With countless virtual meetings happening in the days of self-distancing and widespread work-from-home orders, things are bound to go wrong. So we can’t blame Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer for joining the wrong conference call Thursday afternoon.
“I think I’m on the wrong call,” the Missouri Republican admitted about 10 minutes in. (His senior policy adviser, Luke West, was also on the line and recapped the innocent gaffe to Heard on the Hill.)
As a member of the House Financial Services Committee (and a former banker), it’s not unusual for Luetkemeyer to meet with bank-specific trade associations. And when words like “banking ratio” were mentioned, he didn’t think twice.
“This is Blaine, I know the answer to that,” West recalled his boss saying after a question.
His new group of friends didn’t seem to mind the unexpected visit (although they were a little confused). “Hey, I don’t think you’re supposed to be on this call,” suggested a lobbyist at one point.
According to a tipster on the call, it was a meeting organized by the American Bankers Association, hosted through Zoom, the conferencing software that’s become the frenemy and constant companion of people newly working from home.
It might’ve been an innocent case of “wrong number,” but Luetkemeyer was late to his actual call.
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