Freshman Rep. Mike McMahon (D–Bay Ridge) started his career on Capitol Hill this week by nailing an appointment to the powerful Transportation and Infrastructure Committee — a post he coveted during his campaign this fall.
Slots on that committee are especially prized this year because the panel will be a funnel for public works projects in the massive economic stimulus package.
“I got it through old-fashioned campaigning, by expressing early my desire to the speaker [Nancy Pelosi] and the majority leader [Steny Hoyer] and their staffs,” said McMahon, a former City Councilman who succeeded scandal-torn Vito Fossella. The Staten Island Republican opted not to run for re-election after a drunk-driving arrest and subsequent admission that he had fathered a child with his mistress in Virginia.
A swearing-in ceremony on Tuesday sealed McMahon’s transition from City Hall to Capitol Hill, an event that McMahon said filled him — like so many starry-eyed legislators before him — with awe.
“We’re a part of the government, but we’re also a part of history. You get a sense of that when you look around the Capitol dome,” the lawmaker told The Brooklyn Paper.
But there’s little time for bunting-filled reverie when the economy’s in shambles, the military is waging war in two foreign theaters, and constituents back home want help with day-to-day problems.
“The types of complaints are similar [to what I heard as a councilman], like sewer and traffic complaints. But there are also federal issues like immigration and IRS stuff and veterans affairs,” McMahon said.
After a few long days of Byzantine legislative procedure, the newest member to the city’s now-Republican-free congressional delegation doesn’t retire to a house shared with other pols and staffers — like so many do inside the Beltway.
Instead, he’s living in his own McMahon-sion — a studio near the Capitol.
“At the age of 51, I’m not interested in the frat boy atmosphere,” he said.
