Anthrax's aftereffects linger on Capitol Hill The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel by Katherine M. Skiba April 2, 2002 WASHINGTON: That Wisconsin Sen. Herb Kohl is getting Christmas cards at Passover is proof: Since the anthrax attack on Capitol Hill, mail service isn't what it was. Today, letters bound for Congress first are sanitized in another state, returned to Washington and ventilated, leading to long delivery delays. Overnight shipments from Federal Express? A thing of the past. More troubling to some are complaints from 255 employees in Congress who have said that handling the late-arriving, irradiated mail has made them ill. Jerry Kleczka, a House Democrat from Milwaukee, said two of his staffers have had allergic reactions from handling decontaminated mail, complaining of headaches, congestion and skin irritations. He himself "noticed my face felt flush" when reading treated mail. But he never registered a complaint to the Capitol's Office of the Attending Physician, which counted 255 people in January and February identifying these and other symptoms, such as eye and throat irritation. Kevin Lenihan, a Kleczka spokesman, said the office no longer reviews mail that appears to have been heavily irradiated. It simply dumps it. "We discard it without reading it. You can't read it without being affected," he said. Once a time-honored practice, writing to a member of the Senate or House has undergone an upheaval since Oct. 15, when an anthrax-tainted letter was opened in the office of Tom Daschle, the Senate majority leader from South Dakota. Aides said the last day of regular mail service was the previous Friday, Oct. 12. Mail, then, was halted for several weeks. Delivery resumed, but only after irradiation, which saw the mail that arrived in Washington trucked to Lima, Ohio, or Bridgeport, N.J., for decontamination in plants set up to sterilize medical equipment. The mail undergoing irradiation has ZIP codes beginning 202, 203, 204 and 205, which takes in not only congressional offices but also the White House, Supreme Court and government agencies in the District of Columbia, said Gerry Kreienkamp, a public relations representative for the U.S. Postal Service. Although volume varies, he estimated that federal agencies in the district receive about 250,000 pieces of mail a day. According to Kreienkamp, the irradiation equipment directs a beam of accelerated electron particles at a target, killing any biological hazards by rendering their DNA inert. Wisconsin lawmakers and their aides found that when mail delivery resumed, the incoming letters and packages looked _ and smelled _ different. "Discolored _ some of it looks like it may have been written in the 1800s by the time it reaches us," said Ron Kind, a House Democrat from La Crosse, Wis. "Yellow and crunchy and (it) breaks apart if you're not gentle," said Bryan George, chief of staff to Tom Barrett, a House Democrat from Milwaukee. "If envelopes have windows, they look like they've been cooked _ they're shrunken and yellow," said Chris Tuttle, spokesman for Mark Green, a House Republican from Green Bay, Wis. The offices all suggest that there are alternatives for constituents who want to speak their mind or seek help with a problem: Call, fax or e-mail the Washington office, or if you must mail a letter, send it to congressional district offices in Wisconsin. Barrett, like others, reported that his e-mail count is jumping _ 600 in February, 700 in March. He said he likes feedback. "Even though I represent a half-million people, if I get 10 letters on an issue, that issue is on my radar screen. It doesn't mean I agree with the writer, but I recognize it's an issue." Some who e-mail Kind have reported, "This is the first time I'm using e-mails in my life." "Clearly, people have adapted," Kind observed. But discouraging pen, paper and a 34-cent (soon to be 37-cent) stamp can spell trouble, as Kind learned when he issued a press release inviting e-mail. That led a hometown newspaper to headline a story, "Kind encourages e-mail rather than snail mail." He didn't write the topper, but nonetheless heard from quite a few angry postal employees upset at the derogatory reference to their speed. "It created quite a firestorm," he remembered. But snail's pace seems an apt description on the Hill. "Mail is running a month-and-a-half to two months to reach us," said Jonathan Beeton, press secretary to Tammy Baldwin, a House Democrat from Madison, Wis. "Overnight packages take about a week." "Sen. Kohl gets five to 10 Christmas cards a day, sometimes 15," said his spokeswoman, Lynn Becker. Other offices reported such holiday tidings turning up in late March _ some with annual family photos, "yellowed, circa 1975, due to the effects of irradiation," said Kate Dwyer, spokeswoman for Paul Ryan, a House Republican from Janesville, Wis. Members of Congress get bills in the mail, too, and so the delays have meant headaches for some vendors. As for the actual reports of sickness, some offices are giving breaks (plus masks and gloves) to mail handlers, and Kohl's office installed a stand-up model air filter in the mailroom after hearing complaints of itchy eyes. Kreienkamp at the Postal Service said that despite the reports of symptoms, the Environmental Protection Agency had tested and found "no clinical evidence to tie symptoms to irradiated mail." Still, two investigations are under way in the Capitol in light of the reports. Gary Green, general counsel for the Office of Compliance, one of the investigators, said late last week that he was unsure how long that review would take. The other is being led by the Senate sergeant-at-arms, who did not return phone calls. As health complaints are examined, it appears that the still-at-large bioterrorist may have claimed more than the two postal workers who died in Washington in October. There's been not only a breakdown in public communication, but taxpayers also have had to fund what Kreienkamp reported was $675 million for postal security improvements, just as his agency copes with fewer letters and less revenue.