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273 12 Subcommittee Chairman Frank in January 1983, Barney, beginning his second term in congress, ascended, on the basis of seniority, to the chairmanship of the Government operations Subcommittee on manpower and housing. it is rare for a sophomore member to have enough seniority to land a subcommittee chairmanship, even with the proliferation of house subcommittees in the early 1980s. Barney explained how he came to make the transition from individual member to subcommittee chairman in only his second term: “it took three retirements, one death, two incumbents being beaten in the election, and a party switch.” The Government operations subcommittee was an oversight panel rather than a legislative committee and was responsible for overseeing the programs and operations of several departments and agencies, including the department of housing and Urban development (hUd), the department of labor, the national labor relations Board (nlrB), the equal employment opportunity commission (eeoc), and the office of Personnel management (oPm). Barney revived and energized an obscure subcommittee that had been moribund for several years under the leadership of cardiss collins of illinois. he was aggressive, going after the office of management and Budget for interfering in the legislative process and taking on the navy for exposing its workers to asbestos at the kittery–Portsmouth naval Shipyard. administration officials began to feel the heat of Barney’s caustic, prosecutorial style. at a subcommittee hearing about the importance of preserving the existing housing stock for low-income people, hUd assistant secretary maurice Barksdale testified that some parts of the country had more subsidized housing for the poor than needed. Barney expressed his incredulity and asked for proof. in response, hUd provided the subcommittee with a list of underutilized subsidized housing projects they considered surplus. The subcommittee staff researched the list and found that forty-three of the forty-seven projects it named chapter Twelve 274 were fully occupied and some had waiting lists of up to two years. “in some projects there were no waiting lists because there was so little turnover and waiting time so long that they stopped keeping a list,” richard Goldstein, the housing counsel, said. Barney told the press, “hUd has found an innovative way to deal with the housing shortage, which is to define it out of existence. it’s a triumph of ideology over reality. when people have to distort reality to justify their policy, that’s a pretty good indication there’s something wrong with the policy.” hUd then submitted a revised list of fourteen surplus projects. at a follow-up hearing on october 5, 1983, hUd undersecretary Philip abrams apologized for submitting inaccurate data to the subcommittee. he admitted that the revised list of fourteen projects was also incorrect and that the actual number of surplus projects was just four. abrams took this new list of surplus projects and tore it in half. “i’m sorry,” he said. “i appreciate your admitting that,” Barney replied. “if [hUd officials] wanted to screw this up intentionally, you could not have done it better.” on a monday evening in november 1983, Barney and i had finished playing tennis under the bubble at haines Point and gathered our belongings. as we were leaving the court, Barney, seemingly out of the blue, asked, “what is you career goal?” “i am waiting for a democratic administration so that you can get me the nlrB general counsel position,” i replied candidly. “are you interested in becoming my subcommittee staff director and chief counsel?” he asked. “most of the jurisdiction is in the labor area and i could use someone with a strong labor background. Besides, it would be a good stepping stone for nlrB general counsel.” he added as a sweetener, “and you get a free parking space in the rayburn garage.” “a free indoor parking spot in the rayburn Building,” i thought, “that’s an offer i can’t refuse.” one question, however, came to mind. “as chief counsel where would i be sitting at the hearings?” i asked. he looked a little puzzled and i promptly clarified the question. “would i be sitting at the table next to the chairman like roy cohn or in back of the chairman like robert kennedy?” he instantly recalled the 1954 photo of Senator Joseph mccarthy chairing the hearings by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on investigations on communism in the army that i was referring to and replied, “you would be sitting on the dais next to me like roy cohn, but hopefully there will be a...

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