Baldacci relocated again due to anthrax cleanup

WASHINGTON – As the anthrax cleanup plods along in U.S. Rep. John Baldacci’s office, the Democrat’s staff has once again been relocated. While they are back in their old building, they are still one floor below their old office in several conference rooms that have been rearranged as temporary office space.

The move follows a previous relocation to a government building some six blocks away from the U.S. Capitol after traces of anthrax were found in Baldacci’s office and in the offices of two other House members in the Longworth House Office Building.

The initial discovery led to the closing of the building on Oct. 17. Nearly one-third of all U.S. Representatives were relocated as health officials and hazardous-material teams made a sweep of the building to ensure that any possible anthrax was removed.

While most House members have been returned to their permanent offices, Baldacci and his staff will have to wait things out in their new, but temporary, digs. When they can move back to their old haunts remains uncertain.

“We’re back in business,” said Baldacci spokesman Doug Dunbar, “except one floor below where we used to be.”

All mail sent to members of Congress in Washington is now being diverted to Lima, Ohio, where it is being irradiated as a precaution against the possibility of receiving more dangerous microbes.

That’s why e-mail has become the preferred mode of communication, Dunbar said. For those constituents eager to write, the address is: Baldacci@me02.house.gov. The fax machine is working, but with a new number, at 202-225-3427. The telephone number is the same, as always, 202-225-6306. Calls are no longer being forwarded to Bangor.

Authorities have yet to float a theory to explain who is responsible for getting anthrax into congressional offices. The only evidence available is a letter containing the deadly bacteria that was received Oct. 15 by the office of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D.

House office buildings are several blocks away at the other side of the Capitol, but some speculate that micron-sized anthrax spores from the Daschle letter may have leaked to other mail while being sorted for delivery.