What kind of relationship do you have with your Congress

I have been blessed , or cursed, to have lived in many different states. Michigan, Florida, California, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York and Maryland. I can attest to having pestered congress people in all of those states. I regularly spoke with staffers in Joe Lieberman’s office who would assure me that Senator Lieberman was firmly on the side of…pick a bill, while I would watch him vote exactly the opposite while watching the vote on TV. Senator Dodd’s office was always accommodating and assured me my views would be accurately passed along. I was in upstate NY when Hillary became a senator for New York. It had been ard be represented by Alphonse DeMato. She supposedly refused to come speak in the area because of ck flies. Untrue of course. In all of the years there I never even saw a black fly. She started getting a good press in a highly republican area because of her hard work and the benefits the area began to see for the first time in years. We were 20 miles from Canada and sometimes felt more
Canadian than American. She continued to impress people in the area and her office was not only responsive but even regularly sent e mails with her position on certain topics. During the last few years I have regularly filled out web forms to a number of Senators regarding the war in Iraq. “while you were pontificating 12 US troops died”.

I am in Maryland now. I truly have great representation. Elijah Cummings always responds to web form contact, pretty generic letters but he does at least give his reasons for voting the way he does. His staff is appropriate. Ben Cardin is new and so far seems to be mirroring the voting of Barbara Mikulski and that is a good thing.

Let me tell you about the office staff of Barbara Mikulski. They go beyond anything I have ever dealt with before. Generally the phones are answered by an older sounding woman who not only listens but actually comments and even was comforting one day when I was close to tears with something like the Patriot Act. My web comments are always addressed have a personal relationship with that office.

It helps that Senator Mikulski always votes the way I would…..Oh and BTW she voted no on the war. One of 23 Senators who had the guts to say NO!

How is your relationship with the people who represent you?

“Love many, trust few, harm no one”