The Worst Boss on Capitol Hill

...Voters will allow their legislators some decadence here or there if that misbehavior is offset by political savvy...

...She regularly uses Congressional staff for campaign work, a big no-no...

...The co-worker corroborates his account...

...She said she paid for that pie and it was hers and she wanted it...

...On Capitol Hill, member/staffer relations are often similar to those between a feudal lord and his vassal, and the way members treat the vassals who serve at their pleasure is often suggestive of the way they conduct their legislative duties...

...She said, 'You know you can't bring any food in this office and share it with someone else without sharing it with me first.' I tried to laugh it off, but she was totally serious...

...Explains Martin: "I had to put on her slippers...

...Cooper and the since-departed Culpepper are both credited with one of the more irksome practices in the office: Collins's Christmas and birthday gift shakedowns...

...She reprimanded me like I had done it on the floor," says LeBeouf...

...Nobody knew that his lover was white until after the fact...

...From the lowliest aide right up to the chief of staff, various employees were required to gas up the car, get it washed, clean her apartment, pack for her trips, fetch her spongy toe prongs while she was undergoing a pedicure in the House beauty shop, and shoot out to the malls when she thought it time to shop the sales...

...She pads her vouchers, such as the $8,500 she claims she spent in New York City's Delta Fashions on "clocks" when Delta said her invoice was only for $948...

...The Detroit Free Press offers a different take: "In five years, Collins has introduced 24 bills, many of them designating commemorative holidays...

...It was a mess, everybody was scared to death-if you breathed wrong you had the chance to be fired," offers one of the deposed...

...She had had it catered and there was a sweet potato pie left over, and one of the staffers forgot to take it with them," says a former aide...

...Collins's sense of entitlement often takes on surreal manifestations...

...It's an extremely racist, reprehensible remark and if she was a white member, she would have been hung from the highest yardarm on the Capitol grounds...

...Shortly after her election victory, she admitted taking out a $75,000 campaign loan with three co-signers, a gross violation of Federal Election Commission limits...

...While still a councilwoman in 1990, Collins, a college dropout, was laid open in the thick of campaign season for falsely claiming she was a member of Mensa...

...It doesn't matter if you try to explain how it's not proper-and I have had numerous conversations with her about this stuff-she is not able to disassociate the personal from the professional...

...The typical stay in Rep...

...When Collins saw her eating what I'd brought in, she buzzed me at my desk and asked me to come into her office and screamed at me because I didn't bring her any lunch...

...She loves to eat," says Bruce Taylor, who recalled bringing in barbecued ribs and potato salad for a pregnant co-worker...

...Collins's frequent transgressions may help explain the desperate and growing unhappiness in the United States with the nation's legislative class...

...Two other former staffers that worked with Taylor corroborate the palm-readings...

...Cooper defends her boss: "She's a hell of a legislator, she's very astute about legislative initiatives, she knows how to write bills...

...Therefore, if you work for her and she thinks she has a relationship with you, you should do her laundry and pick up her dog and do these things because you are like a friend of hers...

...And: "We need to focus on why a black youngster can't grow up to say I want to be president of the United States-not on disgruntled staffers saying that I asked them to put potpourri in the member's bathroom...

...Or maybe just for this one...

...Cooper denies most of the aforementioned accusations, while making interesting concessions here and there...

...In 1989, her son was arrested for robbing a tennis shop with a sawed-off shotgun...

...Cooper takes issue with the story...

...Numerous ex-staffers recall a former aide having to reimburse Collins after buying her the wrong kind of sandwich...

...It's not that Collins grew up surrounded by such perks as a manservant to don and doff her footwear...

...Many of Collins's unusual demands center around culinary themes...

...As the Detroit News reported, "the average Capitol Hill staffer works in one congressional office 3.6 years...

...She said, 'I know you have some leftovers, why don't you bring them?' I actually didn't, but I went home that night and made some just to get her off my back...

...According to former aides, Collins could not be stopped while in the throes of a barbecue jones...

...We were intimidated to give gifts," says Taylor, who was asked by Culpepper to cough up $25 within a few weeks of starting his job...

...But Collins takes the feudal aspect of her position to Stygian depths...

...The Taylor episode is indicative of the hijinks inside Cannon 401, Collins's private domain...

...The Worst Boss on Capitol Hill By Matt Labash Surely there are worse gigs to be had, like maybe working the circular saw as a back-up killer in a Delta poultry plant or stabbing trash in a fluorescent dickey next to I-40 in Amarillo...

...Says another former senior staffer: "She had her administrative assistant go to the grocery store for her...

...We were instructed to go there and get a couple plates for the congresswoman," says the staffer, who is black...

...Says one former black staffer, in an account corroborated by two others: "She likes her coffee her skin color"-which the staffer describes as "medium cocoa...

...Nor would she listen to reason...

...There was a big pause and disbelief," the aide says...

...I don't think any of the gifts cost more than five dollars...

...Collins also prized her desserts with a fervor bordering on mania, according to two former staffers who independently recount the tale of an April fundraiser at the Loews L'Enfant Plaza Hotel in Washington...

...Says one former senior staffer, who is black: "On three occasions, two by the chief of staff and one by the member, they had said very openly that if they had an all-white staff, they wouldn't have the problems they're having in the office...

...Meredith Cooper, her chief of staff, did talk...

...Another, who left voluntarily, tells the following anecdote: "One staffer walked me out on my first day and warned me, 'Get out, be afraid, be very afraid, it's a horrible place to be.' They fired her shortly thereafter...

...Recently, the Office of Fair Employment Practices granted former press secretary Bruce Taylor over $20,000 in back pay and legal fees after Collins and her chief of staff, Meredith Cooper, allegedly fired him in December because they suspected he was HIV-positive...

...If you said you were not into it, you'd be gone, period," says LeBeouf...

...It was ridiculous...

...LeBeouf says that after exiting the bathroom and bumping into Collins, the member inquired, "Why are you using my bathroom...

...When we'd do committee work, every word that she would utter at the meeting, or the markup, or whatever was going on, had to be scripted...

...It's a bit ironic that Collins (one of the most liberal members of Congress, with a 100 percent ADA ranking for two years running) attributes what's ailing her to racism, when six former staffers I spoke with, five of whom are black, say racist remarks were made to black staffers by Collins and Cooper on numerous occasions...

...The staffer says on one occasion, after three consecutive cups of unsatisfactory coffee, Collins finally told her, "Just disregard it and get me some tea...

...As for Collins's political acumen...

...He just wasn't reappointed to the 104th Congress...

...She represents Detroit's 15th district, a crime-ridden, dilapidated asphalt bone-yard that ranks as the nation's fourth poorest...

...They tend to love her in spite of the scandals, and there have been a few...

...Barbara-Rose Collins of Detroit...

...Just ask Tony Martin, who survived both his job and his dismissal: "I would come to the front gate at National Airport, particularly if she hadn't been able to fly first class, and I would meet her with her coffee, croissant, and slippers...

...It's racist pure and simple...

...She has coasted to victory in all three of her general elections by 80 percent or more, due in part to a district that's so rabidly Democrat, even Michael Dukakis outpointed Bush by a 4-to-1 margin...

...She wants it her exact skin color, and puts her hand up to the coffee to make sure...

...If I wasn't a member, then I was misled," she was quoted as saying...

...After questions about racial slurs Collins's black staffers attribute to their former boss, Cooper goes nuclear: "I'm just going to lay it out for you...

...But since her 1990 election, she has become accustomed to a certain snap-to...

...When the AA called her from the store to ask her about something, she said, 'You know what, I have some more coupons here, why don't you come back and get them?'" At no point, according to former aides, did Collins seem conscious that she might be pushing staffers beyond the bounds of professional responsibility-or if she was, she was blissfully unconcerned...

...Seven ex-staffers, some of whom had no overlap, say that over the course of a few years, whenever the blessed events took place, Collins would make her wish lists known to the respective chiefs of staff, who would then solicit donations from the peons...

...She was the 1991 Congressional leader in franked mail with a $164,872 tab-$22,000 over her mailing allowance...

...The congresswoman would miss votes if she couldn't fly first class," says Taylor...

...Though Collins may quite possibly be the most pampered member of Congress, no degree of displayed fealty on the part of staffers would guarantee protection from her outright menacing mood swings, oftentimes over the smallest infractions...

...Collins's birthday is common knowledge for the staff, so if they want to share in that celebration, they're free to do so...

...According to a spate of investigative stories this summer in publications ranging from The Hill to the Detroit Free Press, Collins continues to skate along the edge...

...We would hire and fire people every two weeks...

...Cooper is by all accounts responsible for hirings and most firings, making her one of the most loathed women in Congress, according to exstaffers...

...But the cup was not passed...

...Barbara-Rose Collins has asked a lot of people to bend over, and everybody just did it," says one...

...Another former junior staffer, also black, claims she heard Collins say, "'White people on Capitol Hill are known for working hard and being dedicated to their work, while black people are lazy' She said she was going to hire white people to boost office morale," the staffer adds...

...A former staffer says she once began a meeting with General Accounting Office officials by asking, "What does GAO stand for...

...I can't speak for Miniard on the gifts...

...I should never have been invited to the meetings...

...But on Capitol Hill, one would be hard-pressed to suffer any indignity worse than that of working for Rep...

...The same chief of staff, Miniard Culpepper, was made to wash the congresswoman's dishes because she thought he was a chauvinist, according to Bruce Taylor and another staffer...

...With her, there would be no independent thought taking place...

...She would have me read her palms and do psychic readings...

...After LeBeouf apologized profusely, claiming ignorance, she says Collins replied, "No, you can't use it, it's my bathroom and nobody is allowed to use it," at which time she turned to her former chief of staff and said, according to LeBeouf and another witness, "You get someone in here to clean up this bathroom, I could catch anything from her, I don't know who she's doing...

...I hadn't asked about the color of his lover's skin, but no matter-the ruling was the first time a member of Congress has ever lost in such a hearing...

...Bruce was the first one to say, 'No, I think we're gonna have a little talk here.'" Singing is more like it...

...But Collins, after five years of toil in the backbencher hinterlands, has precious little to show for her staffers' troubles, even after chairing the now defunct Postal Operations and Services subcommittee...

...That is a violation of House and Federal Election Commission rules...

...She would then bend at the knee while he slid off her shoes...

...What's to become of Barbara-Rose Collins...

...If it's dark, that means it's not sweet enough-pour it out and start again...

...Lebeouf says that during her first few weeks with Collins, when her office was still located in the Longworth Building, she mistakenly used the congresswoman's private bathroom, located just outside the member's office...

...I didn't want to do it-you're uncomfortable because you see things that you don't want to see about your boss-although I didn't see my firing, so I don't know how good I am...

...That crucial piece of legislation was to rename the federal courthouse in Detroit after former U.S...

...I don't use that word...

...Barbara-Rose Collins's office is closer to a few months...

...Canvassing 28 former staffers, some of whom sat for multiple interviews, produces remarkably consistent accounts...

...She's got to pay her debt for what she's done in previous lifetimes...

...We would spend hours in her office," Taylor says...

...And when she's not franking, she's having staffers secure some of the 23,000 first-class postage stamps she's bought since taking office, which they claim are often used for campaign mailings...

...Bruce Taylor claims to be psychic and had a chance to ply his trade with Collins before his ugly demise...

...If it's too light, there's too much cream, pour it out and start again...

...One staffer tells of a Texas delegation hoe-down in the Longworth Building during the summer of 1993...

...Cooper's answer mimics Collins's own recent response to the Detroit News about her habit of blaming personnel problems in her office on racism when most of the criticism has come from other blacks: "Racists have always been able to find Uncle Toms...

...The sacking occurred two days after his lover died of AIDS...

...District Judge Theodore Levin...

...Four former staffers say the same aide's job was threatened if she failed to book Collins on first-class flights...

...Although it's probably a good idea...

...She often raids campaign coffers for suspect expenditures, like $2,000 to her brother to "purchase shirts and hats...

...Her office is a case study in the abuse of power and the ways in which elected officials without a sense of limits can run roughshod...

...Cooper has worked for Collins since 1975, when she was Collins's secretary in the Michigan state legislature...

...A lot of members are abusive because of the power they hold," says Bianka Marie LeBeouf, another former press secretary, who says she left willingly...

...only one bill has passed...

...I know the media's racist...

...Another former aide once heard the congresswoman page Culpepper in front of constituents by saying, "Miniard, get your black ass in here...

...Retorts Cooper: "I think they're fabricating the Mark Fuhrman tapes...

...There was an atmosphere of misery and terror, divisiveness and distrust," says one...

...Reporters could be the next Dan Rather or Lesley Stahl if you did something on why racism has held this country back...

...A variety of allegations are now under scrutiny by both the House Ethics Committee and the Justice Department...

...One of her former legislative staffers diagnoses the problem: "She was wholly unqualified and not the smartest person I ever worked with...

...It was a real show-stopper...

...Most politicians have an independent streak and like to ad lib and do their own thing...

...It was like, 'here we come with to-go boxes so we could bring her back barbecue fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and peas.' And if you were on the payroll, you best not come back empty-handed...

...But in her case . . . she has no grasp of the line between personal and professional relationships...

...Meredith said that in a previous year, most staffers who didn't give her a Christmas or birthday gift had been fired or didn't get a Christmas bonus...

...She screamed at her AA," says Tony Martin, who says he was fired for faxing home a copy of an article about Taylor's firing, "and said, 'Go get my m-f-'n pie'-and the AA had to call and retrieve it...

...And: "How can you accidentally go in a member's bathroom, give me a break...

...Bruce wasn't fired," Cooper told me...

...Turnover in her office has reached an annual clip of 100-plus percent...

...So what if the turnover [is 100 percent...

...It's pretty humiliating, as you can imagine-we were already integrating the reception anyway because the Hill is a very white place...

...It was not an issue...

...Says Bruce Taylor: "Meredith once said, 'We are going to fire all you niggers and hire an entire white staff She actually said the word...

...I'd rather have the turnover than have people stay and be unproductive...

...Not according to the ex-staffers, who said they were asked to give around $20 apiece, and who claim that Collins's Yuletide/birthday collection now includes a Nordic track, an Afrocentric Christmas angel for the top of her tree, and expensive hand-carved chess pieces in the shape of stringed instruments that one staffer thinks cost as much as $400...

...Barbara really treats us like garbage," says another...

...It had nothing to do with who he was sleeping with...

...Culpepper, now with the New England Department of Housing and Urban Development, declined comment...

...When asked what he gathered before being canned, Taylor says, "She's in her twelfth house, which means she's primed for a big fall, and there's nothing you can do when you're primed for a big fall because of karma...

...So, too, has Collins, who did not return calls after many interview requests were made through her office...

...Another former senior staffer adds: "Everything was scripted, and she never strayed from it...

...In the aftermath of the fair-employment decision, Bruce Taylor has become something of a folk hero to disgruntled former staffers, who never smile when they refer to Collins's office as "the last plantation...