VOL. 4 NO. 99 POLITItuesday, july 13, 2010 CO www.politico.com GOP to K Street: A POLITICO SPECIAL Report Buy Your Tickets Now Takeover momentum fuels push for cash Danger on the Hill Congress has paid At a Glance Safety, fire hazards By Jo n a t h a n Ma r t i n to reclaim the House. And Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), a close ally millions to settle abound across Republicans are seizing on of House Minority Leader John 6,300 employee complaints hazards projected Capitol complex White House press secretary Rob- Boehner who was tasked to “sell for 111th Congress ert Gibbs’s admission Sunday that the fight,” has been making the By Er i k a Lo v l e y By Er i k a Lo v l e y Democrats could lose their House case at a regular Thursday meet- majority to send an unambiguous ing of the National Republican Taxpayers have paid out nearly The Capitol and other congres- message to Washington’s lobbyist Congressional Committee and $1 million per year in settlements 168 sional buildings are rife with fire community: The train is leaving Republican-leaning lobbyists. to congressional employees who settlements paid traps and other pervasive prob- the station, and it’s time to get on But it’s one thing for the Repub- have been harassed or otherwise to congressional lems of age and dangerous design, board. lican member of Congress whose treated badly by their political employees with an estimated 6,300 safety For months, GOP officials have job it is to make the pitch and bosses over the past 14 years, ac- hazards lurking on Capitol Hill been making the case to donors something entirely different when cording to records from the Office this Congress. and anybody else who will lis- one of President Barack Obama’s of Compliance. The figure comes from a new ten that they have a real chance The payouts stem from hun- 1.75 report by the Office of Compli- hazards identified in to capture the 39 seats needed See GOP on Page 15 dreds of complaints from employ- member offices on ance, which is responsible for pro- ees, some of whom may have been average tecting the congressional work- sexually harassed or treated so place. Its investigators found that poorly that third-party mediators a quarter of the 6,300 hazards are Feingold Irks Liberals were brought in to negotiate cash potentially fatal or could leave payoffs to settle the cases. $13M victims with serious injuries. In fiscal year 2007, for example, total money paid Antique, open stairwells in the With Reform Obstinance the OOC — an agency that admin- in workplace Russell Senate Office Building isters a confidential dispute reso- settlements since could create a deadly smoke fun- 1997 By Ca r r i e Bu d o f f Br o w n lution system — settled 38 cases, nel, preventing employees from with 25 resulting in monetary escaping if the building caught He’s been a hero to liberals for voting against big awards worth $4 million. In fis- fire or sustained an explosive ter- banks, the Iraq war and the Patriot Act. cal year 2009 — the most recent 13 rorist attack. The Library of Con- But Sen. Russ Feingold’s decision to become the year reported by the OOC — the projected hazards in gress’s Thomas Jefferson Build- only Democratic vote against Wall Street reform has office settled 13 cases for nearly legislative buildings ing lacks adequate exit stairwells. left many questioning his strategy. $830,000. that could cause The Capitol building itself has Progressives figured the Wisconsin Democrat These settlements may be espe- death structural defects that leave it would be first in line to sign on to the financial regu- cially relevant if aides who were inadequate to stop the spread of latory overhaul. Instead, he’s been stubbornly, defi- allegedly abused by former Rep. smoke and toxic fumes. antly opposed to the legislation — Feingold calls it Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) seek restitu- Workplace safety experts say a cave-in to Wall Street — almost single-handedly tion. Massa resigned under alle- 1,742 that if Congress were a private- delaying the final vote and denying, at least tempo- gations that he sexually harassed electrical hazards sector business, it would be at projected in the rarily, President Barack Obama’s second legislative male staffers. Quite often, the ha- 111th Congress risk for massive fines from gov- triumph. rassment cases, after a secretive ernment regulators. Photos BY john But what really galls some on the left is that Fein- shinkle — Politico mediation process, can land staff- But Congress has exempted gold’s resistance opened the door for deal making Sen. Russ ers retroactive raises, vacation itself from key parts of federal — and Massachusetts Republican Sen. Scott Brown Feingold’s (top) time and cash payouts for their workplace law. As a result, sev- walked right through, making Brown the kingmaker stance helped perceived pain and suffering. eral of the Labor Department’s give Sen. Scott For privacy reasons, the details powerful Occupational Safety See Feingold on Page 21 Brown leverage. of all these cases — including the and Health Administration regu- names of the victims and the al- lations have never applied to the leged harassers — are almost legislative branch — an inequity ANALYSIS never made public. Lawmak- that the Office of Compliance ers, regardless of whether report urges be changed. they are guilty of work- The new report, to be re- Education Impasse Finds place violations, do leased publicly Tuesday W.H., House Dems at Odds See harass- See safety on ment on Page 19 Page 18 By Da v i d Ro g e r s threats, stalled war funding and created a destructive divide be- Education for Democrats these tween job-hungry lawmakers and days is an education itself — a a White House anxious to burnish lesson in how dysfunctional this its business credentials at the ex- White House and Congress can be pense of teacher unions. on domestic policy. Old resentments, rooted in the Finding $10 billion in a multitril- Democratic back stabbing that lion-dollar budget to avert threat- followed the giant economic re- ened teacher layoffs — months covery act last year, have resur- before the midterm elections — faced. The personal trumps the would seem a shared goal for the party. Instead, it’s produced veto See education on Page 16

inside FOREIGN POLICY HEALTH CARE POLITICS Michelle CLICK Obama New pro-Israel group unites Enrollees wade into high-risk in­surance Byrne gets eleventh-hour FLOTUS brings her obesity-fighting hawks, evangelical Christians. pools; states plan outreach splash. boost from Alabama GOP. AP campaign to the NAACP. Page 4 Page 11 Page 23 Page 33