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Sen. Kennedy’s posh Capitol hideway: Real estate that has kept its value
Senators are curious about what will happen to the late Sen. Edward Kennedy’s posh hideaway office on the third floor of the Capitol, and a few are hoping to snag it.
Several have long admired Kennedy’s retreat, with its stunning view of the Mall, the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.
Colleagues said the hideaway reminded them of a clubroom, with dark-green painted walls, plush green carpet and 15-foot vaulted ceilings.
“It sounds pretty,” said Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.).
Hideaways are among the highest perks for senators, a sign of prestige for those members of the upper chamber who have survived reelection after reelection to climb the seniority ladder.
Now a few are wondering why they haven’t heard anything about what’s to happen with Kennedy’s famous hideaway.
The reason is fairly simple: Senate Rules Committee Chairman Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who is in charge of the matter, has yet to decide what to do with it.
There are two problems. First, if Schumer were to offer it up to his colleagues, it could create a domino-chain of hideaway moves, an expensive prospect at a time when Congress is under fire for profligate spending.
Schumer declined to comment about the issue.
A senior Senate aide explained that a hideaway that opens up would be offered to every senator — not just those without one — in order of seniority. Kennedy was the second-ranking member of the Senate after Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) and had the second choice of all hideaways.
Therefore, if the third-ranking senator took Kennedy’s den, it would create a new vacancy that some lower-ranking colleague would love to fill.
The second problem is that some colleagues might find it crass to have a clamor for Kennedy’s Capitol office so soon after his funeral.
“I don’t feel comfortable talking about Ted,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who would have a good shot at the office as the third-ranking member of the upper chamber behind Sens. Byrd and Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii).
But another senior Democrat who spoke on condition of anonymity said that other colleagues wouldn’t hesitate to grab Kennedy’s third-floor perch.
“It’s a place to go when we have multiple votes and it’s also a great place to host a guest,” said the lawmaker. “I just had a CEO from a major company in my hideaway.”
The lawmaker said that Kennedy used his as a true hideaway, a place to escape from the constant barrage of requests from colleagues and staff members.
Kennedy decorated the office with mementos from the “Camelot years,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), whom Kennedy invited to his hideaway on several occasions to work on legislation. That included a rustic coffee table that appeared to be hewn out of the old deck of a sailboat.
But those personal touches are now gone. The pictures were taken off the walls, wrapped in bubble tape and carted away last week.
Several senior lawmakers downplayed their interest but could not repress their curiosity completely.
“I don’t think I’m going to move,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the 10th-ranking member of the Senate, but after a moment he asked, “Is it interesting?”
Hatch, the fifth-ranking member, also demurred: “There are a few people ahead of me. I’m sure one of them will get it.”
“I’d consider anything that’s possible, but I haven’t heard any discussion of it,” he said.
A Senate aide said that if Schumer put the hideaway on the block, it could fall to a relatively junior lawmaker if more senior colleagues decide a move would be too inconvenient.
But the lucky winner might have to give up the hideaway at the end of the 111th Congress, when senators get a chance to pick new Capitol offices for the start of a new term. Like many things in the Senate, the order of selection would follow seniority.
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