The Snake Pit

In reading about the budget drama on Capitol Hill and the possibility of a government shutdown, I am reminded of my first days as a Capitol Hill staffer. What does one have to do with the other, you ask? Nothing, in terms of the battle of the budget cuts. Everything, in terms of the backstabbing nastiness that can pervade Capitol Hill at all levels.

Let me add that I worked there before things got as ugly as they are now. However, they were unpleasant enough that I remember thinking, after being employed for less than a week, that I had entered a Byzantine snake pit.

The day I was hired to work for United States Senate I was ecstatic. The Democrats had just taken the majority again and there was a renewed energy in the Capitol. I had a (shared) office in the Capitol Building itself. A day at work meant encountering senators at every turn as they made their way to the Senate floor or back to their offices in the Dirksen, Russell, or Hart Buildings. My job was such that I got to know some of their personal habits and quirks.

When the majority changes in the Senate, everything else does, too. The majority party moves into the better committee offices, the officers of the Senate are replaced by the new majority leader, positions are lost or downgraded. One expects that members of the new minority might have a few resentments about the changes. Their professional lives have been turned upside down, but in the words of Hyman Roth (The Godfather, Part II) "This is the business we have chosen."

One might also expect that the new majority would band together in victorious camaraderie, looking out for each other and helping one another learn the ropes.

I expected that. I was wrong.

From what I observed and experienced, too many people were either territorially or personally paranoid. Some would make phone calls from a booth instead of their offices for fear of being bugged. A display of initiative might threaten someone. A simple question could cause offense. A joke could be taken the wrong way. Better to forget any attempt at humor. A lunch in the cafeteria with someone of the opposite sex could start rumors of an affair. Always be on guard. Your friends could be your enemies.

Note: I am talking only about the staffers, not the senators, who might have reason to be cautious at all times.

An extremely capable, and therefore threatening, friend who went on to much bigger things, was the victim of ugly anonymous letters from someone who worked with him.

A young woman I know who had dreamed of a career in politics went to work in an established senator's office right after college. Her experience with a nasty, hard-bitten female boss caused her to reconsider her career path.

Another friend, an African American woman with many years of experience on the Hill, was subject to such obvious discrimination that she successfully sued those responsible.

All of these observances might be found in any office anywhere in the world. Perhaps unrealistically, I expected a more elevated atmosphere in the Senate. I was naive. I still look back on my experience there with gratitude that I was given the opportunity to have had it at all.

The most enduring memory of my time there: Leaving the Capitol building on a cold February evening, looking up at the lighted white dome with an inky blue-black sky behind it and thinking, despite a particularly bad day, how lucky I was to work there.

During this particularly bitter budget battle, I hope at least a few of our representatives have the same feeling.