Fitch is the president and CEO of the Congressional Management Foundation and a former congressional staffer.
Our nation’s capital is known for many things — but good management practices are not among them. Stories regularly surface of bizarre tales of harassment and abuse by members of Congress. An Instagram feed a few years ago unearthed dozens of stories by staff outing less-than-desirable managers and members for their bad practices. But what about the good leaders and good managers?
Like any profession, Congress actually has quite a few exemplary office leaders. And the beneficiaries of these role models are not just their staff — it’s also their constituents. When a congressional office can retain great talent, sometimes over decades, the quality of the final legislative product or constituent service rises immensely.
Two members of Congress who exemplify this quality are the winners of the 2024 Congressional Management Foundation’s Democracy Award for Workplace Environment — the “Life in Congress Award.”
The Democratic winner, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (Ill.), has a saying she repeats to her team: “What’s the point in working for a senator’s office if you can’t work to improve things you care about?” She’s passionate about hiring staff with a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences because she truly values hearing about issues and solutions from as many perspectives as possible. She also knows that if her staff succeeds, the state of Illinois and her constituents will succeed as well. To that end, the office hosts yearly staff retreats and conducts quarterly formal check-ins for staff to connect and communicate with their supervisors. The office set up a novel year-long mentorship program that includes matching a new staffer with a longer-tenured employee for confidential advice and guidance. The program also provides formal training and monthly group check-ins.
The office boasts a “passion projects” initiative, which encourages staffers to spend time on projects they are passionate about regardless of their portfolio. Additionally, the office has a dedicated staff member who leads a diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility committee, which hosts “lunch and learns” with guest speakers and helps ensure that the office and the senator herself are approaching their work through a DEIA lens. The Duckworth has also worked hard to make sure that staff who are caregivers for family members feel supported, as she is always cognizant of the pressures staff in similar circumstances to hers are facing.
The Republican winner, Rep. Don Bacon (Neb.), operates his office with the understanding that if you put your people first and empower them, they will put the mission first. His office offers benefits include a flexible telework policy, compensatory time off and three office-sanctioned fitness breaks per week. The office has the best staff retention rate and the smallest turnover index number in the entire Nebraska delegation, and 11 staff members have served since Bacon’s first term over seven years ago.
The ability to focus on the mission in an open-door and collaborative environment is one of the primary reasons that the congressman also was recognized by the Center for Effective Lawmaking as the most effective Republican House member in the previous Congress — and why he is a previous Democracy Award winner (for the best constituent services). At any given point, there are almost always staff members enrolled in educational programs at the graduate level. In addition, the office frequently helps staff members get accepted into various fellowship programs. The office staff work with interns on actual legislative matters and the robust internship program also includes multiple one-day field trips, hosted by the chief of staff, to locations such as the National War College and Annapolis for the purposes of gaining a broader understanding of the history of American government and its various departments.
Probably one of the most amazing anecdotes about the Bacon office stemmed from one of staffer’s brush with death. Suffering from a rare disease, the staffer needed a new liver. Four of his office colleagues (including Bacon) offered to donate. That kind of esprit de corps doesn’t happen by accident, and the intentionality of Bacon and his team to create the best work environment results in a better workforce and better results for his constituents.
It may be hard to connect a well-run government office with tangible benefits for constituents, but I can attest to seeing first-hand accounts of this happening daily, especially during the pandemic. When constituents badly needed services, some facing nearly life-and-death choices, the seasoned, well-run congressional offices delivered, making a huge difference for the people they serve.
Americans across the political spectrum have continued to ask about the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s connections among the political elite. (Angela Weiss/AFP)
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner speaks to voters at a town hall at the Elks Lodge 188 on June 7, 2026, in Portland, Maine.
McConnell and Platner both feel entitled
The two men could not be more different. One, a Republican, octogenarian, seven-term Southern senator, the other a progressive, millennial Maine oysterman who’s never spent a day in elected office.
But Mitch McConnell, the senior senator from Kentucky who’s been MIA for the past few weeks and Graham Platner, the Maine Senate candidate who’s facing calls to drop out of his race against Sen. Susan Collins, apparently do have something in common: an outsized sense of entitlement.
McConnell, who is 84 and not running for reelection, has been hospitalized for three weeks, and yet we still don’t fully know what he was admitted for or what his condition is. Per CNN, “his office has not disclosed a medical reason for the hospitalization or provided specifics on his health status beyond saying last week that he ‘continues to improve’ and ‘is working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters.’ ”
While several legislators have said they’ve talked to him and insist he sounds strong, others have said they are completely in the dark. One MAGA influencer, Laura Loomer, posted ”High level source close to the White House tells me ‘Mitch McConnell is officially brain dead. He’s not coming back.’ ”
Meanwhile, up in Maine, Platner has been artfully dodging calls from his own party to drop out of his race after several allegations of misconduct from women, including a sexual assault allegation from a former girlfriend, came to light. While Platner, who has managed to survive a Nazi-tattoo scandal, a sexting scandal, and several old tweets scandals, denies the allegations, he has not quit.
High-profile Democrats including Sens. Bernie Sanders and Chuck Schumer, the latter of whom had unsuccessfully hand-selected Maine Gov. Janet Mills to face Collins instead of Platner, have urged Platner to drop out, while other Dems have accused him of trying to influence the picking of his replacement.
Maine Democratic Party Executive Director Devon Murphy-Anderson released a statement Tuesday, which said in part:
“Unfortunately, Graham Platner’s team has repeatedly reached out to us in an attempt to put their thumb on the scale of what this process looks like. We have repeatedly reiterated to Graham Platner’s team that they have no role in determining our next Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate nor in determining what this process looks like.”
Both incidents show a deep lack of accountability to voters, who in one case deserve to know whether their senator is capable of performing his duties, and in another deserve a candidate who isn’t being accused of crimes, bigotry and deception.
The offensive and odious entitlement of both McConnell and Platner stands out not because it is particularly unique among today’s political class. Tom Kean, the New Jersey GOP congressman, missed more than 100 votes, only sharing after a three-month mystery absence that he was dealing with depression.
Former President Joe Biden’s Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin failed to disclose a hospitalization for prostate cancer surgery, flouting the established rules for Cabinet members and senior U.S. officials.
From Biden’s insistence on running for reelection despite his obvious cognitive and political weaknesses to Trump’s brazen flouting of laws and norms, few politicians seem to appreciate that their public service job comes with responsibilities to constituents, including transparency and honesty.
But both parties increasingly justify the chicanery, because the stakes of winning elections and keeping power are simply too high. But that’s no excuse. If we’ve learned anything over the past decade, it’s that character and accountability do, in fact, matter. And when we, the voters, stop caring about it, well, so do they.
S.E. Cupp is the host of "S.E. Cupp Unfiltered" on CNN.