The Wall Street Journal tells us today that around a dozen of the incoming freshman class of Republican House members plan to sleep in their offices, perhaps in some kind of a contest for who can come up with the dumbest piece of symbolism to present to the voters back home:
It's the ultimate I'm-not-a-professional-politician statement, reminiscent of the 1994 midterm elections, when a GOP House takeover led to a surge in House sleepovers.
With voters again shunning Washington and fiscal excess, a number of incoming House members plan to demonstrate their scorn for both by camping out near their new desks. Many more are still undecided but may well join the sleep-sofa caucus.
I'd love to know how not getting yourself an apartment is "the ultimate I'm-not-a-professional-politician statement." Because you want to spend literally every minute that you're in Washington on Capitol Hill? It isn't as though they're saving the taxpayers any money -- they don't subsidize housing for members of Congress. So they'll be saving themselves some money, which is perfectly fine. Rents in Washington are high, which is one reason some members of Congress get group houses together. But how exactly does sleeping in your office demonstrate that you're not a politician?
One of the people mentioned in the piece is newly minted Congressman Tim Griffin, identified in the Journal piece only as an "Army reservist." Ben Smith reminds us exactly who Tim Griffin is:
The larger and unmentioned chunk of Griffin's resume is that of a political pro who's spent most of his adult life in Washington (and not sleeping at the office): He's a former GOP staffer, RNC and Bush campaign oppo hand, and Bush Administration official who was Karl Rove's aide in some of the bitterest battles of the '04 campaign. His appointment as interim U.S. Attorney in his native Arkansas made him the poster child for criticism of the Bush Administration's politicization of those offices, and he resigned the job amid the controversy.
Just reg'lar folks, sleeping in the office, like reg'lar folks do!
-- Paul Waldman
