I’m in Washington this week participating in Freshman Orientation for the new Members of Congress. Now you might wonder “why should Steve bother with orientation; he was in Congress for 14 years, and already knows how Congress works (or doesn’t.)” Well, that’s a logical question. First of all, I last attended an orientation 16 years ago, and a refresher course might come in handy. But more importantly, there will be nearly 90 new Members of Congress as a result of the Election a few weeks ago, and that’s the largest number since 1948. And getting to know as many of these newbies on a personal basis as possible will allow me to better work with them, and therefore better represent the people of the First Congressional District of Ohio.
Also, an interesting fact that the New York Times wrote about the other day, is that Congressman-Elect Charlie Bass of New Hampshire and I share the distinction of being the only two-time “Majority Makers” out of the 435 Members of the new Congress. How is that? Well, Charlie and I were part of the famous (or infamous, depending on one’s point of view) 73 Member Republican Class of 1994 (Newt Gingrich, the Contract with America, and all that) when we took over the House of Representatives after 40 years of Democratic Control – thus, we were, “Majority Makers.” Charlie lost his seat in 2006 (and Republicans lost the House) and I lost my seat in 2008. Then Republicans came roaring back this year and took over the majority again, and Charlie Bass and I were the only two from the Class of ’94 to win our seats back again – thus “Majority Makers” twice. To quote myself from the New York Times article, “Charlie and I think that’s pretty cool. I’m not sure if anyone else does.”
Apparently the New York Times did some digging, and discovered that the last Congressman who shared this truly amazing distinction was a Representative George Christopher from Missouri, a Democrat, who was first elected when Democrats took the House in 1948, was defeated in 1950 when Democrats lost the House, and then won his seat back in 1954 when Democrats took back the House again.
I know this isn’t edge-of-your-seat kind of stuff, but now that the Election is over, and the new Congress isn’t yet sworn in, it’s the best I can do.
Hope you and your loved ones are well. I’m looking forward to working hard representing you again after I get sworn in on January 5th.