| (cross-posted at DK & TK)
So, I've been talking to a friend about our congressman, Michael McCaul, and we were comparing our level of service as constituents. I sent Mr. McCaul an e-mail from his own website a week & a half ago (they've had it for 8 working days, by my count), about a legitimate constituent concern (funding cuts for the National Library Service for the Blind). Completely non-political. Well, as non-political as funding for a federal program can be.
I have had no response whatsoever from my congressman. Nada, nothing, crickets chirping. Yes my e-mail address is somewhat partisan (anotherdemocrat), but I'm still his constituent & I deserve a response to my concerns. When Jake Pickle was my representative & I was involved in the University Democrats, we had some very intense discussions about whether or not we should endorse someone so conservative. I'm sure that the congressman &/or his aides were fully aware of what was said in those meetings. I still would have had a written response by now if I had contacted him with similar concerns. And if he was going to fix this problem, it would be on the way to being fixed. |
| So - what we want to know is - if you are unfortunate enough to be "represented" by Mr. McCaul - do you bother to contact him about stuff people contact their congressman about? Have you ever received a response?
I have received one response from his office. Last year (or maybe the year before), there was a census update. I got a postcard telling me it was coming. I got a letter about the postcard. Finally I got the update. And another one. I filled out the form & sent it back. I got a postcard telling me they had sent out the forms & would I please send in my form. And another letter. Then someone with the census knocked on my door & asked the exact same questions, filling out the exact form I had already mailed in. I wrote to my congressman about this monumental waste of my tax money. (How much paper, printing, postage, etc. to do something they sent a person around to do, anyway?). I wrote to my congressman about this monumental waste of my tax money. (How much paper, printing, postage, etc to do something they sent a person around to do, anyway?). Again, a perfectly legitimate concern. Several weeks went by without so much as an auto response. So, I printed up a snail-mail letter, and sent it to his office, with a cc to Lloyd Doggett. I asked if he was employing people to do constituent service, and I might have intimated that an investigation into whether or not his office actually does any constituent service might be in order. That letter got a response. But just about my Census Bureau complaint - no mention of it taking 6 weeks & a threatening letter to get a response. (I never heard of anyone being ingored by Jake Pickle's office, but I am sure that if I had had to write a second time, six weeks later, with a question about how my tax dollars were being spent, someone would have been in serious trouble, and there would have been an apology for taking so long.)
But I know of only one other person who has ever received a response to contacting his office. And, as I said to a co-worker the other day, my friends are people who write their congress members. All the time. I know at least one person who has her congressman's office on her speed dial.
So how about you? This diary, and the poll, are about Michael McCaul, but comment if you have a different representative, and tell us how your constituent service is. Do you get responses when you contact him/her? If Lloyd Doggett is your rep, feel free to comment & say how fabulous he & his staff are. I will, however, feel obliged to give you a raspberry, for having the congressman that I am entitled to. |
