Owens starts to hire congressional staff

WASHINGTON — Most north country voters will never meet Rep. William L. Owens, D-Plattsburgh. But anyone who deals with his office will come to know, and possibly judge him by, his staff.

As Mr. Owens enters his third week on the job, he faces the uphill task of hiring staffers who will deal directly with constituents, guide him on legislation, work with other congressional offices on his behalf and spin his accomplishments to members of the media.

He faces a harder challenge than most new members.

Usually, lawmakers are elected in November, just in time for a two-month break before a new Congress resumes legislative business. Owens, who won his seat in a special election to replace former Rep. John McHugh, had to hit the ground running during the height of the congressional session when relatively few congressional staffers are looking to change jobs.

The task also is critical to his job security. Having won just 48 percent of the vote in the Nov. 3 special election, Mr. Owens cannot afford many of the slips that all congressional offices deal with from time to time because of poor staff work.

"We're moving forward as fast as possible," said Jonathan Boughtin, serving as Mr. Owens's press secretary at least through early January.

The building of a congressional office is about more than just finding smart or talented people, say former Capitol Hill staffers. Mr. Owens must weigh factors such as familiarity or connections to the congressional district, party affiliation, experience with legislation and perhaps staff diversity.

As of Friday, he had hired only a chief of staff and an interim press secretary, but more than a dozen additional hires in Washington and in district offices are likely in the coming weeks if his operation is typical.

His two hired staffers — in key positions — stick out in two respects, judging by the criteria set out by the Congressional Management Foundation, which helps House members establish offices and train staff. Mr. Boughtin and Mr. Owens's chief of staff, Bradley Katz, both came from the congressional campaign, and neither have any other connection to the district, although they are from New York state.

While carrying over campaign workers is not uncommon, it should be done with careful thought, said Beverly Bell, the foundation's executive director.

As a rule of thumb, at least one or two senior staffers are typically from a lawmaker's congressional district, she said.

"It's very common for members to bring people from the campaign," Ms. Bell said, as well as to recruit people with whom he has worked in the district.

The foundation tells new members that good campaign workers may or may not make good congressional staffers, given the slower pace of work on Capitol Hill, she said.

Mr. Owens's campaign staff was governed by the pressure of an election just weeks away from the start. On Capitol Hill, they will work on legislation that takes months, if not years, to pass. His predecessor, Rep. John M. McHugh, R-Pierrepont Manor, spent more than a decade on one legislative effort — postal reform — before it seriously advanced.

Ms. Bell's other advice: "Do not hire someone who you cannot fire."

That is, she said, new members sometimes hire more staffers than they can afford, or people whom they cannot bring themselves to let go for whatever reason.

While workers in district offices are likely to be from the area, the Congressional Management Foundation recommends that lawmakers put locally connected people in front-office jobs where they will be greeting constituents.

In a typical election year, "normally, offices are flooded with resumes, more than they can handle," Ms. Bell said. "He'll still likely get lots of resumes," she said, from people on Capitol Hill looking to change jobs, but probably not the tide he would have received in a normal election.

Mr. Boughtin said the office is receiving "lots" of resumes because of the attention the special election received.

Mr. McHugh, like most lawmakers, settled on a mix but tended to favor people from the north country. His two chiefs of staff during his 16-year tenure were from the district, as were several of his legislative aides. Some press secretaries had connections to the district, while others had to learn on the job. Mr. McHugh also benefited from his predecessors; some staffers were holdovers from Rep. David O'B. Martin's office and even from the office of the late Rep. Robert C. McEwen, both Republicans.

Mr. Owens could, if he chooses, hold on to caseworkers who handle constituents' complaints about, or requests from, federal agencies. Even when a congressional office changes parties, lawmakers often keep the prior lawmakers' caseworkers for the sake of continuity and because those positions are not particularly partisan, Ms. Bell said.

"It's something we're considering," Mr. Boughtin said.