Reid staff to be tested for anthrax exposure

Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2001 | 9:48 a.m.

Staff members from Nevada Sen. Harry Reid's Hart Building office on Capitol Hill were being tested for anthrax this morning after traces of the deadly bacteria were reported to be in the building's ventilation system.

This came amid the disclosure that more than two dozen people in the Hart Building office of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota tested positive for what was being described as a highly potent form of anthrax. The bacteria was first discovered in a letter sent to Daschle's office this week.

"It's weapons grade anthrax," said Nathan Naylor, Reid's press secretary. "It's been finely milled. Somebody went through a lot of trouble to make sure this stuff was very deadly."

Naylor said everyone (about 40 staffers) from office interns to Reid's chief of staff, Susan McCue, were being tested this morning.

"We share the building with Senator Daschle's office," he said. "Right now we're being safe rather than sorry."

Naylor said he did not know whether Reid, the Senate's assistant majority leader, was being tested. The senator, he said, was in a leadership meeting about the anthrax scare this morning. Congressional leaders planned to shut down the House and possibly the Senate.

"Everyone's spirits are up, but at the same time most of us are angry at the people that want to try to kill us by using the mail," Naylor said. "It's a cowardly crime."

Naylor, who was waiting in line to be tested as he spoke to a reporter on his cellular phone, said office employees were briefed by Capitol Hill doctors late Tuesday about anthrax and encouraged to get tested.

Traci Scott, press secretary to Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said no one from the senator's office was being tested as of this morning. Ensign's office is in the nearby Russell Building.

Ironically, the latest scare came as Reid and Ensign held a satellite news conference Tuesday afternoon with Nevada reporters to calm fear about anthrax in the state.

Both said the anthrax scare in the nation was being overblown.

"The chances of anybody dying from anthrax in America is very slim," Ensign said.

Reid urged Nevadans not to worry, saying anthrax is a "very treatable" disease.

In Carson City, meanwhile, an anthrax scare was reported Tuesday at the secretary of state's office.

About 50 workers were evacuated from their office about 10:30 a.m. in the annex across the street from the state capitol after a mysterious white substance appeared on the lap of a female employee who was opening mail, Heller said.

Authorities were summoned, and the office was closed for the afternoon. It was reopened this morning after the substance tested negative for anthrax.

Sun reporter Cy Ryan contributed to this report.