Lawmakers are failing in duty to respond to the American people
Too many House and Senate members have an official policy not to respond to correspondence from those who are not “constituents.” This is an outrage. Recently, I was watching a Senate Intelligence Committee public hearing on the subject of Russian interference in elections and I was taken by the questions by Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) that exposed our vulnerabilities with regard to cyberattacks.
In 2016, I wrote a article for The Hill titled “Cyber warfare more dire and likely than nuclear” in which I detail the threats from cyber attacks from foreign states and entities and the lack of U.S. protocols of command and control to deal with it. So after the hearing, I attempted to communicate directly with King’s office through email to let him and his staff now about my article and concerns. I was absolutely flabbergasted by the response from his office that he only responds to people from Maine.
{mosads}Here is the email response I received from his office: “Thank you for contacting me, I really appreciate the opportunity to hear what’s on your mind. I would like to share with you that it is a longstanding courtesy between members of Congress that each elected official be allowed to exclusively address his or her own constituents’ questions, concerns and requests.”
It continued, “When you sent me your message, you indicated an address outside of Maine. If you are not a resident of Maine, I encourage you contact your own United States Senators. They are in a much better position to assist you. As I do for Maine, your own Senators better know the resources, issues and data that are pertinent to your message and home state. Given the volume of correspondence that I receive, I am only able to respond to Mainers.”
While technically of course the citizens of Maine elect their own U.S. senators, in fact they represent all Americans and have influence and consequence to citizens in every corner of America. To have a blanket policy to only respond to people who can vote for them is an outrage and an affront to all Americans including those from Maine.
I find it quite hypocritical that senators like King will travel to other states to pick up campaign cash from non-constituents but will not lift a finger for those seeking contact with them that does not involve a donation. In his office, a computer program, not a person determines what “mail” will be seen and responded to regardless of content. That is unacceptable and a dereliction of the duty owed to citizens.
The practice of insulation from the public is systemic and technology has become the perfect dodge. The sole purpose of Congress is to serve the people, and yet their main emphasis has been to avoid us, using the very technology they claim makes them more efficient to thwart any attempts to contact them in real time.
The dodging of citizens is not by accident. It is by design by members of Congress and their staff. Their complicity in insulating their employees from the people they are sworn to serve has created a culture of contempt and unaccountability.
Every American should demand their government change the way they do business and use technology to make government more accessible rather than less. The culture must also change within government to ensure employees that serve the public make themselves apparent, reachable and accountable to the citizenry.
There is no doubt in my mind that a government more responsive to the people is one that is more efficient, transparent and effective. I have news for King: If you want to represent just the people of Maine perhaps you’re more suited to be a state senator than a U.S. senator. By the way, the best ideas sometimes cannot be found in Maine.
Bradley A. Blakeman is a political consultant who served as a member of President George W. Bush’s senior White House staff from 2001 to 2004. He is a frequent contributor to Fox News and Fox Business.