a significant announcement," Brownback told The Kansas City Star after his speech.
If there’s any awkwardness in Brownback reporting to Pompeo, Brownback didn’t let on.
He had nothing but praise for Pompeo, the former Kansas congressman who has become a rising GOP star, as Brownback once was.
“He’s a wonderful, brilliant, tough guy,” Brownback said. “I think he’s doing a great job.”
Lindsay Wise: 202-383-6007, @lindsaywise
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