Out Go the Congressmen, Down Come the Plaques

Kim Rubin sorts equipment in Rep. Ernest J. Istook Jr.'s office on Capitol Hill. Istook is not done in Congress, so he, along with other lame-duck members of the House, will be working out of the basement of the Rayburn Building. (By Melina Mara -- The Washington Post)

Most of the Capitol was quieted by the lull of recess this week, but there was a certain frenzy in Room 2466 of the Rayburn House Office Building. Inside, seven staff members employed for 34 more days by outgoing Rep. Curt Weldon were filling a gray trash bin with the detritus from two decades of public office.

The Republican from Pennsylvania and about 40 other House members who are retiring or who lost reelection bids face a deadline for emptying their offices: noon today. Never mind that Congress reconvenes next week; Weldon and the other lame ducks must vacate the premises so workers can begin settling in new members and moving things for members who are upgrading to better offices.

So that they can still handle constituent services and other basics, the lame ducks each will be temporarily assigned one desk, one phone line and one computer in a room across from the kitchen in the basement of the Rayburn Building.

It's an abrupt change for lawmakers such as Weldon, who served 10 terms and was vice chairman of the Armed Services and the Homeland Security committees.

"Just a few weeks ago we were in session, and now we're turning out the lights," said John G. Tomaszewski, Weldon's communications director, who was stuffing packing boxes in the congressman's office. There was plenty to do: boxing up the contents from the desks, cabinets and bookcases in the outer offices used by staff, and then the challenge of dismantling Weldon's office, where the 15-foot-high walls were lined with dozens and dozens of plaques, awards and photographs and the occasional ceremonial shovel.

Also on display were several fire-chief helmets and a fire ax. Weldon is a former fire chief and founder of the Congressional Fire Services Caucus; his reputation as a firefighter was cemented in 1988 when he extinguished an electrical fire in the office of then-Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.). But now all of it had to be taken down, bubble-wrapped and shipped to the congressman's home or office in Pennsylvania.

Boxes marked with a hand-scrawled "Foreign Affairs" or "Environment" were stacked seven feet high in the hall outside his office. They, too, needed to be shipped, along with truckloads of other Weldon records that had been stored in the National Archives. The archives will keep documents for members of Congress free of charge until they leave office, when the papers return to their owners.

"The hours don't get any shorter just because your boss lost," Tomaszewski said. "In fact, they get longer. Cause you're still spending time answering calls from the press and constituents, and at the same time you're taking apart the operation, helping people remove personal stuff from their computers, accounting for all the equipment. And then when I go home, I'm not hanging out with friends; I'm on the Internet, sending out my résumé, trying to deal with my professional life."

In total, 181 offices will change hands in the House -- far more movement than in the Senate but about typical for the post-election shuffle, said Salley Collins, a spokeswoman for the House Administration Committee, which helps to oversee the physical transition to the new Congress. In addition to the members who were voted out of a job, some are retiring, two are transferring to the Senate, and many others are moving to bigger, better offices thanks to the ritual office lottery that takes place every two years.

The movers will roll up with their dollies today and aim to move 10 offices a day, working six days a week over the next three weeks, Collins said. "It's done in a cascading manner," she said, describing the schedule of moves. She said she could not provide an estimated cost for the moves, which are paid for by the federal government.

Dumpsters were in great demand in some of the office buildings, as were packing boxes and other supplies. One office manager said she had to call 20 times to get one of the trash bins, and it apparently was pilfered by a staffer from another office.

The nameplate and seal of Kentucky were already off the door to GOP Rep. Anne M. Northup's office in 2459 Rayburn on Wednesday. "People in this office are a little stressed, trying to beat the deadlines, and at the same time we're trying to figure out what we're all going to do next," said a receptionist who declined to give her name. "There are a lot of Republicans looking for work right now," she said.

John C. Albaugh, chief of staff for outgoing Rep. Ernest J. Istook Jr. (R-Okla.), was padding around in stocking feet in Istook's quickly emptying office, 2404 Rayburn. Istook gave up the congressional seat he occupied for 14 years in a failed bid for governor of Oklahoma. Albaugh, who said he was weighing several job possibilities, sounded philosophical.

"A lot of people do this every two years," he said. "It comes with the territory."