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Senators’ Hideaways

More perks of power.

For the first time, all 100 members of the chamber will have their own cloistered hideaways in the U.S. Capitol, traditionally a coveted mark of seniority and clout that lowly freshmen could only dream about.

This year, even junior senators will get their own private, unmarked offices that are a convenient few steps from the Senate chamber.

The addition of a dozen or so newly renovated rooms in the bowels of the Capitol represents a cultural shift in the custom-bound institution, made possible by moving a Capitol Police facility from the building’s basement into the new, $621 million Capitol Visitor Center. The vacated space inside the Capitol’s West Front made room for even shunned members of the Senate — Illinois Democrat Roland Burris, for example — and freshmen minority Republicans to move in.

While both parties make claims and counterclaims about openness in government, some things never change. The first rule of Senate hideaways: Only senators talk about them. And then, selectively and only about their own.

[...]

No one will talk about how much the taxpayers are spending to create the new offices. The famously discreet Senate Rules Committee, which distributes hideaways and handles all related matters, refused comment. A spokeswoman for the Architect of the Capitol’s office, which performs the renovations, referred a reporter to the Rules Committee.

Although excessive, I don’t think there’s anything really wrong with them having “hideaways.”  I do think there’s something wrong with them refusing to tell the taxpayers how much it’s running us.

Posted by Owen at 1505 hrs
Politics + Politics - General

1. What’s the point of telling the cost?

   They don’t give a rat’s ass what you think, anyway, so why get you all riled up?

   Posted by dad29 on January 17, 2010 at 1126 hrs
   
   
   

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