Filipina is US VP bet’s chief of staff

LOS ANGELES—Once again, that popular adage has been proven true: Behind every successful man is a woman, most probably a Filipino.

This time around, it’s Republican vice presidential candidate Representative Paul Ryan who is benefitting from what he describes as the “great abilities” of his Filipino chief of staff, Joyce Yamat Meyer.

Meyer, 41, of Franklin, Wisconsin, heads the Washington, D.C. office of Ryan, running mate to presidential contender Mitt Romney.

In a speech honoring Meyer on the House floor in 2009, Ryan said he had worked with Meyer since 1995 and had watched her “become a wonderful wife, mom and leader.”

“I have worked with Joyce longer than anyone in my office,” said Ryan, who chairs the House of Representatives budget committee.

Ryan said he was a congressional staffer when he first met Meyer and “quickly recognized her great abilities.”

Recalled the VP wannabe: “When the (House) member she worked for retired, I persuaded my employer, Senator (Samuel) Brownback, to bring her on board.”

Ryan added that he later recruited Meyer to serve as his legislative director when he first got elected as representative of Wisconsin’s first congressional district in 1998.

“Since that time, her skills and knowledge have grown with her responsibilities,” said the fitness aficionado and avid deer hunter who has a following in the antitax, limited-government Tea Party movement.

Ryan drew his biggest reaction when he said “(o)ur rights come from nature and God, not from government.”

Like her boss, Meyer is also a Catholic, and attended the all-girls Divine Savior Holy Angels High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.