Lieberman Back In Anthrax-Free Offices
WASHINGTON, Jan. 23-Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., and his staff Tuesday finally began moving back into their seventh-floor office in the Hart Senate Office Building after being displaced by an anthrax contamination that has closed the building since Oct. 16.
For three months, Lieberman’s nearly 35 employees have been chafing elbows with another 35 committee staffers in the temporary work space set up next door in the Dirksen Senate Office Building’s Committee of Governmental Affairs office. However, The U.S. Capitol Police gave the Connecticut Democract the OK to tour his office space Tuesday afternoon before allowing his personal employees to start moving back boxes later that day.
“Risk is a part of life,” Lieberman noted during a walk-through of his personal office, “but (the clean-up crews) have reduced that risk as much as possible. I come back with confidence, but I honestly did say a prayer as I came through the door.”
On Oct. 15, 2001, an aide to Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle, D-S.D., whose office is also in the Hart building, discovered a letter tainted by the deadly anthrax bacteria spores, which prompted officials to close the nine-story, million-square-foot building while purification crews fumigated the area with carbon dioxide gas.
Hart’s reopening was rescheduled a number of times.
Officials thought the building would reopen last Friday, but that plan was postponed when a bag containing gloves and a protective hazardous materials suit from the anthrax clean-up was discovered in a ceiling hole.
Despite Lieberman’s confidence about the safety of the building, not all of his employees felt comfortable with the move, according to Dan Gerstein, the senator’s communications director.
“People are happy and relieved, but there are a few staffers filled with apprehension,” said Gerstein.
Although some Capitol Hill employees complained of a mildew-like smell coming from the building in past weeks, those who toured the building with Lieberman, including Gerstein, said any residual smells left from the disinfecting vapors had dispersed by Tuesday afternoon.
According to Llelwyn F. Grant, a Center for Disease Control and Prevention spokesperson, the health agency – along with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – has since gave Hart a clean bill of health.
“Based on the science and technology available (the CDC) felt that the building was ready and safe for reoccupancy with minimal risk,” Grant said.
Gerstein agreed with Grant’s assessment and made mention that most of the carpeting had been replaced and most of the office looked physically in order.
Gerstein said no important files or papers appeared to be missing from the office. “Let’s put it this way. If you went in there and didn’t know what transpired over the past three months, you’d be hard pressed to know there was a bioterrorism scare and intense testing by hazardous material teams,” the communications director said.
Both Lieberman and Gerstein commended the staff members of the Committee of Governmental Affairs for readjusting their office space to make room for Lieberman’s personal staff.
“It’s been a summer camp-bunk bed experience,” said Gerstein. “People made the best of an awkward circumstance. It’s been an inconvenience.”
For example, the staff member who handles Lieberman’s schedule was without her Rolodex, which made her job of contacting people for the senator extremely difficult at times.
All in all, Lieberman said, “It’s good to be home.”
Published in The Waterbury Republican-American, in Waterbury, Connecticut.
