DeLay's aides begin clearing out his office, wonder where to go

>>>>>>>>>>>>Trash Here

Congressman is moving to a smaller space with fewer staffers

By SAMANTHA LEVINE
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - The BlackBerries have to be handed in, the hard drives emptied of data and the parking passes given up.

Tom DeLay on Saturday gave up his attempt to regain the House majority leader's post, and now his staffers are beginning the mundane chore of clearing out his leadership offices on the first floor of the Capitol and the more serious task of figuring out where they'll go next.

"You wake up one day as press secretary for the majority leader, and you go to sleep wondering what your next job is going to be," said Kevin Madden, who worked for the Sugar Land Republican for less than a year.

After a Travis County grand jury indicted DeLay last fall on money-laundering and conspiracy charges relating to an alleged campaign finance scheme, House GOP rules required him to step down as majority leader until his name was cleared.

On Saturday, DeLay announced that he would not seek to regain the job, but that he would fight to clear his name and win re-election. House Republicans are set to elect a new majority leader Feb. 2 after they reconvene from a winter break.

It's still too early to say where everyone in the majority leader's office will wind up, and Madden said DeLay has not yet made decisions about how, or whether, to reshuffle aides in his smaller congressional office.


DeLay visits staffers
The Sugar Land Republican visited the majority leader's office for a couple of hours on Tuesday to talk to the staff about their transition, which will take place over the next three weeks.

"(DeLay) has general concern about staffers," Madden said. "His parental instincts kicked in," he added, noting that most of the staffers are twentysomethings.

The changeover, which began halfheartedly after DeLay announced he was stepping down temporarily in September, will now shift into high gear.

In recent months, he has been working out of his congressional office in the Cannon Office Building next to the Capitol, not the spacious majority leader's suite in the Capitol. However, his press staff, including Madden, continued to operate out of the warren of well-appointed majority leader rooms. And DeLay was allowed to retain a special office suite near the House floor.

DeLay now will use only the smaller congressional office.

He also will no longer have the more than 20 employees of the majority leader's office. He will just have the 10 or so staffers in his congressional office.

DeLay may still retain a security detail and driver, because they are assigned if a lawmaker is a target of threats, Madden said.


Quietness prevails
On Wednesday, there were few visible signs that work had begun on evacuating DeLay's effects from the office. It was quiet, as to be expected during a congressional recess, and few employees were present.

Madden worked in a small, back office that he keeps dim. His phone did not ring for more than a half-hour — rare for someone who once pleaded with reporters to be patient as he waded through dozens of media calls on busy news days.

He surveyed his desk and the few knickknacks, such as a baseball, strewn amid his papers and books.

"I don't have much," he said. "A couple of boxes and I am out of here."

samantha.levine@chron.com

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