Maybe it’s just as well. But do you remember a time when a human being would answer when you made a constituent phone call to your elected officials?
Today, during regular business hours, I phoned all five phone numbers on the “Contact” page of Sen. Dick Durbin’s website (www.durbin.senate.gov/public) and all three phone numbers on the “Contact” page of Sen. Mark Kirk’s website (www.kirk.senate.gov/?p=contact).
In each case, a recording with often poor sound quality gave some variation on the theme that the elected official and his staff are too busy to talk with constituents. A human being never answered.
Sen. Durbin seems to take a two-step, “ignorance is bliss” approach to responding to constituents’ concerns. First, a printout of phone numbers from his “Contact Our Offices” page is all but illegible. Second, the terse recording that answers on his Washington D.C. number, 202-224-2152, doesn’t include voice mail. This clever strategy ensures the senator can always lament: “No one ever calls or leaves me a message.”
Sen. Kirk seems to take a one-step, “ostrich” approach to responding to constituents’ concerns. Four out of five times that I phoned his Washington D.C. number, 202-224-2854, the recorded message stated: “Watson messaging. Please press pound to access your mailbox.” Does the senator think that if he hides his head in the sand, constituents won’t notice he’s pretending it’s not his phone number?
Why not try their numbers yourself? With April 15 just around the corner, won’t your heart swell with pride when you cut your check to the IRS, knowing your tax dollars pay for the eight unresponsive offices of senators Durbin and Kirk?
Barb Langer
River Forest
