Everybody Makes Mistakes, Oh Yes They Do

Having pitched out a little snark on this blog a few days ago about a lackadaisical response from my Congressman's e-mail constituent services folks, I really hadn't anticipated receiving any significant reply. Honestly, I'd been slightly surprised, if only because Rep. Gerry Connolly had been active in local politics for decades here in Fairfax, and had a reputation as being pretty on the ball on that front. I didn't blame him personally for it. As a DC townie, I understand that Congressmen typically get a massive volume of constituent requests. While my desire not to be forcibly detained again when I cross the US border is strong, I realize I ain't the only fish in the sea.

In reviewing my daily Google Analytics reports yesterday, I noticed that there were a few more visitors than usual on that particular post. Hmmm, thought I. Any Congressman worth his salt has folks whose task is to google them daily for any pertinent web-chatter. Perhaps someone out there is paying attention.

That turns out to have been the case.

Yesterday afternoon, I received a deeply apologetic and very personalized message from his staff. That came along with some useful information about how to deal with the issue and an offer to provide the assistance of his office in resolving my little problem with the Department of Homeland Security. It'll be interesting to see how it works out, but I have to admit that I'm feeling a whole bunch more impressed with Connolly's folks now than I was a few days ago.

I still think that picture makes him look a bit like Totoro, though.

Gerry Connolly, Master of Constituent Services

Last year, when I crossed over into the United States from Canada, I had the dubious pleasure of being flagged by a Homeland Security database at the border as a dangerous felon. The time in between my being taken into custody and them figuring out I wasn't the person they thought I was wasn't particularly fun. Next month, my family has a trip planned that will once again take us across US borders, and I'd thought it might make some sense to try to resolve the issue before I spend some more time in a holding cell.

I'd tried writing my representative in Congress last year when it happened, but I never heard back. Not a surprise, as he was leaving office. Knowing this travel was coming up, I tried again with his successor, Rep. Gerry Connolly, two months ago. Today, I finally got a response.

That response is cut and pasted below:

Dear Rev. Williams,

Thank you for contacting me about _________. I appreciate your interest in this issue and your views are important to me.

As a Member of Congress, it is essential that I know my constituents' thoughts and concerns so I can best represent their interests in Congress. I will continue to watch this issue closely going forward to determine if any Congressional action is necessary.

Once again, thank you for expressing your concern on this very important issue. I enjoyed hearing from you. For more information on my views on other issues, please feel free to visit my website at http://connolly.house.gov. I also encourage you to visit the website to sign up for my e-newsletter.

Sincerely,

Gerald Connolly
Member of Congress

I guess it must have been too difficult for this particular boilerplate form to handle my lil problem. "Thank you for contacting me about your false arrest on the United States border. I appreciate your interest in this issue and your views are important to me," does sound a bit on the lame side, but at least it would have shown some marginal effort.

I hadn't really expected a substantive response, but you'd at least think his interns would have been told that they're supposed to fill in the blank in the first sentence.

Ah well. Democracy in action, eh?

[update]

As it so happens, folks on his staff are more on the ball than I thought. More here.