Rosanne Dunkelberger
Bill and Jill Mattox scoff at the notion that they are a political power couple, preferring the term “Process-adjacent.”
Both are senior directors at The James Madison Institute (JMI), a public policy, Tallahassee-based nonprofit think tank. In their respective positions, these longtime lovebirds don’t participate directly in the Session-long lobbying scrum, but share information with legislators via welcome packets, policy papers — including the latest on property insurance reform — and educational materials and briefings.
It was The Process that brought them together, however.
The pair were in their 20s in that hotbed of politics, Washington, D.C., when they met.
Jill was working in her first job out of college for a Republican Congressman from Arkansas. Bill was an intern on the Hill and turned down an opportunity to move to a permanent position in Detroit, telling his bosses, “I’ve met this girl that I don’t want to let get away.” He found a position working for a Democratic Representative from Georgia and they ended up working just a couple floors apart in the House Office Building.
Their courtship centered around lunch dates on the U.S. Capitol grounds and she didn’t get away — the couple will be married 40 years in April, with a special cause for celebration since their first grandchild is expected within days of their anniversary.
“D.C. was a great place for us in our 20s and 30s when we were single and then young married and young married with children,” Bill recalls. When their children — they have four, now adults — reached school age, the family moved to the suburbs. “I grew tired of it very quickly. I had a long commute and did not do well with it.”
He also had complaints about the lack of a sense of community in the area. “It was just kind of a nondescript suburban community, and I remember at one point I said to Jill, ‘I need a Mayor and a Christmas parade and a civic club.’”
Tallahassee checked all those boxes, and with the encouragement of a friend, the Mattoxes moved to Florida’s capital city in 2007.
Soon thereafter, Bill was tapped by JMI President and CEO Bob McClure to help launch the organization’s new civics education project. In the years since, he has developed a deep knowledge of school choice and become a go-to source for comment on the subject.
“Florida is very much a national leader and a state others want to learn from, and so a lot of my work is focused here in Tallahassee and in the state of Florida,” Bill says. “But, increasingly, we’re called upon to advise people in other states about how they should tackle things. They want to know what we got right the first time and what we would do differently the next time if we had it to do over again.”
Jill joined JMI as a grant writer. Over the years her job description expanded to include editing, putting her English degree from Furman University to good use. “I look at the white papers we write and the memos we send out … most of the things will cross my desk before they go out for final print,” she says.
“We work on separate floors and try to stay out of each other’s hair as much as possible,” Bill says. “I have noticed, however, that Jill will often sit near me at staff meetings so that she can gently kick me under the table if I start droning on too long when I’m giving a report.”
Bill is no fan of “food fight” political television and is former Chair of the Board of Directors for The Village Square, a homegrown Tallahassee civic group dedicated to encouraging productive conversations.
“It’s a very good picture of kind of how I like to engage, where it’s much more idea focused and designed to try to encourage greater understanding of others’ views even if you don’t agree with them. There’s an emphasis on civil discourse and respect for those with whom you disagree,” he explains.
The Mattoxes attribute their marital success to their shared faith and common interests.
“Mostly we’re on the same page. Neither of us are particularly political people in the sense that we get animated about who’s up, who’s down, who’s in power, who’s not, that sort of thing,” Bill says.
That said, certain topics are squelched during relaxation time.
“We like to take long walks around Tallahassee,” reports Jill. “We have a rule that we don’t discuss work or family business when we are out together.”
