Graham's Senate victory lands him in a trailer (Thurmond's replacement)

The State.com (SC) ^ | December 20, 2002 | Lauren Markoe

[wimpycat]

Washington Most members of the U.S. House have settled into the offices they will occupy for the next two years.

But U.S. Sen.-elect Lindsey Graham and his staff are looking forward to moving in January to their third temporary quarters -- a trailer in the courtyard of Capitol Hill's Russell Senate Office Building.

Graham's office will be the master bedroom, said Richard Perry, his current and future chief of staff.

The trailer, Perry figures, has got to be better than the teeny space nine Graham staffers now share in the Senate Transition Office. There, in the basement of the Senate Dirksen Office Building, each of the upper chamber's eight incoming senators gets one room.

The latest on the permanent office is that it should be ready in March and April.

Some strange hazing ritual for freshmen senators?

The truth, unfortunately for Graham, a Republican congressman from Seneca for the past eight years, is that succeeding Strom Thurmond does not mean inheriting his spacious digs.

Graham will rank 94th in Senate seniority when he is sworn in on Jan. 7. Thurmond ranked first. And rank has everything to do with working space in the Senate. The longer you serve, the more superior your address and the faster you move in.

Democrat Fritz Hollings, who was first elected in 1966 and ranks fourth in seniority, has enjoyed his roomy Senate real estate since 1977.

"We're not moving," said Hollings spokesman Andy Davis.

The moving game moves faster on the House side, where the typical suite is like a small three-room apartment. Graham and his congressional staff had to clear out weeks ago for a new congressman to move in.

Danny Cromer, legislative director for U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., said the House movers are notoriously efficient. As soon as the congressman picked his new, larger quarters in the Cannon House Office Building -- the movers arrived to clear them out.

"There are boxes all over the place," Cromer said. "You can hardly walk in here, and they broke the copier and the fax machine in the move."

Republican Joe Wilson, Columbia's other congressman, is perhaps the only House member who will gain seniority next year but find himself in less luxurious accommodations.

That's because Wilson won Floyd Spence's seat in a special election last year, shortly after Spence died in office. Spence, with 16 terms under his belt, had plentiful space and one of the grandest views of the Capitol dome.

And it was all Wilson's.

"We had a kitchen; we had a copy room; we had two coat closets; we had shelving," said Wilson spokesman Wesley Denton.

Denton tried to take some of the old office with him by snapping a picture of the old view and pasting it in Wilson's new window. That window looks out into the Cannon courtyard, which is filled with steam-emitting pipes.

Wilson would frequently remind his staff to appreciate their year in Spence's former office "because it's going to be another 30 years before I can get it back."

[wimpycat]

This is funny! Lindsey Graham is one of my favorites, and he has a sense of humor, so I'm sure there'll be no end to the jokes about his trailer.

[wimpycat]

Trailer park bump!

[crystalk]

IIRC, studies have shown that 38% of South Carolinians do live in trailers, higher than any other State, so this should do wonders for his common touch appeal.

[wimpycat]

Yeah, I think South Carolina finally surpassed North Carolina in trailers after the last census. North Carolina led the nation in trailers for many years.

I think NC is still ahead of SC in outhouses, so we haven't completely conceded the redneck/bumpkin/hillbilly field yet, you know! ROFL!

[Guillermo]

I hope once they convene, that he has a better office than Jumpin' Jim.

[crystalk]

Which one has the most "hurl chamber pot into weeds" residences?

[wimpycat]

Nope, I doubt it. Seniority is the name of the game in Senate office space.

[goldstategop]

Yeah more of that Southerners are trailer park trash slur in the media. Dont you get tired of it? Next they'll be trying to tie in Lindsey Graham to Strom Thurmond's notorious past.

[hchutch]

One thing I don't get...

I thought the offices were KEPT by Congressmen if they won re-election.

[wimpycat]

I understand what you're saying, but as a lifelong Southerner, descended from a long line of Southerners going all the way back to the 1600's when they got of the boat and just stayed where they landed, I'm used to being looked down upon by people who think they are superior.

I'm used to it. As a matter of fact, I embrace it. To hell with them!

You see, they don't have to "try" to tie Lindsey Graham to Strom Thurmond's past. They'll automatically do it. For the real haters, the fact that Lindsey Graham is a white Republican from South Carolina is enough to tie Lindsey Graham to Strom Thurmond. They share the state, the gender, the skin color and party affiliation--that's enough to make Graham an eeeeeeeeeevillll man.

[wimpycat]

Joe Wilson won a special election to fill Floyd Spence's seat, so he got Spence's office. But this is his first "real" election, so he goes to the bottom of the heap with the rest of the newbies now.

[hchutch]

I see...

*pauses*

You think that they'd try to avoid moving folks around a smuch as possible.

[NEPA]

I wonder what kind of office #97 had when she was first elected.

[wimpycat]

It wasn't as good as Moynihan's, who she replaced.

[JohnnyZ]

Democrat Fritz Hollings, who was first elected in 1966 and ranks fourth in seniority, has enjoyed his roomy Senate real estate since 1977. "We're not moving," said Hollings spokesman Andy Davis.

We'll see about that . . . in 2004!

[Marysecretary]

Well, at least he's NOT trailer trash like some other politicians we won't mention.....

[Marysecretary]

I don't think the term trailer trash is just a southern thing. We have lots of them in Central New York, too (trailers, that is).

[yoe]

How did Hillary get her roomy office space as a junior senator? And the woman has palatial office space away from the capitol...at the taxpayer’s expense. A trailer would be very fitting for her.............

[dixie sass]

Didn't she get a broom closet?

[dixie sass]

Senators are housed in a different office building than the house.