My Time Capsule
It was an interesting past week for me in the U.S. Capitol, as I've been cleaning out my U.S. House broadcast booth and unearthing some old political memories from my time covering the Congress. The reason for the Spring Cleaning is that our press gallery space for Radio/TV reporters in the U.S. House side of the Capitol is being renovated, and so we have to clear out for at least four months.
I have been working out of my House booth for almost 22 years, which is the last time that our Radio/TV workspace was fixed up.
As you can see, the booth has a window with a million dollar view down the National Mall, with the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial right in front of you.
It makes up for the fact that it is so small that you can't turn around in your chair. You can barely curl up on the floor to sleep. It's about the size of a double phone booth.
But it has been a great place to work. I've watched a lot of sunsets from there; I've seen a lot of tourists run for cover as a thunderstorm hits; I've seen Marine One fly back and forth hundreds of times; I've watched six Inaugurations from my perch.
I also saw from there the smoke quickly rising from the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.
When I wrapped up my last live report just before midnight March 21 on the House health care votes, I took a minute to turn off the light and looked down the Mall.
You can clearly see the light on the statue of Lincoln in his Memorial. You can see the flickering light of the Eternal Flame at President Kennedy's grave across the Potomac River. You can see the lights twinkling all over the District of Columbia.
Since I have so little space, I haven't saved many things over the years, but there was one box that was like a Time Capsule of sorts about major stories that I have covered.
There were documents galore about the Keating Five Scandal, Lincoln Savings & Loan and the S&L Crisis. There were two Supreme Court decisions - Bush v Gore (2000) and Webster v Reproductive Health Services (1989).
There is an official copy of the 1989 State of the Union by the first President Bush, along with one from President Clinton and the second President Bush as well.
Also deep in that box, a few Congressional Records and reports on the Clinton Impeachment.
There are newspaper clippings with photos of me chasing lawmakers in the hallway, in a reporter scrum during the 1992 New York Primary, pictures from different political conventions and all kinds of special press Credentials, each bringing back a memory or two.
I have stuffed that box and more in my other broadcast booth, up in the attic of the Senate side of the Capitol for the next few months, until our House side space is up and running again.
Unlike most of my colleagues, I will actually return to the same spot after the House side renovation, but I will have even less space to work in.
My new booth will still have the same window, but I will squeeze into 12 square feet of workspace - four feet wide and three feet deep.
No room to move, no room to sleep, but hopefully it will be mine for another 22 years of Congressional fun.
It was an interesting past week for me in the U.S. Capitol, as I've been cleaning out my U.S. House broadcast booth and unearthing some old political memories from my time covering the Congress. The reason for the Spring Cleaning is that our press gallery space for Radio/TV reporters in ...
