Bureaucracy: Putting on The Ritz

The new building would make a lobbyist drool. The latest and fanciest edifice in Washington's central commercial district is 1801 L Street, with a red marble exterior and a gold-plated price: $33 a square foot, a third more than neighboring rentals. The biggest tenant: the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Federal agency that is supposed to enforce antidiscrimination laws. Why should taxpayers spend $5.5 million a year to house Government bureaucrats in such lavish premises? For one thing, says EEOC Chairman Clarence Thomas, lesser quarters "would be sending the wrong signal" and might even cause people not to take the EEOC "seriously." The lease may just send the wrong signal to Congress, which is considering legislation to encourage agencies to move to the less expensive suburbs.