congressional operations

What do you do with those staffers who you inherited and are "friends of the boss?" This is the unexpected question that was lobbed my way when CMF recently launched a new class "Management 101."

Tip O'Neill once said, "It's easier to run for office than to run the office." Running a campaign and creating a congressional office are vastly different tasks. Setting up a House or Senate office includes all the challenges of starting a small business with all the red tape of a bureaucracy. During the past 40 years the Congressional Management Foundation has helped thousands of new members of Congress and their staffs set up freshman offices. Here are 7 mistakes to avoid.

Tip O'Neill once said, "It's easier to run for office than to run the office." Running a campaign and creating a congressional office are vastly different tasks. Setting up a House or Senate office includes all the challenges of starting a small business with all the red tape of a bureaucracy. During the past 40 years the Congressional Management Foundation has helped thousands of new members of Congress and their staffs set up freshman offices. Here are 7 mistakes to avoid.

Tip O'Neill once said, "It's easier to run for office than to run the office." Running a campaign and creating a congressional office are vastly different tasks. Setting up a House or Senate office includes all the challenges of starting a small business with all the red tape of a bureaucracy. During the past 37 years the Congressional Management Foundation has helped thousands of new members of Congress and their staffs set up freshman offices. Here are seven mistakes to avoid.

I was giving a speech to a group of citizens visiting Washington for a fly-in, and was asked this question: "What's the most frustrating obstacle to enhancing the democratic dialog between citizens and Congress?" I surprised myself by responding quickly: "Bad writing."