Defeated GOP lawmaker won’t coordinate transition with successor: report

Outgoing Rep. Scott Garrett (R-N.J.) is refusing to coordinate a transition with his successor after losing reelection, according to the Democrat who unseated him.

Josh Gottheimer, who defeated the seven-term lawmaker, told a local New Jersey news outlet that Garrett hasn’t returned his calls or responded to a certified letter inquiring about a transition so constituent requests don’t get lost during the handoff. 

Gottheimer said his top aide also reached out to Garrett’s chief of staff but never heard back.

{mosads}“My biggest thing is, these constituent issues are not partisan issues. Helping a veteran or a senior, making sure they get their Social Security, or helping a business that has an issue, this election should not affect their lives,” Gottheimer told The Record.

Garrett’s spokesman didn’t respond to a request for comment from The Hill on Monday.

According to The Record, Garrett’s staff has been moved out of its office in Rayburn House Office Building so work crews can prepare it for next year.

Garrett hasn’t turned up to vote since last Wednesday.

No matter how ugly a campaign gets, defeated lawmakers usually still work with the people taking over their offices to ensure a smooth transition.

Brad Fitch, the president of the nonprofit Congressional Management Foundation, told The Record that he knew of only one other case in the last decade in which an outgoing lawmaker refused to even pass along constituent files.

“When it comes to paper files, dealing with casework or ombudsman work, the more common practice is for the office that is either retiring or leaving because of [an] election to provide paper files to the incoming member,” Fitch said. 

“One of the more important reasons for that is because, in some cases, they may be dealing with the constituent’s original documents, and if those documents are somehow lost or destroyed, the constituent could be out of luck,” he added.

The offices of New Jersey’s two Democratic senators, Cory Booker and Bob Menendez, said they haven’t heard from Garrett either.

But a spokeswoman for Menendez told The Record that staffers have started getting calls from constituents who said Garrett’s office pointed them to the senator’s office. 

Garrett had won a coveted subcommittee gavel on the House Financial Services panel over the course of his 13 years in Congress. But he faced a serious reelection challenge this year after Politico reported he wouldn’t pay dues to the House GOP campaign arm because of its support for gay candidates.

Garrett’s district also became slightly more Democratic due to redrawn boundaries, and his state went heavily for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton over President-elect Donald Trump.