Eron Shosteck is the author of Potomac Beach (PublishAmerica), which is set for release in early August. He worked as Dennis Hastert’s (R-Ill.) press secretary between 1990 and 1993, long before the lawmaker rose to his post as Speaker of the House.

Q: Are there really congressmen this dumb and this unaware as Charles Lattan?
A: He is a fictional character, and in many respects his personality is distorted to a point of almost caricature in order to create a comic story.

Q: So it’s the extreme of what actually exists?
A: I would say there are many members of Congress who are well-versed on the issues and just as many staffers who would tell you that they have to tell their bosses everything.

Q: So what’s the truth?
A: I think it runs the whole spectrum. You do have members of Congress who do a lot of background research and reading and know the issues in a very technical way, but there are others who are detached and who don’t want to be bothered with the details and leave that to the staff.

Q: Were you thinking of anyone in mind when you invented Lattan?
A: I thought what must it be like for someone who is new to the Hill with no real Washington experience coming from a small town, what must it be like for them to go from being a plumber to all of a sudden being a member of the greatest deliberative body in the world?

Q: Do members generally detest the media, as Lattan does?
A: Some do and some don’t. I think there are two schools of thought. There is one school that believes media are a conduit that can be used effectively to communicate. And there is another school that believes the media are an adversary and are constantly playing a game of gotcha.

Q: Have you seen members behave as ridiculously as he does?
A: A certain amount of what he does is to entertain the reader and is designed to make the reader laugh at politics and how silly politicians can be. I think there are members of Congress who are as neurotic and as self-absorbed and as insecure as Charles Lattan is.

Q: Why did you use computer names for your characters?
A: That was just an inside joke. It gave people an easy way to remember their names. Everyone I’ve talked to says they loved Kentrell “Alt” Delete, the press secretary, because they just think it’s the funniest thing. Computers, in the last 10 years, have so transformed our lives. I think it’s only a matter of time before they start permeating culture to the point where computer functions become names.

Q: Did your attacks throughout the book come from your own mentality of being a Republican and working for Republicans?
A: No, I did that to really illustrate how far partisanship can go and how much one person’s perception of the world, or of the opposite party, can distort his worldview.

Q: What about the intern hitting on the congressman in the bar and vice versa? Is any of this based on reality?
A: No. That was completely made up.

Q: Also, Lattan drinks quite a bit. Do you think lawmakers drink a lot?
A: Indeed, he does. Some of them do. I would suspect that some take advantage of the free spirits that are offered at receptions. But again, that was a way of illustrating how neurotic and dysfunctional Lattan really is.

Q: How does Hastert feel about you writing the book?
A: I don’t know. I haven’t asked him.

Q: Are you in still touch with him?
A: I haven’t spoken to him in a while. I hope he wishes me well because it is not based on him as all. Denny Hastert is a very stoic and honorable man.

Q: What did you want to accomplish with the book?
A: I want readers to laugh, and I want them to be entertained. I want them to laugh at some of the silliness that passes for serious political discourse in this town. As long as people are entertained, I’ll be happy.

Q: Where do you work now?
A: Director of communications for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.

Q: Are you glad to be off the Hill?
A: I left the Hill in 1993 and have never wanted to go back. I know people who have spent their entire careers there, so different strokes for different folks. I wish them well.

Betsy Rothstein