Washington Lawmakers Stretch Pay With Shared Apartments, Oreos

Washington Lawmakers Stretch Pay With Shared Apartments, Oreos
By Catherine Fisher and Jonathan D. Salant
Bloomberg, 2006-08-23

When U.S. Representative Tom Feeney had a fund-raiser for his re-election campaign last month, he decided to host it at his Washington home. For the Florida Republican, that's an apartment with all the comforts of a university dorm room.

Guests dined on Oreos, Ritz crackers and Cheez Whiz on paper plates, and fished cans of Diet Coke and beer out of plastic tubs. The decor included a shadeless lamp and a blanket with the logo of Feeney's alma mater, Pennsylvania State University, draped across his bed.

The setting would have made a lot of Feeney's colleagues feel right at home -- in Washington, at least. For every lawmaker with a million-dollar townhouse in the Georgetown neighborhood, others live like college students when they're in the nation's capital, one of the priciest real-estate markets in the U.S.

``For most members, it is not the life they want to lead,'' said Albert Cover, a political science professor at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, New York. ``I can't think of any other plausible reason why members would fish around toward the bottom of the rental market unless they were forced to by the costs of living in D.C.''

Annual pay of $165,200 may not be enough for representatives and senators to maintain two households. The Constitution requires them to have a voting address in their district. That may be the family home, where wives and children often stay behind. The lawmakers, meanwhile, seek budget accommodations for the days they spend in the capital.

Feeney pays $1,133 a month for his apartment. That compares with average rents of $1,212 in the Washington area and $969 nationally, according to REIS Inc., a New York- based provider of real estate data.

Sleeping on Air

Some lawmakers don't even rent apartments. Representative Jim Marshall, a Georgia Democrat, sleeps on an air mattress in his legislative office.

``I see three or four of my colleagues bunking together in a two-bedroom apartment,'' said Marshall, 58. ``I'll go for my office any day over that.''

When Representative James Walsh was first elected in 1988, he furnished his studio apartment with the same couch, kitchen table and chairs that he and his wife, DeDe, bought when they got married 14 years earlier. He also brought bunk beds for when his family came to visit. This year, Walsh finally replaced the 32-year-old furniture.

``We work in Washington and commute,'' said Walsh, 59, a New York Republican who lives two blocks from the Capitol. ``But you need a place to sleep and shower and hang your hat at night.''

Reliving Childhood

Senator Ken Salazar, 51, and Representative John Salazar, 53, brothers and fellow Colorado Democrats, are living together for the first time since growing up, five boys to a bed, in south-central Colorado.

``We assumed we'd find a place together,'' said John Salazar, who was elected in 2004, the same year as his brother. This time, each has his own bedroom.

Some lawmakers do buy large homes in the Washington area, which the National Association of Realtors says is the 11th-most expensive market in the country. The median house price is $422,500.

Representative Rick Renzi, an Arizona Republican, owns a 3,900-square-foot (360-square-meter) home on 5.2 acres (2.1 hectares) of land in suburban Burke, Virginia, assessed at $1.1 million, real-estate records show.

Luxury Condos

Democratic Senators Harry Reid of Nevada and Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey each own a luxury condominium unit at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and Residences in Georgetown. Another Georgetown resident is Senator John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, whose wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, is heir to the Heinz ketchup fortune.

Some legislators own row houses and defray the cost by renting rooms to colleagues.

California Democrat George Miller rents space to three colleagues, Senators Charles Schumer of New York and Richard Durbin of Illinois, and Representative William Delahunt of Massachusetts, all Democrats.

Delahunt and Schumer have cots in the living room. Durbin gets one of the bedrooms. Miller gets the other.

`Cheap and It Works'

``We spend a lot of time talking politics into the night,'' said Miller, 61. ``It's cheap and it works.''

Miller and Delahunt, 65, sang the praises of Durbin as a rat catcher, something the two-term senator has had to do at least once. Asked what it's like living with three other lawmakers, Miller said, ``Part of the deal is you don't tell stories.''

Another rule: No Republicans need apply.

Republicans can be neighbors, however. Five Republican lawmakers living in row houses assessed at $250,000 to $400,000 on the same block as Miller's got together to raise money on May 18.

For $1,000 per fund-raiser, donors drank margaritas for Representative Chris Chocola of Indiana, Scotch with Representative Clay Shaw of Florida, wine with Representative Mark Foley of Florida, and martinis with Representative Nancy Johnson of Connecticut. For another $1,000, they had dessert and coffee with Representative Jim Ryun of Kansas.

Feeney's Washington fund-raiser wasn't as elaborate. His tickets cost $100 apiece and raised about $25,000 for his campaign.

Not buying a big Washington home also helps avoid being perceived as part of the city's establishment, said Feeney, 48, whose C Street apartment could fit into a corner of the five-bedroom, four-bath residence where his family lives in Orlando, Florida.

``I'd never want to be an inside-the-Beltway guy,'' he said.