Comments on: Why Can’t Our Congressmen Read?

By: Dave J

Dave J — Fri, 04 Mar 2005 22:11:00 +0000

Valid points, Nicole, and as I spent the past three years working for state representatives (granted, in a populous state like Florida), I do sometimes forget the orders of magnitude more correspondence of every sort that everyone on the Hill gets: it's impossible to really pay any sort of attention to most of it.

As for the mail situation changing dramatically, I was in DC on 9/11 and through the anthrax scare, so yeah, that hardly surprises me.

By: Nicole Griffin

Nicole Griffin — Fri, 04 Mar 2005 21:58:53 +0000

Well, technically McCain isn't my senator anymore. He was only my senator (sort of) for 4 years when I was in college at Arizona State. Now that I'm registered to vote and paying taxes in Virginia, I don't think I can really claim to be his constituent.

But as for the mail issue, I stand by my original statement. Unfortunately I can't go into detail on why I say that, because it relates to some things I'm doing at work about which I'm bound by confidentiality (that is seriously the first time in my life that I've ever had to say that – I know it sounds really pretentious, but it actually is the case). To Dave, I'll just say: a) not all offices do that and b) the mail situation on Capitol Hill has changed dramatically over the past few years. To all else I say, send mail to the bill sponsors if you want, but I would definitely not do it to the exclusion of writing your own Senators & Reps. Whether they are actively involved in the bill or not, they still get to vote on it in the end, and the less involved they are in the bill, the more likely they are to be swayed by what their constituents think.

By: Dave J

Dave J — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 23:41:34 +0000

Very fortunate then, isn't it, that McCain actually IS one of your Senators, Nicole? While by and large true, the problem with that line of advice is that most legislators are not actively involved one way or the other on most pieces of legislation. Going to the bill's actual sponsors as well is the best you can do if your own didn't play much of a part with it.

Actually pay attention to each thing? No. Constituents (and professional organized lobbies) get responses. But I spent whole days as a Senate intern just counting pieces of mail on particular issues. Making it add up does make an impression.

By: Nicole Griffin

Nicole Griffin — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 22:26:00 +0000

Another word on lobbying – if they're not your Congressman, they seriously just throw it out. Lobby your own Congressmen & Senators, and you're more likely to get listened to.

By: Dave J

Dave J — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 18:09:27 +0000

I can forgive individual legislators like the two sponsors their obvious delusional obsessions. What I can't forgive is their colleagues going along with it, the President signing it, or (worst of all) the Supreme Court saying it's all OK. As far as it means anything with respect to its core purpose of protecting political speech, the First Amendment died with the publication of the campaign-finance "reform" decision last year.

Oh, and a word on lobbying: never lobbby one legislative chamber without the other. Congresmen Shays and Meehan, the sponsors of McCain-Feingold's House companion bill, can undoubtedly be found easily enough through http://www.house.gov.

By: The Sundries Shack

The Sundries Shack — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

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