When you want to release information that you have to, but don't want to, you dump it out at a time when no one is paying attention. That's where the Friday night dump tradition comes from. But when you really want to hide it, there's the Christmas dump.
And you can see why this was a Christmas dump.
As the Christmas holiday weekend set it, the Senate Rules and Administration Committee released a report revealing the Senate has spent $1.5 million on workplace harassment settlements since 1998.
Individual Senate offices have paid out nearly $600,000 in discrimination and harassment settlements, while other Senate employers paid out over $850,000. Listed violations include sex, age, and race discrimination, as well as violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act.
The largest settlements involved instances of race discrimination.
Now this isn't too bad. At least compared to Congress. And some of the settlements might have been unjustified. But you can see why the Senate was none too eager to make this information public.
Senate members also tend to serve longer than their House counterparts. And with some explosive elections coming up, there's ever more incentive to bury the data. Franken's resignation has no doubt scared members on both sides. And no one is too eager to open that box.