Should US Senators & Representatives live in DC or Commute?

[LynneSin]

There was an interesting poll on the PoliticsPA website (http://www.politicspa.com/) about what Bob Casey should do if he gets elected Senator (and hopefully sending Rick Santorum home)

Ballot Box: About 59 percent of PoliticsPA readers say that if Bob Casey Jr. wins the Senate race he should get an apartment in DC and be away from his wife and kids over moving his family to the DC area and risking criticism from his political foes. Only 40 percent said he should move his family.

As you know, there's been a big stink in PA about Rick Santorum who basically is a citizen of Virginia with an empty house in PA he uses for Pennsylvania residency. In fact there has been a controversy about this with some folks who feel that Santorum shouldn't be getting PA tax dollars to pay for his children's education since those children are actually attending school in Virginia.

Now in my own state of Delaware - Sen. Biden & Carper along with Rep Castle commute together on Amtrak, which makes it a short trip to DC. But I know for many of our senators out there in the Western States sacrifices must be made between family & obligation.

So my question is this - should these elected officials leave their families behind and commute to DC like some senators do with renting apartments to use while in DC or do you think it's more important that the family stays together and the whole family should move to the area.

[DebJ]

1. Keep the family together BUT...Slick Rick also owns a house

and pays taxes for that house in Virginia. The Virginia house is very expensive; the Pa house would be more like a guest house (actually, it is, two of his relatives are living there.)

Virginia gets loads more tax money from him; Pa gets very little. But he asked for a payment from public funds to pay for the very private education of his kids....PA public funds. This is his own 'voucher' system.

If he cared about education of the public, he wouldn't support Bush's tax cuts or NCLB. But just watch that brown roll down his face as he sucks up to Bush.

However, the education of HIS children, oh, that is different.
I think his kids should go to the schools in an inner city environment. Then they can 'educate' their Dad.

[Mr.Green93]

2. Several Representatives

are living in their office rent free. And eating in the cafeteria. This perk saves them tens of thousands of dollars in living expenses. A source of income they do not report to the IRS.

[Padraig18]

3. I don't think it's anybody's business, except the Sen. or Rep. in question

If we believe in any part of the concept of 'family', then we ought to at least recognize the sovereignty of the family itself to make the best decision for themselves.

[Poppyseedman]

4. We really should allow our Senators to (they do work for us)

go to DC about once a year to pass legislation for about 60 days.

They rest of the time they should be right in the thick of things at home. It will keep them in touch with the real world.

I also think we should have shadow representatives that follow our esteemed representative every where they go while in DC. Be there every time a Senator have a close door meeting to keep them on their toes. I nice poke in the ribs once in a while might keep them paying attention to their constituents needs rather than rubbing the back of some other Senator to get something passed.

It's high time we started babysitting our representatives so they represent us.

Might not be a bad idea to have someone follow them around like in the Roman times whispering into their ears. "You are not a god"