Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

EXography: Some senators, including Harry Reid, rarely go home; other senators do it constantly
washingtonexaminer.com ^ | 7/23/14 | Luke Rosiak

Posted on 07/23/2014 6:58:32 AM PDT by cotton1706

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid rarely makes time to travel back to Nevada and listen to the voters who sent him to Washington, according to a Washington Examiner review of Senate disbursement records.

Reid's office budget showed only 11 trips in three years, far fewer than any other senator.

snip

Other high-profile senior lawmakers have records that aren't much better. Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein averaged only nine trips to California annually, according to Senate office travel logs. That's one-third as many as most lawmakers.

As legislators prepare to adjourn to their home states for the August “district work period,” the Washington Examiner looked at rarely-studied government records covering the three-year period ending in March 2014, showing the travel budget of each member’s taxpayer-funded office.

Reid spokesman Adam Jentleson said the Senate Majority Leader actually traveled "over 100 percent" more than that.

snip

“Can Harry Reid be effective only coming home eight times a year?” asked Nevada political analyst John Ralston. “I suppose it depends on what your definition of a senator's job is.”

“To give him his due, he is the most powerful Democrat outside of the president in the country, so that provides a benefit to the state,” Ralston said, noting that as majority leader, Reid has a much better excuse for not getting home than some of his more-junior colleagues with sparse travel records.

“But by being so long in D.C. — since 1982 — and by ascending in leadership to the pinnacle, he must fight the perception that he is a capital creature, as opposed to a Nevadan,” Ralston said.

Philip Blumel, president of US Term Limits, was more blunt: “Harry Reid has the most powerful position in the Senate and he doesn’t have to trouble himself with the little people back home.”

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: elections

1 posted on 07/23/2014 6:58:32 AM PDT by cotton1706
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: cotton1706

I live around the corner from Ed Markey. Haven’t seen him since election night.


2 posted on 07/23/2014 7:05:57 AM PDT by massgopguy (I owe everything to George Bailey)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: cotton1706

I wonder what the breakout is between Dems and Reps.

I used to see Coburn every week and Inholfe occasionally.


3 posted on 07/23/2014 7:06:01 AM PDT by ImJustAnotherOkie (zerogottago)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ImJustAnotherOkie

“I wonder what the breakout is between Dems and Reps.”

There’s a chart at the link if you want to check it out.


4 posted on 07/23/2014 7:06:50 AM PDT by cotton1706 (ThisRepublic.net)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: cotton1706

Some senators, including Harry Reid, rarely go home......To them, DC IS HOME.........................


5 posted on 07/23/2014 7:10:18 AM PDT by Red Badger (If you compromise with evil, you just get more evil..........................)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: cotton1706

When I was a youngster I lived in the DC area and had an older cousin who was the secretary for our Congressman. Back then, Washington was not fully air conditioned, including many of the older Congressional Office Buildings. Therefore, the Congress operated very much like the Supreme Court does today. They wrapped things up in June and didn’t come back to town until the end of September. The staffs were still at work, but it was sleepy hollow. The members were back in their home districts. I freely roamed the halls of Congress and the Capitol building with only a few staff members to be seen. While there were many long serving members, they would never be accused of forgetting or not visiting their home states.

The era of the professional career Washington insider who only goes home when an election is scheduled is a modern phenomenon that wasn’t possible before air conditioning.


6 posted on 07/23/2014 7:28:32 AM PDT by centurion316
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: cotton1706

When in DC ,Congress Critters should have to live in Barracks


7 posted on 07/23/2014 8:26:50 AM PDT by molson209 (Blank)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: cotton1706

Skype....

Harry Reid couldn’t find Nevada on a map. Heck, most DC parasites probably couldn’t find the USA on a map of the United States.


8 posted on 07/23/2014 8:36:52 AM PDT by Organic Panic
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: cotton1706

Repealing the 17th Amendment will fix this problem.


9 posted on 07/23/2014 12:21:33 PM PDT by paddles ("The more corrupt the state, the more it legislates." Tacitus)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson