LAS VEGAS — When Rep. Shelley Berkley decided to hold a “Congress on Your Corner” event here Friday, her plan was to prove that fear hadn’t changed the way Congress works. She wound up proving the opposite.
Berkley’s event in a small office building off the Strip featured a folding table, two flags and 60 constituents.
And at least 10 police officers, watching from throughout the building.
“I hope this isn’t the wave of the future,” the Democrat said as she arrived and saw the officers. She hadn’t asked for that level of protection: The Las Vegas police decided she needed it.
“This should not be the way we have to do business in this country,” she said.
The shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., in Tucson a week ago has left the powerful on Capitol Hill grappling with a very human fear: Just how risky, they wonder, is a life spent shaking hands with strangers?
For members of Congress, it was a week spent reassuring family members and making emergency plans with their staffs. A few members talked about arming themselves. One suggested encasing the House’s public galleries in Plexiglas.
By the end of the week, a handful started putting on their smiles and going out in public again. Politics is built in part on illusions, but this was a hard one: Do something that was previously utterly routine — and pretend it still was.
“I thought it was very important to send a signal to my constituents and let them know we’re open for business,” Berkley said.
Congress members say they knew — at least in theory — that their job might put them in danger. To lower their risk, they used little tricks: Hold town-hall meetings in churches or schools, where people are socialized to behave. When someone goes on a rant, start your answer by thanking them. It lowers their temperature.
On Capitol Hill, the week passed in a foggy suspension. There was some talk of gun control: Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., whose husband was killed in a shooting rampage in 1993, said she plans to introduce a bill that would ban high-capacity gun magazines.
Only at the end of the week did lawmakers begin to talk about other political issues.
And, as the days passed, a few lawmakers ventured out again for public events. In fact, members said they heard constituents worrying about them.
