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Show PAGE 10 THE ZEPHYRJUNE 1992 Mr. Fulghum goes to Washington trying to keep up with my congressman by Robert Fulghum Washington, D.C - First week of April 1992 A report from the National Affairs Desk of the Zephyr The phones ring constantly. The press is always looking for a story or a statement. Nine staff members and the Congressman occupy about 1,000 square feet of cramped into tiny box canyons whose walls are ceiling high shelves filled with files and books and manuals and reports and reference books. The Congressman's office is not much better. The furnishings are worn, utilitarian, and and very little privacy, even for the inadequate. There is no luxury for anyone; battle-statio- n conditions on a submarine. A quick tour of Congressman. It feels like nearby congressional offices reflected the same circumstances. An alarm bell rang and the Congressman rushed out of the Ethics Committee and into his office to find out from his staff how he should vote on some matter before the House. By six o'clock he was back in his office, looking as tired and worn as his of it office furnishings. Few of his staff had gone homethere's too much to do-a- ll important and urgent space-everybo- Washington, D.C, city of paradox. A city stained by evil, wickedness and corruption, yet enabled by dreams, hopes and hard struggling toward something fine. A city scarred by the vicious venality of greed, drugs, poverty, disease; and crime; yet magnificent in its gallant drive for that which is civilized and humane. A city of Big Lies and Huge Hopes. The seat of representative government - representing us and all that we are and all that we yet may become; for better or worse - mostly both. Washington - the minor of our country, 'tis of thee we sing - and also shout and curse and complain and boast In this spring of our discontent, we mostly damn it and those who occupy it in our behalf. The Leper Colony of At the head of our condemned list is Congress, that rotten nest of check-bouncichowderheads. On the way to Washington it is difficult to avoid a cynical frame of mind. While in the East on business, I went to Washington to look in on my Member of Congress. I spent two days following him Representative, a three-terfrom he around the time got up in the morning until he went to bed at night - to, as I told him, "see political corruption first hand." You might be interested in what I learned. When I arrived he had just spent 3 full working days- - Friday, Saturday, and Sunday - in his district- - the 7th in Washington State - going to meetings, making campaign in the falL speeches, Seattle staff, as well as laying plans for his He spent all day Monday flying (tourist class) back to Washington D.C in time for a long evening dinner meeting with representatives of the pharmaceutical industry who were willing to send medicines with him on an upcoming trip to Viet Nam and Cambodia. After doing some homework on agenda for the next week, he got 6 hours sleep and was in his office for an 8 o'clock meeting, the first of fourteen meetings scheduled for the day. In addition, there was a long ongoing session of the Ethics Committee, on which he serves. The House itself adjourned at noon. He kept TV, while the meetings up with the activities on the floor of the House by closed-circu- it in his office went on and on. There was no time for lunch. All the meetings were with groups who wanted something from him. Ranging from getting their picture taken to support for legislation to personal favors. I sat in on all these sessions and found it lost trade of who wanted what and why. Several members of his staff were meeting at the same time with other delegations who could not be squeezed into the Congressman's schedule. The office looked like a bus station at rush hour. While the Congressman went off to a closed session of the ethics Committee, I tried reading through the Congressional Monitor - twenty three pages of tiny type, summarizing all the important legislative activities going on during a single day. All of it was complicated, important business- - beyond my ability to absorb, much less take an intelligent position on. I put it down with a headache. The Ethics Committee meeting went on into the afternoon, giving me time to talk to the Congressman's staff. 1 asked for a summary of the activity in the office. Five to seven hundred pieces of mail a day come in to his office in Washington and a like number in Seattle. Once in a great while he gets a letter of thanks or appreciation, but many of the letters are hostile, blaming him for not doing their Congressman as a concierge who can something. Most want something-seein- g fix or influence and matter, large or small. It is interesting to note that when the public voting records are checked, the majority of the people who want action from their congressman have themselves not even bothered to vote in the most recent election, nor have they contributed to his election campaign in any way. liberty-and-justice-for-- all. ng dy m . staff-prepar- ed mind-numbing- -1 Congress is more worthy of respect now than ever before. And it's a better world than it was 100 years ago - check it out -- the facts support this truth. And no small part of the progress made in American dvdization...is through the efforts of people like your congressman. Take the long view... After a fast food snack, the Congressman had to be in 6 different places at once before bedtime-receptioand formalities he must attend in his ceremonial role. Not to attend is to offend, so it's ns w.(If you think it's frustrating to read that sentence; you ought to try to live it four : nights a week.) By midnight he was finally in bed, after taking a list of 11 phone calls off his most private line-fro- m family and staff in Seattle. Tomorrow- -. The budget for all costs to maintain this Congressman in office b $1,073,479 this year. He represents 513,795 constituents. Or you might say he costs each one of us $2.08 a year. Less than an order of fries, burger, and a cola. After four days of this schedule in D.C, the Congressman flew back to his . district for three working days and then back to D.C again. Seven days a week, two plane rides. He gets $125,000 for working 365 days a year, which may seem like a lot But it's less than a journeyman shortstop on a major league baseball team makes. The Congressman has a family to support and has to pay full taxes on his salary, like the rest of us. Unlike the rest of us, has to maintain two es residences in two large I have seen and would call lower middle class. the time his taxes and deductions taken from his check and the end of the are By month comes, there's nothing left. He's in debt up to his neck. He doesn't bounce checks, but he knows why it happens. The one Congressional perk he might make use of--a parking space in the Capitol lot-- is useless to him. He can't afford an extra car to drive in D.CV so he bicycles to the Hill through a section of the city that has the highest crime rates in the nation or else he takes the subway, which b only slightly less dangerous. He goes home at night through a gauntlet of fear. 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