There’s a mad scramble among lawmakers on Capitol Hill, and it doesn’t involve jockeying for coveted committee assignments in the new Democratic-controlled Congress.
Tons of paper, furnishings, equipment and years’ worth of nostalgia are being yanked from the suites of lawmakers who weren’t re-elected this month or are retiring, making way for colleagues who called dibs on their office space.
In a domino effect, junior members now stuck with low-status offices grab what they can get among the newly opened suites and pass the dregs down to the freshmen. The House has finished its selections. The Senate is still at it.
Then, there are the coveted “hideaways” in the Capitol building — unmarked locked offices that perhaps 80 senators and fewer House members claim. Some of those are up for grabs, too.
Each congressional office has its mix of location, view, square footage and history — and an unofficial ranking — that conveys a sense of who a lawmaker is and where he or she is going.
A view of the Capitol or the Washington Monument is a big deal; a view of the staff parking lot is not.
The House assigns empty offices by a complex lottery system, the Senate by seniority.
Among this year’s highlights:
The Republicans’ loss of power means that Vice President Dick Cheney probably can say goodbye to his unofficial office on the House side of the Capitol.
As president of the Senate, Mr. Cheney gets offices on the Senate side. But in 2001, House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, Illinois Republican, also gave the vice president an off-the-books spot near the House floor.
It was previously the turf of the House Ways and Means Committee, but Chairman Bill Thomas, California Republican, had squirreled away enough office space elsewhere that he could let it go. Now Mr. Thomas is retiring, his party is out of power, and likely Ways and Means Chairman Charles B. Rangel, New York Democrat, has asked House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi of California to return H-208 to his committee’s control.
Mrs. Pelosi plans to break with tradition and leave her current leadership suite, which staffers said Democrats Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill Jr. and Tom Foley used when they were speakers, for the suite used by Mr. Hastert and his Republican predecessors, including Newt Gingrich.
Mr. Hastert’s prime view of the National Mall trumps what Mrs. Pelosi has now and taking it has the added benefit of tweaking Republicans — but those aren’t Mrs. Pelosi’s major considerations, her aides said. Work on the Capitol Visitor Center has eaten into the House minority leader’s office space significantly, and Mrs. Pelosi needs more room for her staff, they said.
Republican leaders are “kind of left to wait and divide up whatever’s left over,” said Kevin Madden, spokesman for incoming House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican.
When Sen. Rick Santorum, Pennsylvania Republican, lost re-election, aides say it pained not only social conservatives, but also Senate sweet tooths. He was the keeper of the “candy desk,” which senators visited on their way into the chamber. The next senator to sit there will be expected to stock treats.
Retirements of senior members usually yield the best spaces. For example, this year brings the departure of Rep. Henry J. Hyde, Illinois Republican. Rep. Solomon P. Ortiz, a Texas Democrat first elected in 1982, snagged Mr. Hyde’s prime Rayburn building office in the lottery.
“It’s a dead-on view of the Capitol. You can see the Mall. It’s the first floor, and it’s a bigger space” than his previous office, said Mr. Ortiz’s communications director, Cathy Travis.
Congressional officials wouldn’t estimate the cost of an average office shuffle, but the taxpayers’ tab can reach thousands of dollars per member.
Some lawmakers covet offices once held by figures such as Presidents Kennedy or Lyndon B. Johnson. Others opt for space: The smallest suites are less than 850 square feet, the largest twice that.
As in high school, freshmen can’t be choosy.
The Cannon House Office Building’s fifth floor is considered a freshman trap. Storage cages line the walls without windows. Members’ offices have windows with courtyard views, but the air conditioning is spotty in summer, and the offices are hard to get to because some elevators go only to the fourth floor.
Even less desirable are two “split” suites on lower floors of Cannon.
Just ask Rep.-elect Michael Arcuri, New York Democrat, who got the last pick in the lottery. To get from one end of his office to the other, he’ll have to leave and re-enter through another door.
This year’s 10 incoming senators will choose offices based on a ranking that considers past service in the House, presidential administrations or governorships, and state population.
In the Senate, the Russell office building, with its rich marble and fireplaces, conveys the greatest sense of tradition. But lawmakers often choose office buildings based on the proximity of their offices to the committees on which they serve.
Sen.-elect Jon Tester, Montana Democrat, said that his space “will probably be a broom closet — I’m 100 out of 100.”
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