Letter from a Whig

...With all the gusto and elegance of a Churchill, Democratic Congressman Waye Hays (Ohio) made his plea to Riegle: "Mr...

...House Committee Selection Procedure The fifteen Democrats on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee serve as an executive committee, responsible for the Democratic committee assignments...

...Thereafter, committee importance usually depends upon the freshman member's personal preference...

...We in the majority have treated you fellows pretty nice since I have been here, so I do not see why you would want to inflict him upon us...

...Each freshman makes the strongest case possible for his need to be on a particular committee, and the claim is invariably made that a certain committee is essential for re-election though Charles S. Bullock's recent study published in the American Political Science Review showed no direct correlation between committee assignments and reelection in marginal districts...

...The "Big Three" committees are Ways and Means, Rules, and Appropriations, but very few freshmen are elected to these three committees...

...But on the first day that the system was really needed a number of major issues finally had reached the House floor the electronic system expired and the House returned to the traditional roll call procedure...

...Somewhat ironically, congressional staffers compose one of the few groups in our society who, in the words of House Ways and Means Committee Chairman, Wilbur Mills, are denied the "opportunity" to participate in the Social Security Program...

...Convervatives have usually been eager to receive appointment to the House Committee on Armed Services in the past...

...a marked improvement over the earlier rule which left this question to the political whim of the committees...

...So it is not surprising, given the past sparcity in conservative staffers, that the contagious Potomac Fever has overwhelmed many a conservative...

...Chisholm and Mr...

...The Republican freshman class has also among its membership some "hardcore" conservatives who with the help of the old-line New Guarders (notably Phil Crane of Illinois and John Ashbrook of Ohio) are attempting to set up their own talent pool operation...

...But although some rather substantial modifications have been introduced within the last two years (by House Republicans two years ago and by House Democrats and Senate Republicans in this session) the Seniority Rule remains essentially intact...

...We had a couple of switches around here a few years ago, one notably from South Carolina, and somebody said at that time the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord...

...Before the vote was taken Republicans had expected the new plan to pass by three votes...

...The Democrats and Republicans consider several factors in determining committee assignments...

...The major concern for most new members is the committee assignment...

...One Republican backbencher, who remained untouched by Mr...

...A Bachelors degree in political science (or anything else for that matter) normally just does not cut the grain and very few incoming members use the placement services of the Congressional Campaign Committees, or the Joint Committee on Congressional Operations, for filling their staff needs...

...Knowledgeable Capitol Hill sources are convinced that this breakdown was no accident, for on the day it occurred the House was to vote on the question of minority staffing...

...Speaker, I want to implore the ReDublican side of the House I do not see the gentleman from Michigan (Mr...

...In the Ninety-third Congress, House Committees (but not Senate Committees) will be closed only when the "national security" is at stake...

...Blessed be his name...

...The Congressional Record, a daily publication recording congressional proceedings when the House and Senate are in session, covers everything from the action on the floor of the House to the various extraneous material inserted by the congressional members...

...Because incoming members are literally inundated with job applications (some freshmen from the Ninety-third Class received as many as six hundred applications, and a congressional staff can have no more than fifteen people), they usually have to rely on knowledgeable Capitol Hill acquaintances to help them fill their staffs...

...There are exceptions...

...Nonetheless, it was widely reported that 10,000 job applicants competed for the congressional staff appointments, ranging from clerical and secretarial, to those of a legislative and administrative nature...

...Congressional Reform The would-be congressional reform movement is always strongest at the beginning of any session of Congress and the Seniority Rule is invariably the number one target...

...five members are elected at-large...

...all at an approximate cost of $150 a page to the American taxpayer...

...But the glamor of the job invariably pales under general office routine...

...Both Democrats and Republicans have been very reluctant to disclose the internal mechanisms and voting procedures in the committee assignment process...

...The faceless, mindless bureaucrat who becomes a part of the Capitol Hill infrastructure readily adjusts to this reality and during the course of a career moves from office to office (and often from party to party...

...A staff can literally make or break the congressman, especially if the Administrative or Legislative Assistant becomes the congressman's alter-ego...

...in the past it has always been more difficult for conservative members to find conservative staffers, whereas liberal staffers as one conservative put it are "a dime a dozen...

...and there is a representative of the Ninety-second Club (freshmen members of the Ninety-second Congress), as well as one from the Ninety-third Club, each being elected by his class...

...But liberals are showing increasing interest in this committee as well...

...Also a new electronic voting system has been installed which is supposed to be further evidence of Congress' modernization...

...As a result, not too many jobs were available...

...As a result, the measure lost 197 to 196...

...much will, therefore, probably depend on the outcome of the elections two years from now...

...His account did not even closely match the coverage given by the Congressional Record...

...Needless to say, Bullock's study could not correlate the more intangible relationships between committee assignments and reelection...

...One of the Congress' longest traditions is the publication of the Congressional Record, the Hill's very own shilling thriller...

...It is through the committee that a member ultimately hopes to gain his prominence, and it is on the committee that a member moves up the ladder of seniority...

...Although the turnover for these elected officials is not high (93 percent of those who seek re-election are successful), the supply for congressional staff appointments is great, and it always exceeds demand...

...Riegle) on the floor however, I want to implore the Republican side of the House to try to dissuade him from switching parties...

...The Ninety-third Congress elected twenty-six new Democrats and forty-two new Republicans, with a net gain of fourteen for the GOP...

...the House Speaker, Majority Leader, and Caucus Chairman also serve on what is essentially a 'committee on committees.' Within the Republican House Committee on Committees, representing forty-four states with forty-five members, is the Executive Committee which is responsible for making the Republican committee assignments...

...Hays' plea, reverently responded: "In his infinite wisdom the Lord doth indeed giveth and taketh away...

...The only concern of these bureaucrats is, presumably, the nine-to-five job which one day is supposed to culminate in a rewarding government pension plan...

...You know, after all is said and done, we have enough troubles of our own, and I do not think you ought to send any of your troubles over on our side...

...On the Democratic side, Representative Joe Waggoner of Louisiana (the Democrat whom the White House treats better than any Republican) is attempting to organize a group of like-minded congressmen to counter the direction the Democratic party has taken under the Democratic Study Group...

...Staff Hiring A crucial concern for the elected congressman is the matter of hiring a staff...

...It remains to be seen whether or not such groups can ever get off the ground...

...The Executive Committee is composed of states which have seven or more Republican congressmen...

...Socialization in the nation's capitol often moves many a conservative legislator to the left of that philosophy which elected him...

...But an article in the February 10, 1973 issue of the Congressional Quarterly apparently used "leaked" information to provide a detailed analysis on the subject...

...California Democrat Ron Dellums stands out as the faux pas of the Armed Services Committee in the Ninety-third Congress...

...One "hardcore" conservative was absolutely amazed by the number of applications he had for high level jobs from employees of such notable liberals as Ms...

...Congressional Record is essential reading for the serious student of congressional activities, but its cost is preposterous...

...Amen...

...Successors from the same party usually receive the assignment of their predecessor, if they desire it, if they gain his support, and if they gain the support of their regional spokesman on the committee which makes the assignments...

...Chairman Mills intends, however, to remedy this "blatant discrimination" in the Ninety-third Congress...

...Changes may be coming...

...Although few congressional staffers have had the notoriety, power, and influence of Bobby Baker, they remain, nonetheless, a crucial element...

...In addition, both parties like to have a regional balance, as well as an ideological balance, on the House and Senate committees...

...C.Bascom Slemp Letter from a Whig Making It in the Ninety-third Congress (WASHINGTON)-Perhaps nothing is more interesting than the tale of a maiden's moral decline except of course for the chronicle of a freshman legislator's early days in Washington...

...e.g., campaign contributions...

...With the election of a new Congress every two years legions of job seekers descend upon the nation's capital in search of those elusive positions with the newly elected members of Congress...

...Well, this time I just hope, since the Lord has given him to you, that He keeps him over there and you do all you can to keep him there, too...

...The Executive Committee's vote is weighted so that, for example, Del Claw-son of California (the state with the largest Republican representation) has twenty votes, whereas David Treen of Louisiana, the representative of the Ninety-third Club, has only one vote...

...Supported by Ralph Nader and Common Cause, House Republicans were hoping to gain a one-third staffing on House committees a plan that had been submitted by House Democrats when they feared that they were about to lose control of the House...

...Fulbright...

...Nonetheless, when the GOP's last glamor boy, Don Riegle, announced he was switching to the Democratic party, Washington's premier muckraker (columnist Jack Anderson) offered a scene-by-scene account of how Gerald Ford vainly tried to dissuade Riegle from making the switch...

...The convenient breakdown of the electronic system gave the Democrats time enough to put pressure on fellow Democrats to oppose the original Democratic plan...

...In contrast, it has become increasingly difficult to have conservatives accept assignments on the House Committee on Education and Labor, a committee which has been a breeding ground for liberal policy in recent years...