By Hamil R. Harris
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 31, 1997; Page A01

A "tightwad" Republican congressman may have a tough time maintaining his reputation for frugality after winning $250,000 from a D.C. Lottery ticket he bought at a liquor store.

Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) ended almost two weeks of mystery for lottery officials yesterday when he turned up with the winning ticket at the same place he purchased it, Congressional Liquors on Capitol Hill.

When Sensenbrenner presented the ticket, he was a little confused about how much he had won, according to Willie McCoy, the store's manager.

"When he came in, he thought he had won only $10," McCoy said. "I pulled him aside and said, `Sir, I think you have won more than you thought.' He shook a little bit, and I said, `Don't faint on me.' "

Brian Dean, Sensenbrenner's chief of staff, described his boss as "the biggest tightwad in Congress with taxpayer dollars."

Sensenbrenner said his own family considers him to be "quite tight." He said his wife, Cheryl, didn't believe he had won until he took a bottle of champagne to their Alexandria home.

"I have never bought an $85 bottle of champagne in my life," he said.

The 54-year-old father of two acknowledged a weakness for playing the lottery.

"I might play every two weeks," Sensenbrenner said. "It was an impulse purchase. I was purchasing Wisconsin beer for my office's Christmas party, and I paid $2 for two Quick Cash tickets."

District officials knew a winning ticket had been sold for the Dec. 18 drawing and wondered when someone would claim the prize. After purchasing the ticket on the day of the drawing, Sensenbrenner went home to Wisconsin to bring his mother back to Washington for Christmas.

"I've been carrying the ticket around in my billfold," he said. "I didn't think about checking it."

Sensenbrenner, who has chaired the House Science Committee since 1979, said there was nothing scientific about choosing 01-02-25-29-37-39.

After being elected to Congress for 10 consecutive terms, he said, he is known well enough in Wisconsin that he doesn't need to spend the money on his reelection.

"My accountant has to first figure out how much money will be taken out for taxes," he said. "Then we will sit down as a family and have a long talk about how to spend the money."

McCoy said "quite a number" of congressmen who come into the store at 404 First St. SE play the lottery. He said Sensenbrenner is a regular. The store will get $2,500 for selling the winning ticket.

D.C. Lottery spokeswoman Athena Ware said it had been nine months since someone won the $250,000 grand prize for the Quick Cash game. Lottery officials say they believe this is the first time a member of Congress has been a grand-prize winner since the lottery was started in 1982.

"I asked him what took him so long to cash in his tickets, and he said he had to bring his mother . . . back to celebrate Christmas," said Ware, who screens all contest winners. "I asked him where he was employed, and he said he was a congressman. It was weird. You never know who's playing."

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) said that the next time there is a vote in Congress about funding for the District, "I am going to remind my good friend of his good fortune."