Taking a job for Santos could prove dicey for staffers. In conversations with more than a dozen former and current Republican and Democratic lawmakers and staff members, many wondered if those who go to work for Santos, particularly higher-level staffers, would ever be able to find another congressional office that would hire them.
So far, there is public information available for just five positions that Santos has filled, including chief of staff and communications director, according to LegiStorm, which tracks and posts congressional hiring. The initial makeup of Santos’s staff seems to lack the deep Capitol Hill experience that new members typically seek to help them get off to an effective start and quickly adjust to the rhythms and demands of Congress.
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“Capitol Hill is not a place where you can just, you know, walk in and understand what to do,” Keady said. “There are a lot of rules, there’s a lot of regulations, and there’s a lot of pitfalls that a lot of these freshmen members make because they don’t have staff around them who are experienced.”
If a new member isn’t focused on constituent services right away, Keady said, the voters are going to feel it.
“If you have members deciding, ‘I’m going to gut my constituents services, and I’m not going to have a [legislative director] — I’m just going to have six people on comms staff,’ you know, that’s fine — that might get you on Fox News,” Keady said. “But that constituent that has been waiting for their veteran benefits for six months, they’re not going to get service, because that is also a job of a member of Congress.”
At the top of the to-do list for a new member is leasing a district office or offices — and outfitting them with everything including internet, phones, desks, chairs and paper clips. And from Day One, they need to start responding to the unceasing inquiries from constituents needing help with Social Security checks, veterans’ issues and passports. And that’s all while the new member gets acquainted with the politics of Washington and the rules, official and otherwise, of Congress.
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For staffers who have opted to work for Santos, a future on Capitol Hill could prove difficult to negotiate, said George McElwee, who served as chief of staff for former GOP congressman Charlie Dent from Pennsylvania and was also president of the House Chiefs of Staff Association.
“Particularly for staff in those senior roles, people are going to wonder why they’re there. Why are they continuing on?” said McElwee, who is now a lobbyist at a bipartisan firm he co-founded in Washington. “And it’s probably going to hurt them at some point in their job prospects.”
McElwee doesn’t expect Santos to be able to hang on to staffers who hope to have careers on the Hill.
“A lot of the folks in his office probably have an eye to the door and they’re trying to find the route to get out,” he said. “They know it’s not a stable environment for them in their political future.”