11.20.06
Capitol Comings & Goings
The Capitol Crowd has a list of who’s leaving and who’s replacing them, I’ve been looking for this for a while, link via Grits.
Also the AAS had an article over the weekend on the upcoming office moves around the Capitol and the Extension, Legislators move to the seniority shuffle. Interesting to see how much square footage and views play into which office is chosen. Also how freshman seniority is determined:
It might still be up for grabs the week after Thanksgiving, when freshmen are given their choices during a week of orientation meetings. None of the offices is likely to be more than 800 square feet. A few will not be even 500 square feet. Their seniority is determined by chance: the drawing of lots out of a hat in the Senate, the plucking of a numbered ping-pong ball from a bowl in the House.
When Kolkhorst put her hand in the bowl five years ago, she dropped the first ball she fingered and picked again to become an unlucky 150. Geanie Morrison, R- Victoria, heard Kolkhorst telling her tale of woe to Business Office staff as she did her own advance scouting. “I was a 150, too,” said Morrison, class of 1999 and occupant of the deepest recess of the Extension.
Peggy Hamric took a seat next to Kolkhorst and Morrison, not quite believing the coincidence. Fourteen years and seven sessions ago, Hamric was a 150. Hamric rose to 28th in House seniority. She ran for the Senate this past election and lost. The most senior 150 in the room set off her own little ripple in the scramble to get her office in the Capitol basement.
“You want to feel appreciated,” Hamric said with a smile, “but you know everyone is waiting for you to leave so they can get your office.”