To Tallahassee and Back: Constituent Service is Number One Priority

First of all please allow me to welcome Mara Stierman as the new district executive secretary for Representative Mike Fasano’s office in New Port Richey.  I devoted my last blog to the retirement of long-time staffer Christine Hunter, who is now enjoying the good life far from the maddening crowd.  In her place is the extremely competent and highly likeable Mara.  The high level of constituent service you have come to expect from this office will continue with Mara on board.  We are pleased to have her as part of the team!

Discussing this recent personnel change got me thinking.  This is a profession, I suppose like most any other, in which you either love what you do or you hate it and want to get out as quickly as you can.  Representative Fasano seems to attract people who are the former.  I was his first hire, the day after he got elected in 1994, and have been with him ever since.  Christine joined us a few weeks later and this original team remained intact until her retirement this month.  During the intervening years we also had other long-term employees join the team.  Chip Case, Shawn Foster, Gino Casanova, Michael Vente, Jessica Porter and Linda Owens spent the most amount of time with us.  Dozens of volunteers and interns have come and gone over the past two decades as well.  Because there have been numerous people over the years I won’t attempt to list everyone for fear of inadvertently omitting someone.  Each have been appreciated and have contributed in many ways to making the lives of Floridians better.

Even though legislative staff is not the elected official it is our responsibility to make sure that all we do is representative of him.   Representative Fasano has always made serving his constituents this office’s top priority.  Legislation is good and is a vital part of what we do, but meeting the day-to-day needs of Floridians always comes first.  Representative Fasano does not want anyone to feel they don’t have a voice within their state government.   He has a well-earned reputation for being a proactive, service-oriented legislator.  A desire to help people is a must in this business and those who have such a heart are the ones who stay.

With the 2013 legislative session over, and most of the bills now signed by the governor, the time before us, the “interim” to use a Tallahassee term, has arrived.  Legislative committees will begin working on “interim” projects which may result in new bills next year.  Individual lawmakers are planning their priorities for 2014.  In our office, all those things are taking place and more.  Serving people is taking place today, tomorrow and all “interim” long.  Now that Mara Stierman is with us, the team has its full complement of players and is ready for your call!

If you have any questions about the legislative process, priorities of Representative Mike Fasano, constituent issues, or any other state-related matters, please don’t hesitate to leave me a comment.  I will post a reply in response or in an upcoming blog post.  If you have any ideas for future blog posts please let me know.  I, like the rest of the team, am here to serve!