I live in Texas and my Congressman is a Republican. In an effort to find out who he and his staff are listening to on a regular basis, I requested his and his aides calendars. After exchanging a number of emails, I was directed to his website which only shows his forthcoming schedule. Obviously there were no names indicated and his prior meeting weren't even included.
As a result, I sent another email to his office.
Thank you for your response. However, as you are fully aware, the Congressman's calendar gives no specificity as to his appointments. As a constituent I am compelled to request information as to who the Congressman is meeting along with the schedules of his aides. Please advise if his office is willing to impart transparency to his electorate.
I await your response.
This time I did receive a timely reply as follows.
Due to legitimate privacy concerns regarding our constituents, our office chooses not to make those schedules available online. If you have any specific questions regarding the Congressman’s schedule or the schedules of his staff, we’ll do our best to answer them. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us again.
Perhaps someone knows if elected officials and their aides are subject to the Freedom of Info Act in this matter. If we are able to show the degree of involvement by lobbyists and the major contributors in our Senators and Congressmen, they might be less inclined towards arrogance to the common good. That is the transparency that we all should demand from all our elected officials, Republican and Democrat.
Has anyone had any success in this area?