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See the full story · 1 sourcesCapitol Hill staffers typically rely on private conversations and faceless social media accounts to identify toxic offices — but a new platform is offering a verified place to anonymously rate and review members of Congress and the workplaces they run.
Capitol CNCT, a program designed to centralize resources for congressional staffers, launched on July 20 a new tool called "The Scoop," where verified staffers can share anonymous, but verified, reviews of the offices where they're employed.
Former staffer David Tennent told Fox News Digital he founded Capitol CNCT to modernize the experience for young people working in congressional offices in Washington, D.C. He said the idea of the new ranking system emerged due to growing frustration over the number of "bad bosses" and "toxic offices" in the halls of Congress.
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"I wanted to create something that gave a little bit more transparency to the process and help staffers find the best opportunities available," he said in an interview detailing his inspiration for the new tool.
Just a week after launch, verified reviews are already beginning to paint an early picture of workplace culture across Capitol Hill.
While most offices still have only a handful of ratings, the highest-rated House offices so far are Reps. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., Abe Hamadeh, R-Ariz., Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., Michael Rulli, R-Ohio, and Robert Garcia, D-Calif.
Among Senate offices, the top five were Sens. Tommy Tuberville , R-Ala., Todd Young, R-Ind., Thom Tillis, R-N.C., Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., and Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.
Across both chambers, the five lowest-rated offices were Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C., Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., Rep. Julia Brownley, D-Calif., Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo.
The offices of Davis, Krishnamoorthi, Brownley, Van Hollen and Bennet did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment on their rankings.
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There is no centralized human resources department for members’ offices on the Hill — making it tricky for staffers to report toxic or abusive workplaces .
"The Scoop" aims to offer a reliable place where people can leave and review feedback from staff who have gone through a verification process, which ensures anyone leaving a review actually works in the office they are rating.
"We verify the office in which they've worked," Tennent told Fox News Digital. "We sift through all reviews before they go live to our platform to make sure that staffer has actually worked in that office."
Reviews are only published if the user leaving feedback passes Capitol CNCT’s background screening to ensure they have at some point worked for the member of Congress they are commenting on. The process includes verifying House and Senate email addresses attached to the account are legitimate.
"My biggest fear was just creating like a political retribution platform, right?" Tennent explained. "Where you can just go on and destroy people without any evidence or verification that you've been a part of that process."
Tennent revealed that Republican offices are almost twice as likely to be reviewed than Democrats’ offices so far.
The launch last month comes amid heightened scrutiny of workplace culture on Capitol Hill after multiple offices faced misconduct allegations this year.
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Many members of Congress have either resigned or been under fire this year for allegations of inappropriate behavior with members of their staff.
Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., and Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, both resigned in April after staffers from their offices came forward with accusations of sexual misconduct — including rape accusations against Swalwell.
"We happened to be able to launch it right in this timeframe where this congressional ethics or lack of morality discussion is really hitting its high pitch," Tennent said.
Tennent said that while the main purpose of the app is to give staffers, or those considering working on the Hill, verifiable reviews about what it is like working for certain members of Congress, he also hopes it will serve as constructive criticism for members and their offices "to create a better working Congress."
"We do want to provide like constructive criticism in this process," Tennent said
He continued, "Our hope is that if a chief of staff or a member sees that their office is very poorly rated, that over time they're gonna go, ‘Oh, this is a wake-up call for me. Let me implement some strategies to boost office morale, to change how we communicate with each other.’"
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