The Obscure Caucus: Privileges for Members — Anonymity, Longevity

Related Content

• Promises May Be Even Harder to Keep Next Year
• Hill Republicans Rediscovering Their Swagger
• The Roll Call Fabulous 50
• NRCC Has Mixed Results on Recruiting Front
• Freshman Democrats Find They’re Being Watched
• Lobbyists Adapting to Their Change in Status
• New K Street Environment Favoring Democrats
• Usage of CVC Meeting Rooms Is Hard to Track
• The 50 Richest Members of Congress
• Ketchup Is King on 50 Richest List

Print

E-Mail

Reprints

Text Size

Latest News

• Ehlers Likely to Announce Retirement Wednesday
• Pelosi: Democrats Will 'Definitely' Retain Majority
• Reid Backs Off Threat to Push for Votes on Jobs Bill
• Reid Urges Obama to Recess-Appoint Nominees
• Senate Rejects a Nominee as Obama Threatens Recess Appointments

Perhaps one of the best indicators of a Member’s obscurity is how long it takes for a C-SPAN producer to identify him when he begins speaking on the House floor.

There are those Members whose names go up within seconds of them beginning to speak. (Here’s looking at you Barney Frank and Sheila Jackson Lee.) And then there are those like Rep. Ander Crenshaw (R-Fla.), who is making his debut in the Obscure Caucus.

When Crenshaw took to the floor to begin addressing an appropriations bill in July, it took a while for C-SPAN to identify him — as freshman Rep. Michael McMahon (D-N.Y.).

The network quickly pulled that down and replaced it with Crenshaw’s correct identification, but by that point the Congressman was wrapping up his remarks.

As we watched this, we knew then and there that Crenshaw — a five-term Congressman who was mistaken for a freshman — was Obscure Caucus bound.

In fact, we’re kinda embarrassed that we missed him last time around.

The ranks of the Obscure Caucus have taken a big hit since we last published this list in 2007. Two Members, Alabama Reps. Bud Cramer (D) and Terry Everett (R), retired. Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) is now the ranking member on the Agriculture Committee, a post that, in theory, should boost his visibility (though we haven’t seen much evidence thus far).

Perhaps most notably absent from the list this time are Reps. Wally Herger (R-Calif.) and Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.), whom we awarded the lifetime Obscure Caucus achievement award in 2003 because they were the only two holdovers from 1994 on that list. The Obscure Caucus was published from 1990 to 1994 and in 2003 and 2007.

Visclosky and Herger also made the 2007 list, but in the two years since, they have shattered their obscurity.

Visclosky’s office has been subpoenaed as part of a Justice Department investigation of the PMA Group lobbying firm. The Justice Department is reportedly looking into campaign contributions from the firm and earmarks that the firm’s clients received.

Herger dramatically increased his visibility on the Hill last Congress when he mounted an uphill campaign to become the ranking member on the Ways and Means Committee. But Herger was passed over for the post in favor of Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), who is two terms his junior in seniority. During his bid Herger increased his visibility on the floor and even formed a political action committee.

Again this time, all 10 members of the caucus are males, and all but one are white. Even though Congress has become more diverse, the only female to ever make the list was then-Rep. Jan Meyers (R-Kan.) in 1993.

Reps. Timothy Johnson (R-Ill.) and Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) are the only holdovers from our 2007 caucus. However, one Member is making a return to the caucus this year, after a brief hiatus in 2007: Rep. John Olver (D-Mass.).

Before going any further we should make clear that membership in the Obscure Caucus is by no means a form of mockery or criticism. In general, Members who make the cut are routinely described as workhorses, not show horses. They aren’t necessarily backbenchers, but more often members of A-List committees who choose to shun the spotlight despite the power that they wield. As we’ve noted in the past, they pay strict attention to parochial issues and would much rather attend a hog-calling contest back home than appear on a cable news show. They tend to represent safe seats, and their ability to bring home the bacon is amply rewarded every two years with large re-election margins.