It’s All About Trying to Say ‘Yes’

There is an old adage about being able to please all of the people all the time. In government, such a lofty goal is simply unrealistic, especially from a policy point of view.

Just about any law or regulation you can imagine designed to have a positive impact on one person or group of people will invariably have a negative impact on someone else.

But the large-scale policymaking is just one part of the two-way street of communication that exists between you as my constituent and me as your elected state representative. The more common and often far more important communication is dealing with individual constituent service issues, the kind of things people bring into my office or call and email me about.

When I took office in 2006, I made a conscious decision not to take the standard approach to constituent services. Nothing frustrates me more than calling someone and getting shuffled around to someone else in a clear attempt to pass the buck. The lack of accountability drives me absolutely bonkers, which is why I have adopted a policy of trying to find a way to say ‘yes’ when so many others try to say ‘no’.

I understand that people often look at all elected officials and bundle us up as “the government;" they don’t differentiate between federal, state and local issues, which are all handled by different people.

The easy way out is to just say “we don’t deal with that” and send the person on their way, but my staff and I honestly do our very best to make sure that even if the issue is technically not our responsibility, we do everything within our power to make sure it is still handled properly.

Sure, we have had our fair share of abusers, like the guy who started treating my office like a Kinko’s, coming in every time he needed something faxed or copied, or the lady who dropped a child off in our office while she ran some errands next door.

But by and large, the overwhelming majority of people who come to me for help appreciate what we are trying to do, even in situations where they wish the final answer were different.

The people who really put a drag on our ability to get things done are the ones who think I can do anything just by waving a magic wand, and then become belligerent when their most unreasonable requests cannot be granted. Or the person who calls my office with the same problem every day for a month, hoping to get a different answer because they didn’t like what we told them the first time, and ultimately walks away complaining to anyone who will listen that I wouldn’t help them, even though they largely refuse to help themselves.

One of the most frustrating situations is where we try to serve as a liaison with a third-party, such a private company, a public utility or a local municipality, and they don’t get back to us in a timely fashion. I hate to throw other people under the proverbial bus, because the system works best when everyone communicates in a positive way, which often leaves my staff and I holding the bag while we’re trying to get everyone on the same page.

I am extremely proud of the constituent services I provide in my district offices, and I would rate our genuine desire to help people and get things done as second to none. You may not always like the answer you get, but you can at least know that you are being told the truth.