GOP Sweep Will Leave Many Jobless : Politics: Dozens of Democratic staffers in Washington are expected to be unemployed due to changes in committee leadership.

Power is measured in many ways among the flocks of politicians who call this city home--the location of a parking spot, the size of an office, the amount of money in the bank. But nothing determines real clout on Capitol Hill like the size of a congressman’s staff.

“You look at the powerful people on the Hill and behind them is a huge, huge staff of attorneys and legislative aides who do their bidding,” said David Joergenson, a staffer for Rep. Carlos J. Moorhead (R--Glendale). “The more bodies you have, the more you can accomplish. You can sit at your desk and say, ‘Do this and do that.’ ”

Each of the 435 members of the House of Representatives has about 18 staffers split between their district and Washington offices. But those who chair committees or subcommittees can pick up dozens more.

And so it is these days that San Fernando Valley-area Democrats stripped of their leadership posts in the new GOP-controlled House are mourning the loss of the hundreds of people whose job it has been to make them look good.

Or as Joergenson put it: “It’s like one minute they are sitting there with an entourage and then all of a sudden they’re naked and alone.”

Rep. Henry Waxman is feeling the sting more than most.

As the longtime chairman of the subcommittee on health and the environment, the Los Angeles Democrat had 15 additional staffers at his beck and call, most of them high-powered attorneys with years of government experience.

All of them are expected to be released.

“It’s going to be a personal loss to me because some of them have been with me since I was a subcommittee chairman 15 years ago,” Waxman said. “But it’s not only a personal loss. It’s an institutional loss.”

Capitol Hill staffers themselves vary widely in experience and responsibilities, ranging from young college graduates who join the federal government right out of school to career professionals with advanced degrees and salaries hovering around $100,000.

A study by the Congressional Management Foundation found the average staffer to be somewhere in between: 31 years old, with a bachelor’s degree and a salary just under $40,000. They spend an average of less than two years on the job.

Supplementing their $133,600 salaries, House members receive $557,400 specifically to hire office staff members. Committee and subcommittee staffers are paid from separate funds.

Waxman’s health subcommittee was full of well-compensated career government workers--such as Gregory S. Wetstone, the chief counsel for the environment who has written extensively on acid rain, and Ripley E. Forbes, who has 20 years’ experience on Capitol Hill.

“There are people there who have committed themselves and their careers to Mr. Waxman and they never considered this was going to happen,” said one staffer.

Preparing for his reduced role in the new House, Waxman attributes much of his success to the largely unknown cadre of assistants who have aided him over the years.

“I had one of the best professional staffs on Capitol Hill,” he said. “They were experienced, very professional. I’m convinced so many of the successes we’ve had are the result of the contributions of this able staff.”

Of course, Waxman is not the only local legislator to be affected by the massive restructuring under way in the House.

In the majority party for the first time in his 22-year career, Moorhead is due to gain a handful of additional staffers when he takes over the subcommittee on intellectual property and judicial administration next month. And Rep. Howard P. (Buck) McKeon (R-Santa Clarita), who will become chairman of the subcommittee on post-secondary education, training and lifelong learning, is due to boost his staffing as well.

“The (congressman’s) personal staff members try to get to know a lot of subject areas, but the subcommittee staff members are experts in one policy area,” said Armando Azarloza, McKeon’s spokesman. “Clearly, more people will help in getting things done.”

On the Democratic side of the aisle, lawmakers have been meeting with subcommittee staffers in recent weeks, breaking the news that the likelihood of continued employment is bleak.

With the next congressional session just weeks away, information is still scarce on just how many staffers the various committees and subcommittees will have. That means uncertainty for those Democrats precariously clinging to the posts they have filled for years.

“The new Republican leaders in the House has been pretty insensitive to the fact that a lot of people’s lives are in tumult over these changes,” Waxman said. “If a lot of these people leave, the Republicans are going to have trouble turning on a light switch.”

One subcommittee staffer for Rep. Howard Berman (D-Panorama City) said he is assuming that he will be unemployed for the New Year.

“I’ve been with Howard for years,” said the veteran staffer, who did not want to be named. “I take the view that at least I’ve had an opportunity to do some amazing things. The downside of the excitement of politics is you can be out.”

While his job search continues, the aide took the precaution this week of applying for unemployment benefits.

“I know I can cover my mortgage for a few months,” he said. “After that, who knows?”

Making matters worse for Democrats, Speaker-designate Newt Gingrich has sent out a message to his troops that they are to hire Republicans to fill committee staff jobs and not rehire Democratic committee staff members.

There had been a plan to cut everybody’s staff by two people each, but Gingrich shelved that cost-cutting move. He said the “contract with America” and other initiatives the Republicans hope to push through Congress depend on lawmakers’ staffers.

“Without our staffs we can’t get this done,” Gingrich said during a recent pep talk to fellow Republicans. “It’s too big a job.”