Terrance W. Gainer, the former Capitol Police chief who often clashed with Congress, has been appointed sergeant-at-arms of the Senate — effectively, a promotion from his old position.
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., announced Gainer’s appointment Tuesday. He replaces outgoing sergeant-at-arms William H. Pickle.
Gainer is a native ofthe south side of Chicago who came to the District when Charles H. Ramsey was appointed D.C. police chief in 1998. Gainer was Capitol Police chief from June 2002 until April.
He resigned after it was revealed that he had broken anti-nepotism rules by hiring his son-in-law for the police force.
Many on the Hill say the nepotism charge was a pretext. Gainer often butted heads with Congress over the size and scope of his police force.
Some Congress members, including Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., said Gainer was wasting millions of public dollars in empire-building. Gainer said he was doing everything he could to protect the Capitol and its staff without compromising the liberty of “the people’s house.”
Gainer, 59, said his problem was that there were “imperfect communications” with his bosses. He said he held no grudges and wanted no recriminations.
“I’m smarter now than I was nine months ago,” Gainer said. “I hope now that we can see that there’s a greater good here that each of the sergeants-at-arms here can accomplish.”
As sergeant-at-arms, Gainer will be in charge of Senate security. He’ll sit on a three-person board that supervises the Capitol Police. The Capitol Police recently announced that Phillip Morse will be its new chief.
Gainer promoted Morse to captain and said, “I look forward to helping him out.”
Lou Cannon, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, said Gainer is a “great” choice for the position.
“I think that he brings a certain needed leadership over there,” Cannon said.
“I don’t think he had conflicts with congressmen,” Cannon added. “I think congressmen had conflicts with him. Any time you try to enforce the law fairly, without prejudice, there’s going to be conflicts.”
