WASHINGTON — On Friday, Congressman-elect Bill Flores got his first taste of a quirky Capitol Hill ritual: the biannual lottery to determine who gets the best digs.

Flores was saddled with a high lottery number — of the 85 incoming freshmen in the lottery, he picked 74th. He nevertheless walked away happy after selecting a fifth-floor office in the Longworth Building.

“Sweet!” Flores said when the new member picking before him left 1505 Longworth and several other offices on the same floor free for the picking.

Congressman-elect Bill Flores, of Bryan, selected an office in the Longworth Building in Washington D.C. on Friday.
Architect of the Capitol photo

“We’re happy with it, but we haven’t seen it yet.”

It took the retired Bryan oil and gas executive less than a minute to make his decision, though members were allowed up to 20 minutes to deliberate.

Flores said he and his transition staffers created an elaborate plan to get the optimal office available.

“We actually did an algorithm,” based on a number of factors including square footage and proximity to elevators.

He said he crossed off his preference list those offices where certain space was disconnected from the rest of the office and only accessible by entering the hallway.

Flores said he also was able to take advantage of the research done by fellow Texas freshman member Francisco “Quico” Canseco, who drew a far more favorable number and picked among the most spacious offices available to freshmen on the third floor of Longworth.

“So we crunched the two algorithms,” Flores said.

As his pick came near, Flores had a scout wandering the long corridors of the House buildings checking on the condition of the available offices.

Other members were armed with extensive lists, noting among other things which offices needed new paint jobs.

The new office on Capitol Hill for the 17th Congressional District is — at 841 square feet — among the smallest available to House members.

It has a view facing the stately Cannon Building and, unlike some other available offices, its drapes and carpets can be changed and its furniture rearranged.

Albuquerque Democrat Martin Heinrich currently has the office.

Longworth was completed in 1933 and named in 1962 after Ohioan and former House Speaker Nicholas Longworth.

U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, who Flores unseated, has an office in the Rayburn Building, the youngest of the buildings and the most sought-after because of its spacious rooms.

Rayburn offices weren’t available to freshmen in the lottery. Under the seniority system, it can take years for members to get an office in the building, which is named after legendary Texas Speaker Sam Rayburn.

In an interview in his office this week Edwards said “It took 16 years to get a Capitol view,” showing a reporter the view of the Capitol dome.

“If I ever looked at the Capitol and didn’t feel a tingle I’d have known something was wrong.”

Baylor alumni

Baylor University lost an alumni-House member in Anh “Joseph” Cao, R-New Orleans, who was defeated in November’s elections.

But two former students will join Congress, South Carolina Republican Trey Gowdy in the House and Rand Paul of Kentucky in the Senate.

Gowdy, a former prosecutor from Spartanburg and Baylor class of 1986, unseated veteran Republican Bob Inglis in his party’s primary before cruising to victory in the general election.

He was back in Waco after his election for a Kappa Omega Tau reunion.

“We haven’t been kicked off campus yet,” he joked.

Gowdy fared only slightly better in the lottery than Flores, getting to pick 63rd.

He said he would have none of it when a House employee tried to comfort him about his bad luck: “I just said, ‘There really is no bad office.’ ”

mshapiro@wacotrib.com

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