Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 2, 1995 TAG: 9511020040
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARIANNE KYRIAKOS THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
That's when William ``Will'' Harvey Orton II comes to work with his father, Rep. Bill Orton, D-Utah. And where there's a Will, there's a playpen and other assorted baby gear in the stately mahogany office.
Will does Capitol Hill because Orton, 46, doesn't want to be, as he says, an absentee father. Mother Jacquelyn, 30, quit her job as a lobbyist when the baby was born March 28, so day care is not an issue.
``I'm not going to let him grow up without me,'' the lawmaker said. ``Actually, I get a lot of work done with him around.''
On a recent day in the Cannon House Office Building, it was unclear how that is accomplished, although Will is a calm baby.
It's just that Will is, well, a baby.
``He's been fussy,'' said Orton of the bald, blue-eyed boy who had just belched his breakfast down the back of the congressman's starched white shirt. ``He does have a little bit of a problem; sometimes he throws up everything he eats.''
How does Orton, a third-term member of the banking and budget committees, mask the sour scent of spit-up during long meetings and markups? ``I try to cover it with this little burp cloth.''
Young as he is, Will got his start in the office early. As the 2-day-old baby was leaving Columbia Hospital for Women here with his parents, Orton's beeper summoned him to a vote. Will's first destination: the floor of the House of Representatives.
``I waited a long time for this experience, and there was a time over the past several years when I thought I would never have kids,'' Orton said.
Senate historian Richard A. Baker said he has never heard of a similar arrangement on Capitol Hill. ``I think of it just as part of the broader appreciation [of family issues] in society,'' he said.
A few more babies might help improve things in Congress, Orton said.
``If they had their kids with them, they may spend less time in partisan rhetorical debate,'' he said. ``On the Hill, everything that could be said has already been said, but not everyone has said it yet.''
Meanwhile, it's snack time. Will likes to grab a bite every hour or so.
Orton rummages through the diaper bag, then rings up his wife. ``I can't find the spoon,'' he tells her, rolling a jar of strained bananas between his palms.
The congressman never asks his staff for help with baby care. ``We'd all love to get a chance,'' said Casey Brown, the scheduler-office manager, ``but he hogs him.''
The self-proclaimed ``family-friendly'' Congress is ``the joke of the century,'' Orton said. ``It's a lot of verbiage and marketing without a lot of substance around it.''
As proof, he pointed to House votes, which average about 300 in a typical congressional year. ``By the August recess this year, we had had 635 votes,'' he said. ``It's been a tremendously unfriendly schedule.''
Rep. Frank R. Wolf, R-Va., father of five and chairman of the Congressional Family Quality of Life Advisory Committee, has expressed frustration over the long hours in previous terms.
``There were rocky days in the summer, but I honestly believe we have turned the corner, and things are going to be much better in the upcoming months,'' said Wolf, who bases his hopes on soon-to-be announced ideas by the task force.
For now, Will sits in on constituent meetings and attends House votes in a stroller. The baby's appearances often startle lawmakers and visitors. Children and grandchildren of members usually come to Capitol Hill for ceremonial occasions, such as opening day of a new term, but not on a daily basis.
``A lot of people have not really understood what I'm doing, and [they] wonder whether there are political purposes,'' Orton said. ``If I didn't figure out a way to spend time with the baby during the day, I'd never see him.''
The House member's commitment to spending time with his son is ``wonderful'' but raises other issues, said Bonnie Michaels, president of Managing Work & Family Inc., a consulting company in Evanston, Ill.
``If he continues to bring his child in, he needs to make policies very clear for his staff,'' Michaels said. ``Otherwise, it's almost abusing and flaunting his management position.''
Orton said the babies-welcome policy applies to his staff - although he is the only person with a child in his Capitol Hill office.
by CNB