Did you vote for our new Senator Dave McCormick back in November? If you did, we congratulate you on the success of your candidate. Have you had better luck than we have in reaching him or his staff? Have you been able to identify the legislative staff to contact on issues of concern to you?
Admittedly, these are challenging times with the chaos Donald Trump has inflicted on government, but we expected greater competence in setting up constituent services based on McCormick's experience in the military and business. Perhaps, like Donald Trump in 2016, he really didn't expect to win -- hence had no plan for setting up staff, offices and legislative priorities.
We, in Chester County, have the example of another serving veteran and former business executive -- Representative Chrissy Houlahan. Her offices and public events have been run with military precision and a commitment to constituent services right from the start in January 2019.
So we ask again, "Where's Dave?" By January 7 press release he announced that he was "thrilled" to open all 7 district offices within two weeks of taking office on January 3. But, well in February folks visiting the Philadelphia office were told to leave their letters in the building lobby to be forwarded to Pittsburgh (where the office also was not staffed).
Constituents wanting to visit the Penn State Office during the "Nationwide Day of Protest" on February 19 found the location virtually inaccessible and were threatened with prosecution for trespassing.
In a large state like Pennsylvania, we don't expect many opportunities to see our Senator -- he did make it to the Farm Show in January. But, we do expect to be able to reach members of his staff and know that our concerns are being heard. Are we the only folks still waiting for responses to letters, whose calls were dropped immediately after the recorded message? When will the Senator publish a list of staff who we can contact to get answers to questions about bills coming up for votes in Congress?
This isn't what WE voted for. Is this what you expected from your vote?