Depending who you ask, freshman Senator Scott Brown got himself elected on a platform of populist rage against health care reform, a reaction of populist frustration with the health care reform process on Capitol Hill, or a flood of insurance-company money. In those two cases that involve Bay Stater constituents, Sen. Brown styles himself as a faithful representative of his people. In all three cases, he is an elected representative of Massachusetts to the national government. He has constituents. And he styles himself as a leader in Washington.
However, Sen. Brown has made it very difficult for his constituents to contact him. His web site, which despite being up for a month still says “temporary” on the front page, lists no email address for him, and some Boston Globe readers have in the past written letters to the editor on how hard it is to contact his office by other means. Now that health care reform is safely passed his vote – and the Democrats are not likely to bring the issue up again – I suspect that his Senate email address will magically pop into existence in short order.
Sen. Brown has certainly made his priorities in Washington very clear. One of the first things he did was get campaigning for Sen. John McCain’s reelection. And he spent some time with Republican leaders getting cushy committee appointments. And he went to extra effort to look immediately like a leader in Congress. But for his constituents in Massachusetts, no email address. (Message to American voters: “I’m a Washington outsider!” is campaign code for “I want to be a Washington insider!“)
It took me, oh, about a week to code up my own personal web site from scratch. That’s me, one person, working in my off hours. I’m guessing Sen. Brown hired someone to make his Senate web site, so there’s no reason it should still say “temporary.”
I worked for the federal government over the summer, and it took them one day to give me a working email address. (Pretty funny IT training, too: “When you get your email, please don’t go emailing all your friends and relatives because it says your name @nasa.gov.”) Does he really not have an address for voters to write to him yet?
It’s the Internet age, Senator Brown, and you have constituents. Time to give up the campaign truck and get on the ball.
Well, maybe this isn’t exactly the venue, and not to turn an astronomy blog into politics, but….
Not that I saw a lot of the coverage, but I saw some of it, including a few speeches and interviews grace a ABC news.
“I’m pretty!”
“Vote for me!”
“(But I’m not vain about it, that was a long time ago!)”
“Vote for me!”
“I’m still pretty. I have a truck!”
“Vote for me!”
“I’m just like you!”
“Vote for me!”
“I’m a regular guy!”
“Vote for me!”
“I drink coffee!”
“Vote for me!”
“Just like you!”
“Vote for me!”
“I drive a truck!”
“My daughters are pretty!”
“Vote for me!”
“Pssst! They’re single!”
(Nice job pimping out your kids, dude. I mean, they’ve got a facebook status, don’t they? They don’t really need your help.)
Even in the era of vapid ersatz campaigns, this one was a dust mite. What were the issues again? OH, I forgot! You only run around and discuss issues when you’re behind in the polls. When you’re in front you kiss babies, attend church, and make sure everyone knows how humble and regular a guy you are. Don’t mention how many years (or decades) you’ve been in elected office and thus, not exactly working like the rest of the “forty-forties.” Even if I were a rabid conservative I’d be disappointed with this guy. Do I remember poorly? I thought he was a congressman, or was that at the state level? Even still the email / site should be functioning. Or he should be blaming someone in the government’s technical side for the delay…
My read on the whole thing is he was elected more by liberals opposed to health care (or downright afraid of it) than an actual conservative voting block. But I don’t honestly know, it’s an unquestioned hypothesis of mine. I figure 60% of the country votes “against” the ruling party because they don’t want either party to get too far because they think both parties are incapable of doing it right. Just my opinion.
Off topic — does he have a Twitter account? I hear those are really hot in congress right now.
“Just finished my nap.”
“Lunch with lobbyist. Martini = yum. Thank goodness he gave me a notecard on how to vote.”
“Read two pages of four hundred page piece of legislation before voting on it. So tired.”
“Put in an earmark for the ear wax museum in Belfast.”
“Just realized Belfast wasn’t in my district. LOL.”
— Oh, and if this isn’t appropriate, Joseph, please delete. Have a nice day!
Nuts. I forgot to capitalize Congress.