Your Representative Is Only a Modem Away

[babylonsister]

Your Representative Is Only a Modem Away
By David Nather | 9:33 AM; Sep. 17, 2007 | Email This Article

The town hall meeting in the Philadelphia suburbs was advertised as an opportunity to talk with Rep. Joe Sestak about the Iraq War. But when the freshman Democrat and former Navy vice admiral stood up in the lecture hall on the Swarthmore College campus Aug. 16, the first half hour of questioners demanded to know why Congress would not impeach President Bush. And Vice President Dick Cheney, for that matter.

Sestak didn’t try to please the crowd. Impeachment would fail, he told the audience of roughly 200 people, and “we will have spent a year and a half on nothing.” They didn’t buy his reasoning. “Republicans would not have given that answer. . . . They stand up for what they believe,” one woman said.

From that, one might conclude that Sestak was facing a groundswell of public demand for Bush’s impeachment. But he wasn’t, and he knew it. A local group, Delaware County Wage Peace and Justice, had warned him in advance that it planned to raise the subject. Sestak already had talked about the Iraq War at a previous town hall meeting, and the group told him its members wanted to talk about impeachment this time.

The meeting was a classic example of how hard it is for members of Congress — or any politicians, for that matter — to accurately gauge public opinion. National polls may not reflect the feelings of a particular state or district. Traditional town hall meetings such as Sestak’s, dozens of which were held in congressional districts across the country once again this August recess, are sometimes stacked by activist groups on a favorite issue or attended by the same 20 people each time. Phone calls, letters and e-mails can be generated in bulk by special interests.

So what can lawmakers do when many of the usual methods of measuring public opinion are broken? One answer that is quickly gaining popularity among members of Congress from both parties is to use Internet technology to call thousands of constituents and have a massive conference call with people they might never hear from otherwise.

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http://www.cqpolitics.com/2007/09/your_representative_is_only_a.html

[Bitwit1234]

1. But they don't listen to your emails

In fact I was so enthused with Amy Kolbacher won in Minnesota, but she has yet to answer an email. Even tho he does not agree Norm Coleman at least answers a negative email. And Representative Oberstar always, always answers.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. Not answering doesn't mean they're not listening...

just that they are kind of lame about dealing with constituents. She is new at this, and maybe hasn't gotten the autoreplies down like the others have. Most shut off their old email accounts when they started getting a few hundred milion emails a year, ancluding a lot of spam. Now you have to go through the website for most of them, as you've probably found out.

Anyway, every Congressional office deals with communications mainly by having some staffer sit there and pile the missives up into "Yea" and "Nay" piles, depending on the issue. Sonme even try to automate this. Once in a while, almost at random it seems, they pick a few out for "personal" answers. Otherwise, it's the autoreply by email or snailmail. Requestsfor help are handled separately and should get decent responses.

Hey, how many replies do you think I get from Schumer or Hillary?