Rep. Nick LaLota, New York Republican, is the highest-rated member of Congress to work for, while Rep. Don Davis, North Carolina Democrat, is the worst, according to a new platform for congressional staffers.
Capitol CNCT’s The Scoop is a confidential, transparency-and-accountability platform for Capitol Hill. It functions like a “Glassdoor” or “Rate My Professors” for Congress, allowing current and former congressional staffers to anonymously rate and review the lawmakers’ offices where they have worked.
David Tennent, the founder of Capitol CNCT, a networking app for congressional staffers, said his creation may “ruffle a few feathers on the Hill.”
Mr. Tennent, who worked in the House for three years, said the idea was “born out of a frustration I had on the Hill,” leading him to create a way for current and former staffers to confidentially review their congressional offices.
“I wanted to create something that provided transparency and accountability for bosses on the Hill while also making it easier to find a good job. I believe the best-rated offices deserve the best candidates. We should reward offices and members with great culture,” he told The Washington Times.
The platform offers confidential, verified reviews by Hill staffers. Every anonymous review is human-verified to ensure the reviewer worked in the office.
It offers eight rating categories: member rating, office leadership, office culture, work-life balance, pay, clear path to promotion, appreciation of work and rewarding work.
Of the 535 members of Congress, 90 have been reviewed on the service: 65 representatives and 25 senators.
The member rating average is 8.48 out of 10, the highest of all categories, because staffers tend to rate the person more generously than the office. A clear path to promotion is consistently the weakest category across almost every group, with an average score of 7.02.
A comparison of each chamber showed a stark contrast: the Senate had an overall average score of 8.45, compared with 7.31 in the House.
Mr. LaLota and Mr. Davis hold the highest and lowest scores, respectively, out of all 90 congressional offices reviewed — not just in the House.
In the upper chamber, Sens. Cynthia Lummis, Wyoming Republican, and Todd Young, Indiana Republican, both have a 100% recommendation rate. Ms. Lummis has an overall score of 10 based on one review, while Mr. Young’s overall score is 9.9 based on two reviews.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin, Michigan Democrat, is the lowest-rated senator, with an overall score of 1.8. With one review so far, all eight of her categories were given a 1, except pay, which was rated a 7.
Republicans and Democrats also differed widely in scores. Republican members averaged 8.2, compared with 6.39 among Democrats.
Republican lawmakers have received twice as many reviews as Democrats.
In just one week, the platform has more than 150 reviews. More than 1,000 congressional staffers, about 10% of the total, had logged onto the platform within two days, Mr. Tennent said.
He has heard that some members of Congress are “nervous” about The Scoop.
Some lawmakers, such as Mr. Davis, have multiple reviews. He has the lowest score in the dataset, ranging from 1.3 to 3.4 out of 10.
His rating is credited to a “toxic work environment,” “terrible management” and “incredibly poor chain of command,” with reviewers pointing the finger at his chief of staff.
“It was the most toxic work environment I have ever experienced and will ever experience,” one review reads. “The chief didn’t do any work and would try to pit the member against the staff. Don Davis doesn’t sleep so we were expected to work until 2 a.m. and wake up at 7 a.m. the following day for seven days a week. We were only given a day off if we used a sick day.”
The Washington Times reached out to Mr. Davis’ office for comment.
Mr. LaLota’s high rating didn’t come with any comments.
Mr. Tennent said that, so far, “staffers are loving it.”
At a Monday event, the response was relief, he said, though some expressed concern about retribution.
“I hope with time, staffers will see we are properly protecting their identities so that they can freely share this valuable info that holds bad bosses accountable,” he said.
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