Rep. Tom Garrett, R-Va., and his wife turned the congressman’s staffers into “personal servants,” former staffers and interns said, according to a report Friday.
Four former staffers told Politico that Garrett’s office was malfunctional, and detailed the miscellaneous duties that were expected of them. The tasks included: grocery shopping for the family, picking up their dog’s feces, driving to Garrett’s apartments to pick up articles of clothing, and chauffeuring their daughters around.
Garrett’s wife, Flanna, also reportedly expected the aides to meet her demands.
“I didn’t know who I was working for: Was I working for him? Was I working for her?” one former staffer told Politico. “We became their gofers.”
The aides reportedly worried that they would get fired if they didn’t complete the tasks.
“I can take hard work,” another aide told Politico. “What I can’t put up with is these just mundane tasks that [were] being asked to be completed by him and his wife that had nothing to do with the job.”
The same aide reportedly went to a senior member of the office to tell him the errands they were forced to run were “effed up.” In response, the staffer suggested the job wasn’t right for him.
Garrett’s office holds the fourth highest rate of staff turnover in the House of Representatives, according to data gathered by Politico from the data gathering website LegiStorm.
After being asked about the allegations, Garrett’s spokesman, Matt Missen said: “We see no reason to respond to anonymous, unfounded allegations primarily targeting Congressman Garrett’s wife, made by POLITICO’s ‘unnamed’ sources. It is easy to spread untruths and even easier to exaggerate and imply wrongdoing when none exists.”
Missen also told the outlet that there is “no ethics investigation” into the office.
