Internet Facilitates a Deluge of Mail to Congress
MAIL
The Norwalk Hour
Jamie Hammon
Boston University Washington News Service
10-5-06
WASHINGTON, Oct. 5–By this time each election year, lawmakers have returned to their districts to engage in the face-to-face interaction with voters that is so crucial to their reelection campaigns.
But when congressmen are not around to shake hands and talk in person, many voters interact with their representatives via mail – through more than 200 million pieces of mail each year, in fact, according to a recent study conducted by the Congressional Management Foundation.
“People communicate by mail, email, or telephone calls and all their messages get recorded,” said Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn. “Sometimes the letters take us weeks, if not months, to respond to because they ask such difficult questions.”
Though most of those surveyed for the study said the convenience of electronic communication had enhanced the democratic process, the explosive growth of the Internet in recent years has presented members of Congress with a new dilemma: how to respond to it all.
Despite the explosion of electronic communications since the 1995 introduction of the Internet to Capitol Hill, the sizes of the staff who deal with the mail have not changed, said Kathy Goldschmidt, deputy director of the Congressional Management Foundation and the co-author of the study. The Congressional Management Foundation is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting a more effective Congress.
“It varies day by day, but on average we receive 250 emails a day,” said Sarah Moore, Shays’ press secretary. “When we are in session, we may get more.”
Moore said Shays’ office has seven staffers who respond to mail, all of whom have additional responsibilities beyond correspondence (Senate offices, on the other hand have dedicated mail responders).
On top of all those emails, Shays’ office receives 40 to 50 phone calls per day, 50 to 70 faxes every day and 50 to 70 pieces of mail a day – a combined 700 communications every week, Moore said. All those contacts are then sorted and given to the appropriate legislative staffer who handles the issue.
“We encourage communications from all constituents, whether individually or through interest groups,” said Moore. She noted that Shays’ office does not block emails routed from lobbying groups’ Web sites, a practice of some other members’ office.
Norwalk resident Anita Schmidt, 64, said she has contacted Shays on multiple occasions during his seven terms, through both electronic and paper mail, and has received a timely response each time.
“I’ve sent letters in regard to things I was interested in – one was to not have any cut to higher education when they were doing the budget,” said Schmidt. She said a response came from Shays’ office within about a month, and that the response she received always made reference to the issue she wrote about.
“We appreciate people who contact us – and we do a lot of listening,” Shays said. “We do a lot of learning from our constituents.”
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