U.S. Rep. Gerald Connolly transitions from Fairfax County Government Center to U.S. Capitol.

By Julia O'Donoghue
Connection Newspapers

Thursday, April 02, 2009

A few tell-tale signs remind U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-11) that he is new to the U.S. Congress.

After eight weeks on the job, Fairfax County’s greenest congressman stumbled upon the U.S. House of Representatives’ “members only” dining room by accident, while trying to find an attending physician’s office in the Capitol complex March 19.

“I’ve never been in here before,” said Connolly as he looked around the ornate and deserted facility. Food service workers were already clearing the lunch buffet and the only “member” in the room was U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), who sat at a wooden table alone eating a piece of cake.

EVENTUALLY, Connolly found the physician with the help of a Capitol Hill staff member who was going to the doctor’s office for some aspirin. Connolly is traveling to Colombia this month on official congressional business and needed some precautionary shots before going on the trip.

“This is a quick place for a member to get a shot and that is a good thing,” said David Ciomperlik, who was at the check-in desk for the House of Representatives’ attending physician.

This, by the way, is not a normal doctor’s waiting room.

Ciomperlik sat behind a large, mahogany desk that looked like something more at home in a law firm than a physician’s office. A huge congressional seal with “Office of the Attending Physician” scrawled across it hung over Ciomperlik.

Two large televisions were mounted on the walls, where members can watch the action on the floor of the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate live as they wait to meet with the medical staff.

“I can tell you when the next vote is,” said Ciomperlik to Connolly before he went into the doctor’s office.

After receiving his shot, Connolly emphasized that the medical services are not a perk for members.

“These medical services are not free. I have to pay for them and I have the same health insurance as other federal workers,” he said.

Still, being a member of the U.S. House of Representatives is hardly a typical federal government job.

TWENTY YEARS AGO, Connolly worked as a staff member for the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. In January, he returned to Capitol Hill as a member of Congress after 14 years on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, including five as the county chairman.

“Some things have changed,” said Connolly, about life on Capitol Hill. “Some things have not. … So many of the actors are still here, but they might be doing something a little different.”

The congressman likens his experience to that of Rip Van Winkle, the Washington Irving short story character who falls asleep and wakes up 20 years later. Connolly frequently sees people he used to work with two decades before.

On March 19, Connolly ran into two former colleagues from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who now work for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee at an evening dinner for the interest group’s local chapter. On the same day, Connolly ran into a current Senate Foreign Relations staff member who had just started working for the committee as Connolly was preparing to leave in the late 1980s.

“Having been a staffer, it helps me in this job. … It matters to me how members treat their staff,” said Connolly.

THE CONGRESSMAN may also take a special interest in how members of Congress and others treat Capitol Hill staff members, not only because he was one but because he also represents so many of them.

On his first day in office, Connolly found out that the House of Representatives parliamentarian, who is sometimes referred to as Congress’ “coach,” is a constituent. When an official from the Army Corps of Engineers came to meet with the congressman, he also mentioned he was a Burke resident and represented by Connolly.

“Half the people that work up here in live in my district. … In one walk from my office to the Capitol, five people stopped me to say that they were constituents, including [U.S. Rep.] Tom Perriello’s press secretary,” said Connolly.

Some other members of Congress also own property and live in Fairfax County while Congress is in session, he said.

U.S. Rep. Dale Kildee (D-Mich.) insists on calling Connolly “Mr. Chairman,” because Connolly represented Kildee, a McLean homeowner, on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.

CONNOLLY’S constituency is not only well informed but also close by, which means that they have higher-than-average expectations for seeing their member of Congress.

“Tons of people come across the river. They are an educated group. They know what is going on and they want to talk to him about it,” said George Burke, Connolly’s press secretary.

Burke said Connolly’s office was purposefully designed with a large waiting area so that staff could accommodate as great an influx of constituents as possible. Rhonda Gillis, Connolly’s scheduler, said she receives several hundred requests each week for meetings with the congressman.

“I have talked to other schedulers and they tell me that they panic at least once every single day. It’s also tougher if your district is close by. … They don’t all come in from Kansas but they all come in from Fairfax,” she said.

FOR CONNOLLY, one of the toughest parts of the transition from Fairfax County chairman seat to 11th Congressional District seat has been Capitol Hill’s unreliable schedule.

Connolly has always been busy. Before he joined Congress, he worked for Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), a government contractor, in addition to his job as Fairfax County chairman. He attended night and weekend community meetings approximately 360 day per year and often worked 12-hour days to fulfill his obligations to both jobs.

But as the leader of a 10-person policy body, Connolly could set the county board’s agenda and, to a certain extent, control the supervisors’ schedule. Now, as a freshman in the 435-member House of Representatives, Connolly has little, if any control, over when a vote or meeting takes place.

In March, Connolly had to miss most of the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce’s Valor Awards ceremony, which honor county public safety employees, because his committee meeting ran later than expected and then an afternoon vote took place before it was scheduled. Connolly said he was particularly upset about having to leave that event early, since he had attended every one of the awards ceremonies in the previous 14 years.

“It is most frustrating. People think nothing of adding votes and caucus meetings. If I have an emergency meeting that lasts an hour or more, my entire schedule is thrown. … I am learning to live with that,” said Connolly.

THE CONGRESSMAN is also getting used to his higher profile.

A joke he made at a Fairfax County Democratic Committee event in January ended up drawing national criticism when it was replayed on FOX News’ “The Sean Hannity Show.” Connolly has also been invited to appear on “The Colbert Report,” popular cable news show spoof that airs on the Comedy Central network.

“I definitely feel like I live in more of an fishbowl,” he said.
The representative reluctantly agreed to appear live on Fox News Channel the morning after he voted with most other House members to tax financial bonuses insurance giant AIG awarded to its employees after receiving assistance from the federal government.

Connolly felt confident about his vote and said he was “outraged” AIG would do such a thing. But he was not so sure he wanted to have to be at Fox’s studio in downtown Washington and on television by 7 a.m.

“I am not a morning person. I consider the morning an assault,” said Connolly.