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| Home Front: Politix |
| Washington Traffic Jam? Senators-Only Elevator |
| 2006-08-02 |
| WASHINGTON, July 30 — In addition to lofty issues of war and peace, the Senate is grappling with another urgent matter: the senators-only elevators at the Capitol are being overrun by the unelected. And... and...and.. they smell. I mean really! “I hesitate to say that it’s a big problem,” said Senator Frank R. Lautenberg of New Jersey, shaking his head gravely. “There is terrific crowding.” Mr. Lautenberg, a Democrat who has served more than two decades in the Senate, said he had never seen the Capitol so packed with unelected interlopers. The crowding extends to the elevators, one of the few sanctuaries available to beleaguered lawmakers as they try to navigate between the Senate chamber, various hearing rooms and offices in the Capitol. “Sometimes you have to shove your way through, push people,” Mr. Lautenberg said. Add the elevator problem to the litany of senatorial hardships, somewhere between flying coach and the high costs of barbering. At times, senators even find themselves on public elevators, an ordeal fraught with the possibility of having to push their own buttons (the senators-only elevators usually have attendants). Do you know who I am? Worse, senators sometimes share their moving sanctums with staff members, lobbyists and T-shirt-clad tourists who apparently missed (or ignored or cannot read) the senators-only signs. Or, double-worse, with reporters. “No, no, no, c’mon, c’mon,” Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania complained recently as about 10 reporters trailed his colleague Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York onto a senators-only elevator. Standing outside the elevator, Mr. Santorum complained that “some of the rest of us” need to get on board, too. (He eventually squeezed in.) The essential idea behind the elevators is to allow senators to travel easily to the Senate floor for votes. They are designed, in Mr. Lautenberg’s words, “to expedite process,” although some senators are not so certain. Senator John W. Warner, Republican of Virginia, called the elevators “a tradition that has long since outlived its usefulness.” Even so, tradition is a potent conceit on Capitol Hill, especially in the upper crust corridors of the upper chamber. Members of the House have their own elevators, too, but senators are fewer in number, are more recognizable and tend toward a tall aristocratic archetype. House members blend more seamlessly with the masses and are harder to recognize, which creates its own problems. (Congressional staff members related an incident in 2001, in which they recalled the freshman Representative Melissa Hart of Pennsylvania, who is white, admonishing Representative Julia Carson, who is black, that the elevator they were riding on was members-only. Ms. Carson, of Indiana, proceeded to introduce herself to her new colleague, offense taken.) Was she wearing her pin? “There’s all kinds of lore associated with the Senate elevators,” said Charlie Cook, a Senate elevator operator during his college days at Georgetown and now the editor and publisher of the Cook Political Report, an independent newsletter. Mr. Cook mentioned one episode, which he attributed to “accepted lore” but did not witness: Senator John Tower, Republican of Texas, was said to throw a volcanic tantrum when an elevator operator did not recognize him and failed to heed his request to take him directly to the basement. Do you know WHO I AM? “Hold onto your hat, cowboy,” the attendant is reputed to have told Mr. Tower, who was wearing cowboy boots. “I’ve got a senator I’ve got to pick up.” Mr. Cook remembered Senator Hubert H. Humphrey coming aboard an elevator, saying hello and asking where Mr. Cook was from. Older, tradition-bound Senate veterans — like Ted Stevens of Alaska and Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia — have gained a reputation for hostile glares (or grumbles) when confronted by elevator interlopers. But anyone who concludes that senators are pampered beings of privilege may rest assured that the elevators are sometimes a source of angst. “There are times when I press the senators-only button and there are people waiting for the elevators, and I do feel a little guilty.” Mr. Lautenberg admitted. “Sometimes I invite them in,” he said, “and sometimes I hope they don’t recognize me.” The basic rule is this: nonsenators are allowed to ride only if asked by a senator. Such invitations typically occur when a reporter is in mid-interview with a senator walking off the Senate floor. Mr. Breaux concluded the matter with a nod to the public good: “I think the elevators are designed to keep members of the public from having to ride with senators,” he said. F-k em. Make all the elevators public. If they want privacy they can take the stairs. This is america - there are no 'titles' here and they need to be reminded of this - either with a public elevator or a swift, hard, kick in the ass. Personally I prefer the later - but then that's me. |
| Posted by:CrazyFool |
| #4 Used to be worse. All the elevators had human operators and when they heard the 3 buzzes of a Senator they went straight to the floor where he was, change vertical directions as necessary and then went directly to the floor the Senator requested. Now that POed people. |
| Posted by: 6 2006-08-02 18:08 |
| #3 Actually the non-senators should get preferred. Senators are public servants, aren't they? They keep telling me they are! |
| Posted by: Oldcat 2006-08-02 12:00 |
| #2 Make all the elevators handicap only. Video everyone who uses them. |
| Posted by: BrerRabbit 2006-08-02 11:38 |
| #1 “Sometimes you have to shove your way through, push people,” Mr. Lautenberg said. Just get behind Kennedy and get sucked through in his wake. |
| Posted by: DoDo 2006-08-02 11:38 |