In the Name of Transparency, Two Hill Freshmen Make Their Daily Schedules Public
By Lyndsey Layton
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 4, 2007
Jon Tester stands out from the other 99 members of the Senate in these ways:
The organic farmer wears cowboy boots with his dark business suits. He sports a buzz haircut that is more Marine drill sergeant than wavy-haired senator. He passes more people on his five-block walk from his Washington apartment to the Capitol than he might see in a week in Montana.
And then there's this: He posts his daily schedule on his Web site for all the world to see.
In a culture where lawmakers spend hours in closed-door meetings, and their activities out of the public eye are considered proprietary, Tester is a trailblazer bent on opening up the inner workings of his office. His radical practice comes after irate voters in November tossed out longtime incumbents implicated in lobbying scandals and as public interest groups clamor for more transparency in the way Congress does business.
Tester's early days in office have been filled by half-hour meetings that start at 8 a.m. and stretch until sundown. He's hosted the Montana Wheat & Barley Committee and Big Timber Montana. He sat down with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe, the major freight railroad in the West, as well as the union which represents its labor force, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. One day, he had three separate meetings with three different Indian tribes.
Every session with lobbyists, constituents and other lawmakers is conscientiously recorded, including names, affiliations and the duration of the meeting.
"I just wanted to give people an opportunity to see who I meet with," said Tester, a freshman Democrat who unseated three-term Republican Conrad Burns, helping the Democrats win control of the Senate. "I believe in transparent government and this is my effort."
Before the newcomer's staff got his Web site up and running, they taped a paper copy of his daily schedule to his office door. "But we realized that doesn't do a lot of good for the people back in Montana," said Matt McKenna, his communications director.
Tester's schedule is quite detailed, including entries describing his visits to the Senate gym and dinners with his wife, Sharla. "I just thought it would be easier than trying to explain gaps in time," he said.
In the House, Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, a freshman Democrat from Upstate New York, is doing something similar. Although she gives less detail than Tester, Gillibrand lists her work-related meetings each day on her Web site.
"I was trying to think what are ways to restore public's confidence that special interests don't have overwhelming influence," said Gillibrand, who promised during her campaign to publicize her schedule. "And I figured the best way is to provide information about who members are meeting with."
She does not describe the duration of meetings or include personal appointments. "If I have lunch with a girlfriend, I don't want that on the schedule," Gillibrand said. "This is not Reality Congress, where you live the life of a congressman. I'm not going to post how many calories I eat today. This is about ethics reform, letting people know who's bending your ear."
Richard A. Baker, the Senate historian, cannot find a precedent for what Tester and Gillibrand are doing. Former Democratic senator Bob Graham of Florida was known for his eccentric habit of keeping a running log of his every waking activity, including the brand of breakfast cereal he consumed, but he never published the 4,400 notebooks he filled over 26 years of scribbling.
During her campaign for office, Gillibrand signed a pledge circulated by the Sunlight Foundation, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to bringing greater transparency to government. Of the 92 congressional candidates nationwide who agreed to the pledge, Gillibrand was the only one to win office.
"This is a recognition that 60 percent of Americans punch a clock, report on time sheets how much time they work and how they spend at time," said Ellen Miller, executive director of the foundation, which would like nothing more than a law requiring lawmakers to make their schedules public. "Why shouldn't members of Congress do the same?"
The Sunlight Foundation is archiving Tester's and Gillibrand's daily schedules at http://www.congresspedia.com in a format to allow searches and analysis.
Bill Frenzel, a scholar at the Brookings Institution who was a Republican member of Congress for 20 years, takes a dimmer view. "It sounds pretty silly," said Frenzel, who represented a Minnesota district. "People don't need to know who you're meeting with, they need to know whether you're available to meet with them."
He said he was reminded of former senator Richard Stone of Florida, who took the door to his office off its hinges to emphasize his own transparency. "Grandstanding is what you'd call it in minor league baseball," Frenzel said.
Tester and Gillibrand said their constituents like the public schedules and none of the lobbyists have grumbled about them. "If they're nervous about it it's probably someone I shouldn't be meeting with," Tester said.
According to his schedule, Tester sat down with AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney and the union's legislative director, William Samuel on Jan. 24 for a half-hour. "I'm fine with it," Samuel said. "Unlike others in Washington, we have no interest in covering our tracks . . . We might have known more about how the Republicans were coming up with energy plans and prescription drug plans if we knew how much time they were spending with their corporate lobbyists."
Tester and Gillibrand both rode to office emphasizing corruption scandals and the need to bring new openness to Washington.
Tester, who was president of the Montana Senate in a Republican-leaning state, hammered on the fact that Burns accepted $150,000 in campaign contributions from disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, his firm and his clients. Burns later returned the money but Tester made Burns's connection to Abramoff a major part of the campaign. Tester was heavily outspent by Burns but won by 2,565 votes.
Gillibrand won her seat after painting her rival, Republican John E. Sweeney, as ethically troubled. Sweeney, an eight-year House veteran, took a trip to the Northern Mariana Islands with an Abramoff associate. Late in the campaign, it became public that police responded to a domestic violence call involving Sweeney and his wife.
Miller said the Sunlight Foundation plans to lobby other members of Congress to post their schedules. But with just two of 535 participating, there is a lot of work ahead.
Gillibrand said she wants to create a special caucus of like-minded members. She already has a name -- the Sunshine Caucus. Now all she needs are members, she said.
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