Posted on 06/10/2007 7:08:22 PM PDT by buccaneer81
Perks of power stop at tiny D.C. digs Sunday, June 10, 2007 3:46 AM By Jonathan Riskind THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Rep. Jim Jordan of Urbana, right, and aide Ray Yonkura share a dingy one-bedroom apartment on Capitol Hill for $995 a month. WASHINGTON -- It doesn't take long to tour the one-bedroom Capitol Hill apartment shared by freshman GOP Rep. Jim Jordan of Urbana and his chief of staff, Ray Yonkura.
Not that most visitors would want to hang out after surveying the gloomy lighting, dirty white walls and combination living room/kitchen whose scarred floor and grungy appliances appear to date from the 1950s.
Yonkura's $175 bed takes up most of the living room, and Jordan's tiny bedroom is barren except for the air mattress on which he sleeps.
For this, they pay a total of $995 a month in rent, more than the mortgage on Yonkura's house in Delaware, Ohio, but about as cheap as you are likely to find anywhere near their D Street location less than two blocks from the Capitol.
Lawmakers are often in the limelight, but their living quarters in the nation's capital are typically modest. Some live in their office.
For all but a couple of top congressional leaders, there are no limos or black sport-utility vehicles, no drivers or bodyguards. The $165,500 annual salary, generous by most standards, doesn't go far for lawmakers who continue to support their families at home while living during the week in pricey Washington.
That's why Jordan and Yonkura searched for the cheapest apartment available. They basically use the place only as a spot to sleep and try to limit their stays in Washington to a bare minimum.
The fridge seldom holds more than a jug of milk. Yonkura has wolfed down cereal from a measuring cup when both of the apartment's bowls were dirty.
Jordan, a former high-school and college wrestler, gets up early; works out in the House of Representatives' gym; and then attends meetings, hearings and votes. He usually doesn't get back to the apartment until
9 p.m. or so. Yonkura often returns even later.
"It was the cheapest place we could find," Jordan said. "You're there eight hours, that's it. Then it's back up and at it."
Another freshman lawmaker from Ohio, Democrat Zack Space of Dover, isn't living in much grander style.
Space shares a subterranean two-bedroom apartment with another freshman Democrat, Michael A. Arcuri of New York. It's on G Street, about a
10-minute walk from the Capitol. The rent is $2,000 a month.
The two former college football players aren't exactly homemakers -- their refrigerator still holds the dozen eggs Space optimistically bought when he took office back in January. The "coffee table" was recently upgraded from a cardboard box to a beaten-up stand Space brought from home.
And home remains Dover; his D.C. pad just a place to sleep between House sessions.
"I go there and sleep and get up and get the heck out of there and go to work," Space said. "I really miss my bed at home, my house, my town, my family."
Not all Ohioans in Congress live in such austere setups, but there is little glitz or glamour -- and no Embassy Row mansions, either. In years past, many lawmakers moved their family to Washington and raised their children here, but that's not the norm today.
One of the more comfortable housing arrangements enjoyed by an Ohio lawmaker is the four-bedroom townhouse in suburban Arlington, Va., owned since 1989 by 10-term Rep. Paul Gillmor. The Tiffin Republican, a well-off investor, figured soon after he won office that the townhouse was a better investment than renting.
Gillmor paid $389,000 and probably could make a good profit now if he decided to sell the place, part of a subdivision near the Pentagon favored by retired military officers.
Still, the bedrooms are small, the kitchen could use renovating, the rugs could stand a good cleaning and furniture is scarce. Plenty of family photos perch on mantels and desks, but no art adorns the walls. Gillmor makes the 20-minute drive to Capitol Hill in a Chevrolet Impala.
Rep. Pat Tiberi says that if he thought he could get a decent night's sleep he would simply sack out in his office. A number of his fellow lawmakers -- though none from Ohio, as far as he knows -- sleep on their couch and shower in the House gym, the Genoa Township Republican said.
Tiberi, a real-estate agent before he entered public life, decided against paying $850 a month for a one-room efficiency when he won office in 2000. Real estate in the D.C. area was relatively depressed at the time. He paid "in the 120s" for a 950-square-foot, two-bedroom condo in suburban Alexandria, Va. -- a "great deal" from a seller desperate to unload the place after closing on a new home.
Tiberi has furnished the place with a double bed in one room and a futon for his daughter in the other, although his family visits Washington only about twice a year. The combination living room/dining room has a television, a couch and a small table with two seats.
"Until my wife came over last week, I hadn't opened the fridge the whole year," he said. "I get home late, and I leave early."
jriskind@dispatch.com
Limited living space while in DC doesn’t mean destitute when many of them return home to million dollar mansions.
Business opportunity?
Yeah it sure is rough isnt it? BS.
Maybe they should go home.
No wonder they love to go on junkets. Washington sucks.
Cry me a river.
When some of these people spend millions, sometimes their own millions, to get elected or reelected, you just know that the payoff is down the road somewhere, even if they do have to double up in a cubby-hole for a couple years.
Do the still get almost free haircuts?
then I submit one J D Hayworth from Arizona. He and another slept on the floor of an apt their first 16 months because they did not come from silver linings but local sports on tv salaries. To maintain Az and Dc it was only on the salary of a congressman.
J D still lives in the home he did before elected to congress and now has a talk show on KFYI.com 4pm til 7pm.
J D didn’t whore his name or his titled responsibilities.
Long ago, the federal government should have decided that all the land in Washington D.C. should be for government use and convenience. That is, all private lands should be purchased at fair value, and it should become a truly federal city.
Advantages include having far more space for government offices, and monuments, and open space. Except for embassies, official residences, and VIP hotels, no one else needs to live in the city.
To a great extent, motor vehicles could be limited, and people who worked in the city could commute. Security would be far greater than it is today, and the movement in, around and out, of vast numbers of tourists could be made far more efficient. Crime would be reduced to congressional earmarks and lobbying.
By gentrifying such a large number of private buildings, the city could be remade into a far more beautiful, efficient, and pleasant place. No need for a city government at all.
Yep! Some of them are good folks. They will put up with the inconveniences for the right reasons. They have my support and undying gratitude. I wouldn't want to do it!
What, does D.C. have a tax on keeping dishes in an apartment? On washing its walls? Sounds like a lot of show.
Why is there no Bottom Ramen?
Heh, I remember how swank it was when I moved from an 80 man open bay barracks to a 4 man room (with 4 rooms to a quad, so only 16 guys shared 2 showers).
My heart bleeds for these 165k/year public servants "roughing it" in the big city.
BoooooHooooo! Free healthcare, and a lot of other free stuff and you can live large.
And .. what happened to making the landlord responsible for a shoddy apartment .. as a member of congress .. why are they putting up with that ..??
Sounds like they are living the bachorlor pad lifestyle.
Be there suits and colonge cost more than the rent.
Believe me , they arent roughing it. This story is total crap.If you think these guys are working 16 hours a day on the Hill and going to a dingy apartment for 8 hours sleep before coming back, you are more gullible than I think you are.
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