S.C. pages ‘treated with respect’

Interns at State House say work environment was very professional

By JOHN O’CONNOR

johnoconnor@thestate.com

The controversy surrounding the treatment of pages in Congress has not been a part of a similar program at the S.C. State House.

Former pages at South Carolina’s State House said their legislative experiences were far different from the alleged sexual harassment being reported in Washington, D.C.

Lawmakers and staff members treated pages professionally while they ran copies, fetched coffee or did routine tasks, they said.

Tyler Lee, 29, was an S.C. House page in 2001. He said his relationship stopped at knowing which lawmaker liked a vanilla milkshake with chocolate syrup — and not a chocolate milkshake — from Sandy’s.

“I don’t think that would have been considered,” Lee said of lawmakers contacting pages off the House floor.

About 225 pages work among members, committees and on the floor of the S.C. House and Senate each year, supervisors said.

Unlike congressional pages, who are typically high school students who live in D.C. and take classes, State House pages are in college and work about 15 hours per week around their classes.

South Carolina has had about a half-dozen D.C. pages in recent years, according to congressional staff members. The positions are granted based on seniority.

Some members do not appoint the pages, instead using interns, who are usually older, on their staffs. For example, U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., has appointed one page in his 14 years in Congress.

South Carolina’s program, though, has not been without its problems.

In 2001, legislators investigated an anonymous mock memo circulated by a fictional House “Men’s Caucus.”

It encouraged pages to disregard an earlier memo from supervisors about proper attire. It then urged pages to save “valuable material used in blouse construction” and to consider undergarments “optional.”

Many in the House condemned the memo. Federal authorities declined to investigate the memo, whose author was never discovered. House leadership created a training program regarding workplace sexual harassment.

Blake Wehunt, who supervises House pages, said dress codes for pages were re-emphasized after the memo. Wehunt said each page is given a list of rules. One rule forbids pages from attending social events hosted for lawmakers by lobbyists. The biggest issue, Wehunt said, is usually hemlines.

“Our main concern — and we hammer this over and over again — is dress code. We don’t hesitate to send them home.”

Lee was a House page at the time. The memo, he said, was not typical of how pages were treated.

“I was in disbelief that anybody would do something so stupid. It was a good environment. I felt like everybody was treated with respect.”

Supervisors of the House and Senate page programs said they have had no complaints about harassment from pages, and that supervision and guidelines help create a professional atmosphere.

Walter Curry, 25, who worked as a House page in 2004, agreed.

“It was a great job,” said Curry, who was a page while taking graduate classes at the University of South Carolina. “I think what happened in D.C. was very, very unfortunate ... here in South Carolina, I don’t believe this is possible.”

Jonathan Ross, 20, a USC student who worked for Sen. John Hawkins, R-Spartanburg, in 2005 and 2006, said talk of ending the D.C. program is a mistake.

“If the congressional page program is anything like what we have in South Carolina,” he said, “that would be an overreaction.”

The pages said they were surprised at the amount of communication former Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., reportedly had with pages.

Ross said he had a few conversations about his career with Hawkins and got to listen to Sen. John Drummond, D-Greenwood, tell World War II stories during a break in budget debate one night.

Reach O’Connor at (803) 771-8358.