The Sleep Blogger
It’s 10 p.m. Do you know where your congressman is?
Ever read something that makes your jaw drop in astonishment? (The British have a great word for that: gobsmacked.) That’s the way the Sleep Blogger felt a few days ago when, while reading an article from the Chicago Tribune, he learned that upwards of 40 members of the U.S. House of Representatives sleep in their offices.
And we’re not talking about the occasional nap. We’re talking about politicians who have no residence in Washington, D.C., and thus live in their offices. As the Tribune reports:
One former office sleeper, Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., thinks about 10 percent, or roughly 40 members, now make it a habit. [Rep. Mike ] Quigley noted that when he met top House officials after winning his primary, he was told “in an offhand way, ‘Well, there’s like 30 or 40 people who sleep in their office.’”
Apparently, the three dozen or so office sleepers are motivated to do so by a combination of high rents in the Washington, D.C. area, a desire not to be associated too much with the capital and its culture, and an impulse to out-frugal their fellow elected officials. In these tough economic times, it’s best to be seen as just another legislatin’ stiff trying to scrape by.
Congressional offices in Washington: Next checkout time, 2012
Here are some other nuggets to be gleaned from the article:
* A congressman from Utah routinely hosts “cot-side chats” in his office, which are later posted on his Web page.
* An office file cabinet serves as a storage place for the sheets and pillow used by an Illinois congressman, who after his staff leaves for the day tends to swig milk from a gallon plastic jug while watching baseball in his T-shirt.
* Counted as a member of the bunk-in-the-office crowd was former South Carolina Republican (and notorious Appalachian Trail “hiker”) Mark Sanford, who later became his state’s governor. (Insert your own “sleeping” joke here.)
As to the obvious question, yes — the congressmen bathe. They use the showers in the House gym. But don’t even let yourself imagine their trip from the office to the shower, whistling as they stroll down the corridor with towels knotted around their waists.