Down and Out On Capitol Hill
Levine, Arthur
Down and Out On Capitol Hill by Arthur Levine Congress is a grim place to be after an election is over. For the 51 legislators voted out of office in the 1974 primary and general elections,...
...Grover will miss Congress and the friends he made there...
...Many of them share the apprehension of David Towell, a one-term Nevada Republican, who has no desire to return to his real estate business back in Gardnerville...
...I know Don quite well,’’ he says...
...During this transition period, while they prepare for the descent into private life, the losers continue to cling to their public masks...
...Another congressman, Baltimore Democrat Sam Friedel, was defeated at age 72, after 18 years of service...
...He was glad to see us...
...the capital’s attractions proved too strong...
...Like many of his fellow losers, Clark is not looking forward to going home...
...And mounted on another wall is an unflattering cartoon from Newsday, apparently the only time he was ever caricatured...
...It’s terrible when an election does this to people...
...Levine,” says Oregon Republican John Dellenback...
...Former Democratic Rep...
...I was able to call up my friends in California any time I wanted...
...Then, to show that he is not being frivolous, he unfurls a letter...
...Peering out from behind a door in his office, the bowtied little congressman shouts, “Please go away...
...Gone from their lives are the aides and secretaries, the briefing sessions, and the tight schedules...
...Presumably, I’ll join one of the large law firms...
...Others stay in Washington as lawyers, lobbyists, or consultants...
...Then they must seek work elsewhere, and the adjustment is not an easy one...
...For the 51 legislators voted out of office in the 1974 primary and general elections, the return to the Hill is especially painful...
...Later, he sold his heating company...
...I’ve never lost a floor fight...
...And no one will call them “Mr...
...And we were teammates in the gym...
...Mail drops off, and colleagues may adopt an awkward congeniality...
...Later, in the gloom of the bar of the Republican Capitol Hill Club, I hear a Republican staffer say, “With guys like Grover, you can see the hurt in their eyes...
...what counts now is their votes...
...Like some elder statesman considering a Cabidet past, he announces, with appropriate “Meet the Press” deliberation, “I will have to look at what’s available...
...He adds, with studied nonchalance, “I know some other club members, fellows like Rogers Morton, Bob Taft, Bill Brock...
...Sell pencils...
...Surrounded by their old wooden desks, with the American flag draped behind them, the defeated have a chance once again to make speeches before an admiring audience...
...Towell says, “I used to be here at eight in the morning, but now what’s the use...
...More than money is involved, however...
...Because he was a Congressman, in Washington, he was supposed to be privy to all kinds of inside information...
...And on the day that he was selected by Nixon to be Vice-president, I walked to where he was standing in the well of the House and grabbed him by the wrist, took his pulse, and asked him whether he was nervous...
...James Grover, six-term Republican from Long Island...
...On a wall behind his desk are photographs of a short-haired Grover standing near Jerry Ford, Richard Nixon, Ike, John McCormack, and other luminaries...
...It is these benefits that add to the appearance of power, benefits available to all congressmen, regardless of seniority...
...The day after you win, everybody’s asking your opinion on absolutely everything,” says Rep...
...It is a one-paragraph‘ note on White House stationery, addressed “Dear Jim,” from a White House aide, Max Friedersdorf...
...Clark’s efforts were not unique...
...In the year of the great Democratic landslide, the voters in his western Pennsylvania district handed the 20-year veteran his walking papers...
...How Well I Know Him’ . But he says he is also giving serious thought to working in the Administration...
...I ask him, “How well do you know the President...
...We’re examining what the needs of the world are and seeing where we might be .able to make a substantial contribution...
...He has been the House Clerk for eight years now...
...A few congressmen, like Frank Clark, try to stay on with the House itself...
...It’s depressing...
...He and his wife lived a block away from the Capitol, and Friedel struggled to become deputy sergeant-at-arms, a job that was created for him by the committee he once chaired, the House Administration Committee...
...David Towell...
...There is a certain formality that they preserve, even as their roles are about to end...
...It was a very lovely session,” Brooks Hays says of their latest meeting...
...The question: What do you plan to do now...
...But unlike most of his defeated colleagues, Clark ,is a Democrat, and so he and his aides are rather depressed these days...
...For a veteran like McMillan...
...For some congressmen, the transition to private life isn’t made any easier by the peculiar limbo of a lame-duck Congress...
...Robert Hanrahan, a Republican from Illinois, strikes a more modest note...
...If 44 elected, Clark would have had the honor of announcing the President’s appearances before Congress and greeting dignitaries at congressional parties...
...The politicians themselves refer to it lightly as “Potomac Fever,” but there is more to it than that...
...Standing outside his office, looking suitably tan and dignified, Jennings smiles and says he took the job for “personal reasons,” primarily the pension benefits...
...It indicates that Grover will have an opportunity to meet with the President after he returns from overseas travel...
...If former congressmen never make it back, after abandoning all hope of a comeback attempt, they’re entitled to join a 400-member group called Former Members of Congress, Inc., founded by a former Democratic congressman from Arkansas, Brooks Hays...
...Well, Art, I was one of the Young Turks who helped him become Minority Leader...
...They take care to remember names and to smile, measuring their words with a precision borne of too many speeches from the podium and the dais...
...Take a look at this gracious letter,” he says with some pride...
...Grover, meanwhile, is banking on his ties with Donald Rumsfeld, the White House chief of staff...
...I told you I’m not speaking to anyone...
...I remember that Rep...
...I’ll miss the pressure of a long day, and being involved in controversy and issues...
...I wanted to make a contribution...
...The honor shifts each year because of the mortality rate...
...None of the photos is autographed...
...As a result of his eloquence, the bill ended up with the Marine and Fisheries Committee...
...I haven’t abandoned the ship,” asserts Republican Rep...
...well, selling homes in a rural area is not my bag anymore...
...He was one of four incumbent Democrats who managed to buck the nationwide anti-Republican trend...
...They will recall those bargain-priced meals in the House dining rooms, the paddleball games in the Rayburn gym, the special elevators reserved only for them...
...I just want to do something to keep me busy...
...Some of them take the loss very hard, like Frank Clark of Pennsylvania...
...Arthur Levine is a contributing editor of The Washington Monthly who also writes for other magazines...
...William Ayres, a Republican from Akron, Ohio, says that after a 20-year career ending in 197 1, “I didn’t have ties back there...
...I’ve got a beautiful home there, it’s great, but once you stimulate your mind here...
...The congressmen salvage what they can from the wreckage...
...For most congressmtx&, what they will miss about Congress is not so much the power as the minor flatteries of the office...
...He glances at me to check the impact of his starstudded listing...
...A portion of one wall is taken up by a framed copy of an amendment to a 1959 public buildings act...
...Perhaps they are attracted by the privilege all former members retain-not only can they visit the House floor, they also have access to the cloakrooms and dining rooms whenever they want...
...For some men, these items are a constant reassurance that they are, in fact, congressmen engaged in meaningful work-men of importance, after all...
...He pauses dramatically...
...He accuses his young opponent of distorting his voting record and of making unfair conflict-ofinterest charges...
...He made it look like I was rolling in dough...
...Unlike some other congressmen, who are able to become well-paid Washington lawyers or lobbyists, Grover is hardly besieged with corporate offers...
...He doesn’t want to uproot his Washington-based family again, and he’s concerned about job security...
...Looking up at his clock, Rep...
...The keynote speech is made by the oldest former congressman, occasionally a centenarian...
...We’re keeping our options open, we’re looking at a variety of things, Mr...
...There is a subtle transfer of loyalties-the change from being a Californian-in-Washington to being a member of the Washington world who must return every so often to California to retain his legal right to his Washington position...
...After 12 years in the House, the 55-year-old Long Island congressman had climbed his way to high-ranking positions on two committees: Merchant Marine and Fisheries, and Public Works...
...I always go to the floor ready to do battle,” he says...
...Before he entered the State Assembly in 1957, he was making $35,000 a year as a lawyer...
...Grover, usually quiet (he spoke only three times his first year), dared to oppose his colleagues on the Public Works Committee...
...But his proudest moment came during debate in the House chamber...
...Seeing himself at the mercy of anti-incumbent sentiments beyond his control, he lessens his own humiliation by portraying inflation and Watergate as virtual demons let loose among the precincts...
...He served as ranking minority member on both the Public Buildings and Grounds subcommittee and the Canal Zone subcommittee...
...Their ties with the home district erode over the years, and barriers develop between the congressmen and their old friends...
...There will be more than enough opportunity for return visits, since so many of- them will stay on in the capital...
...He recalls the tension in the House when he rose to settle the jurisdictional fight between Public Works, and Marine and Fisheries over off-shore oil-terminal legislation...
...The belief persists that congressmen know what’s reaZZy going on, but for some pervetse reason, they’re not telling...
...Men of Importance, After All These small tokens of power are hardest to give up...
...There are bills, meetings, crises, all kinds of pressing matters that must be attended to...
...When Grover talks about his defeat and his future plans, he speaks slowly, glancing down at his hands and smiling ruefully...
...In early December, Clark challenged William “Fishbait” Miller for the post of House Doorkeeper...
...He stayed in Washington, working for three years as a highly paid special assistant to a presidential commission on veterans’ jobs, an area he specialized in as a congressman...
...Speaking in a confidential tone, he says, “Well, Arnold, we’re not sure yet...
...There’s an excitement, a sense of importance, that comes from being a congressman, even a backbencher...
...He started renting his house out in 1960 and sold it in 1964...
...Wisconsin Republican Harold Froehlich, for example, notes that he can buy his desk and chair for $25 each...
...Actually, the congressman made less than $3,000 a year from outside sources...
...The loss of dignity would have been compensated, no doubt, by the $40,000 salary and the added pension benefits...
...And, in his own view, leading the way is The Congressman, at center stage in The Nation’s Capital, Washington, D.C...
...Underneath the charm, the congressional manner is marked by large reserves of caution and guile, part of the necessary inner strength that allows them to weather the task of seeking voter approval...
...Pounding on the dark, solid wood with his hand, he says, “Where else could you pick up a desk at this price...
...It gives the men a feeling of belonging...
...Jack Wydler and I flew down on the shuttle that day and walked in to vote just on time...
...a place to hang my hat,” he told Congressional Quarterly at the time...
...That’s just an illustration of how well I know him...
...This does not go unnoticed by the voters...
...The group holds reunions twice a year...
...He finds some comfort in the Democratic upsets of other Suffolk County Republicans, meticulously detailing all the party losses“The county hasn’t voted for a Democratic governor in 60 years...
...Surveys conducted by Congressional Quarterly a few months after the 1970 and 1972 elections showed that most former members remained in Washington...
...I’m going to miss having that special parking place at the airport and a free telephone in my office,” says Bob Mathias...
...Robert Huber of Michigan, “but there’s a psychological reaction when you realize you’re leaving, and the others will be back...
...Grover maintains a part-time law practice, serves on the board of directors of a savings-andloan institution, and owns a share of business property...
...I don’t want to go back to what I was doing before...
...Congressman” any more...
...Byron G. Rogers, who joined a Washington public relations firm, says, “After 20 years in Washington, you know the ins and outs here so much better than you do back there...
...To underscore his impressive seniority, he notes, “If I had been appointed to the Judiciary Committee as a freshman, I’d now be ranking minority member like Edward Hutchinson...
...Then the aging ex-congressman would get up as usual, heading toward an office that did not exist...
...The Clerk of the House, W. Patrick Jennings, was a six-term Virginia congressman when he was defeated for reelection...
...lne ex-congressman will be quickly shorn of an aura of omniscience...
...One congressional staff member recalls how he would see Friedel early each morning in the House cafeteria, eating breakfast by himself, reading the paper with an’ air of importance...
...I’ve never attempted to capitalize on my position,” he says, with some regret...
...He’s a club member of mine...
...The power he has accumulated over the years is best indicated by the collection of mementos in his spacious inner office...
...I didn’t have a desire to go back into the heating business after I lost,” he says...
...After his 1972 defeat, the once-powerful South Carolina Democrat, John McMillan, started work as a “political consultant...
...Other losers continue to act as if nothing’s changed, working on legislation, going to committee, voting on bills, keeping up the pose of a man with important work to do...
...But his motives were not solely mercenary: “I like the way of life and wanted to stay involved...
...He also displays a few pens and commemorative coins sent by Nixon...
...Branded as losers, they have to finish out the remainder of their terms as best they can...
...A delayed social security check hardly engages the mind like an upcoming debate on the energy crisis...
...The ‘88th Club.’ We were sworn in together in the 88th Congress...
...But since he placed last in the challenge to Miller, trailing behind two House clerks, Clark now finds himself, like his fellow losers, keeping his options open...
...What club...
...We’re keeping our options open...
...At times, however, the masks drop and reality intrudes into their public musings...
...It’s going to take some time to rebuild my practice...
...It’s like a wake,” says Rep...
...Although he would like to be a college president-“that would be ideal”-he is considering applying for unemployment compensation while searching for a job...
...You want to shake them by the lapel and snap them out of it...
...The small symbols of local pride, the Kiwanis Club speech, the testimonial dinner, merely become chores essential to reelection...
...He is, however, a bit worried...
...The affection and respect of constituents does not mean as much as it did before...
...Not only did he lead the Republican floor fight for additional funds for the Kennedy Center, he even visited the Canal Zone in faraway Central America...
...The idea was dropped following press criticism, but Friedel stayed on in Washington anyway...
...Take James Grover, a quiet, silverhaired Republican, who had the misfortune of being defeated by a 25-year-old kid who lives at home with his parents...
...Viewed from the cold distance of Washington, the constituents seem a bit clownish...
...The petty concerns of hometown folk surround the congressman on his weekend visits...
...His colleagues encourage him to run for his old seat, but he responds, “What am I supposed to do in the meantime...
...He is, to put it mildly, a sore loser...
...The successful ones among your friends are sorry, and your enemies are secretly gloating...
...The media and the public think I know what’s going on, but I don’t.’’ The former legislators will become nostalgic about the side benefits that made them feel so important...
...Searching for a job is made difficult by the urge to stay in Washington...
...I mean, I was able to kid around with him like that...
...He would also have administered 340 House positions, filling these patronage jobs at the request of his former colleagues...
...In the spring they get to return to the house chamber and address the representatives...
...This article originally appeared in January 19 75...
...I keep telling myself Congress is a treadmill, but maybe there will be a psychological let-down when I’ve left...
...Such men as Frank Ikard, once a Democratic representative from Texas, who is now president of the American Petroleum Institute, get a chance to cash in on their congressional contacts...
Vol. 8 • February 1977 • No. 12
