As an Indiana native who wants a 'Blue Indiana', I worked in a small way to support Baron Hill's campaign (IN-09). I call his DC office frequently about legislation. His office people are down-home friendly -- but is that enough? Are they responsive? Are they effective? And do they know about dKos?
One of Hill's four district offices is in my town, and it was through that office that I did my volunteer work last year. Last week, former IN Dem candidate Barry Walsh has begun a weekly diary as a venue for IN and other midwest red state Kossites, and I wanted to post someting tonight about Baron Hill. So I called the local office. Here's what happened --
[Update: Last night, the poll response was almost evenly split between those who thought I had done OK, and those who thought I was too hasty. (I see now that the ‘too hasty’ figure is even higher.) Perhaps I was too hasty; but the important thing, I believe, is the excellent response I received from Baron Hill’s staff. Since the update won’t make sense unless you have read the diary, you’ll find the rest of the update below the original text.]
The local field rep (Trent) was polite and down-home friendly when I told him I wanted two or three of Baron Hill's recent statements to append as comments to Barry Walsh's diary scheduled for tonight. Trent had not heard of dKos -- I had to spell it for him. Trent told me he'd have to pass my request to 'our press secretary'.
When I checked my email this evening, my junk mail contained an email from a Katie M..., with a blank subject line. As I read my e-newsletters, my eye kept going back to that message. Was it from Hill's office? Was is spam? Finally, I opened it, and found --
Hi [my name]-
Trent from our Bloomington office passed along your name to me. I am happy to put you on my list for releases we send to Baron. Will that work for you?
-Katie
Press Secretary
Office of Rep. Baron P. Hill (IN-09)
223 Cannon
202.225.5315
[N.B.: Katie included her last name, and cel phone, which I am omitting.]
'Well, no, Katie,' I thought. 'That won't work for me. I told Trent that I needed something by 5:30 so I could give Baron Hill a free shout-out on dKos. Now I have nothing to post.' I thought about letting it pass, calling tomorrow and explaining again, calling the DC office to try to get through to Katie . . . I could see two or three weeks going by . . .. So I wrote this:
Hi, Katie. Since your email had no title, I amost missed it -- thought it was spam.
Someone in the DC office was supposed to put me on the email list. This has not happened yet.
This is what I explained to Trent today:
I am a daily visitor to www.dailykos.com(dKos) , a site dedicated to electing Democrats, which has a huge readership and had a great impact on the last election. Recent IN Dem candidate Barry Welsh has begun a regular Wednesday diary with the goal of giving red-state midwestern readers a venue to discuss how best to support their Dem electees/candidates, and how to turn Indiana 'bluer'.
As I explained to Trent, I want to use the power of dKos to bring IN Dems/Progressives together, to give IN more of a dKos presence, and to discuss IN-09 Dem activism. I asked Trent to send me 2 or 3 of Baron Hill's recent statements (or other records of recent activity) by 5:30 today so I could post them as comments on Barry's diary tonight.
So, when you ask, 'Will that work for me?" -- well, that depends on how you define 'work'. It means I have nothing to post tonight. And it means I will have content about Baron Hill only when releases come out -- I do not know their frequency.
Perhaps you should contact some of the communications people in Speaker Pelosi's office, and ask their advice about the worth of having positive information about Baron Hill posted regularly on dailykos. Perhaps this offer of free publicity is of no value to you.
I worked for Baron Hill (within my capacities) during the last election, so I feel a certain sense of involvement with his current position as a member of the Democratic House of Representatives. I certainly intend to keep a Democrat representing IN-09, and to work toward making more of Indiana's Congresspeople Democrats.
Since you were unable to provide me with any content for tonight's diary, I will post this correspondence (as well as cc-ing it to Rep Hill). Next week, I will post the next steps taken by your office.
Thanks! [my name]
What took me from annoyance to action?
When I call my Congresspeoples' offices, I never feel any sense of closure. I am never sure if my message is actually conveyed -- even as one of a bunch of tick-marks on a tally page -- to the Congressman (all mine are male). I always feel as though I am being 'handled' by flak-catchers.
Trent was given a simple task: Find something positive I can post about your boss tonight, and get it to me by 5:30. I can understand that he would have had to refer my request to the press secretary. But did he convey the request clearly? It doesn't seem so to me.
Then I realized that Trent is (or perceives himself to be) a gatekeeper -- that it is his job to 'make nice' to callers, to 'handle' them well -- but also that it is his job to decide what message-content is delivered and what is deflected.
Oh. Deflected by a gate-keeper. That's what that was. Hmm.
Neither I nor my ancestors were equipped by Nature for submitting to deflection. So I wrote. And I sent a copy to Trent and Katie's boss (or at least, sent it in the boss' direction). And in doing so, I believe I acted as a Kossite -- finding a gate, I crashed it.
If you are from IN-09, and want to communicate to Katie about the value of dKos to a Democrat, you can reach her at the office number listed in her email above. Or you can call the Capitol Switchboard toll-free at 877-851-6437 or 800-614-2803.
As I promised Katie, I will update this post next Wednesday. Will I have a response by then? Maybe yes, maybe no -- but either way, it will be 'news', in that it will demonstrate the responsiveness of Hill's staff.
So stay tuned! And let me know what you think of my small action.
[P.S.: If Trent and Katie had been acting as ordinary citizens, I would never have posted their names, or Katie's office phone. However, since they were acting in their official capacity (and are being paid by taxpayer's dollars), I do not believe that I am out of line (violating their privacy) in publishing their first names. If I am wrong in this, please let me kow and I will obscure their identities.]
[Update, the next day:]
Within a few hours of my email to her, Katie had sent an absolutely exemplary response. I’m including Katie’s full email as an example of a gold-star response to a constituient complaint --
Trent did not give me any details of your conversation, so I clearly missed a lot of what you requested.
I in no way meant to slight you and regret you feel as if I did. I am more than happy to work out an arrangement where we submit regular postings by Baron. Please give me a call at your convenience and we can discuss.
I was also never told that you asked to be on the press email list. This week has been very hectic with the Iraq resolution so I apologize if my email seemed short--that was not my intention.
[Followed by her phone numbers and an invitation to call. Katie's paragraph breaks got lost in the copying process; I've put them in to the best of my memory.]
I responded quickly, thanking Katie for her response and giving her a description of the kind of information I would like to have. The next day around 3pm I called Katie to tell her again how much I appreciated her response, and to make sure we could work past any bruises. By that time Katie had already sent me a plethora of documents in response to my email request. (Note that once Katie had a clear request, she responded in less than 24 hours.)
Ryan, Baron Hill’s Chief of Staff, joined in the conversation. We had a very open and frank discussion. Hurt feelings were acknowledged all around, then we quickly progressed to discussing how we could work as a team to make Indiana issues and Baron Hill more visible on dKos. Ryan told me that when Katie had received my first (incomplete) request, Katie had discussed it with him, and Ryan had begun to brainstorm about how they could hook me up not just with press releases, but with the legislative aides who were working on various issues. So Ryan was already looking for ways to give me more access than I had asked for.
We also discussed the difference between my working on an issue slowly, at my own pace, (which would allow for time to elapse between my requests and their response), and the need for speed when a hot issue arises and an immediate response is necessary to meet the Internet’s light-speed news cycle. When a hot issue needs immediate response, "Just call," Ryan said.
So -- was I too hasty? Probably. It’s possible -- perhaps even likely -- that we would have arrived at the same point if I had waited and called. But Ryan and Katie are (that impossible blend!) grownups, working in Washington. They are energetic, eager, and genuinely concerned with making interactive government work. We’ll all get over the bruises, and this ‘speed-bump’ of a rocky entry will be a thing of the past.
[Second update: Feb 16, two days after posting]
[I find it interesting that my poll keeps growing, long after this diary has scrolled to oblivion. After posting this at 9:30 Wed night, I kept track of it until it scrolled offscreen. At that point, the poll's first two questions (did OK, too hasty) were 6 & 6. The next day, when I called Katie, she was reading the diary when I called. That evening, the 'too hasty' item had three more votes (there were three Hill people involved in my diary episode). Last night, I added the first update and emailed the link to Katie. Tonight, the 'too hasty' option has 12 votes -- 6 more than it had when it disappeared from the screen on Wednesday night.
[Now, IN diaries don't get much readership. Yesterday and today, people would have to Search or use the Permalink to find this diary. So I have to wonder: are Hill's people freeping this poll? And if they are -- how silly!]