November 17, 2008 11:15 PM UTC

Defeated Congressman's Lonely Purgatory

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• by: Colorado Pols

Marilyn Musgrave’s next couple of weeks, seen through the eyes of someone who’s been there–Bob Beauprez. From the latest Mother Jones:

In Capitol Hill official-speak, it’s called the “transitional suite.” In reality, the harshly lit warren of numbered cubicles in the bowels of the Rayburn House Office Building is the private purgatory of members of Congress who are no longer needed.

Mere weeks after losing power, defeated or retiring US representatives move to this temporary basement setup from the comfortable office suites where they previously worked. Here they pass their final days in office, each soon-to-be ex-legislator and his or her staff issued a single work space measuring approximately 5’x5′. The cramped cubicle accommodates little more than a tiny desk, a laptop, a phone, and a box of Kleenex.

Bob Beauprez, a former two-term Republican congressman from Colorado who left office in 2006 to pursue an unsuccessful run for governor, recalls his own transition from elected office. “Anybody who’s been through [this] who doesn’t look in the mirror and wonder if anybody cares anymore…” he says, trailing off. “You go through a little bit of withdrawal. I was significant yesterday-today I’m not.”

…For Beauprez, who served on the powerful Ways and Means committee, through which many of the House’s most important bills pass, the postelection period came as a shock. “You go from being in the middle of the nation’s business to suddenly the phone doesn’t ring,” he says. “There’s no mail that goes through. There’s nobody to respond to.” Of his final weeks as a congressman, Beauprez recalls, “We had about two weeks of wrapping-up work after the election. That’s the most awkward part, when you know you’re not coming back but you’ve still got an obligation to finish the job you were elected to do. You’re just kind of sweeping out the corners of the room.”

In related news, Congress will reconvene in a lame-duck session this week–the House is scheduled to meet Wednesday at 1:00PM. According to Rep. Musgrave’s DC office, she’ll be there, meaning the press might finally get a chance to ask her how the, um, election went.

That’s an snarky as we’re going to get about Musgrave–a week ago her ungraciousness was deservedly the butt of every joke. Now it’s just pitiable.