Labor issues are very important to me. That’s why, a few months ago, I contacted both of my U.S. Senators to ask them to support the Employee Free Choice Act when it comes before the Senate.
It took quite some time, but I eventually heard back from U.S. Senator Bob Casey Jr. The only problem is, his reply didn’t address the EFCA. At all.
To start, I feel I should note that my original e-mail to Senator Casey was exactly the same as the "template" e-mail I set up in at the end of an entry about the EFCA a few months ago. I didn’t change anything, except for where I filled in the "blanks" with the appropriate names.
Last month, I received the following reply e-mail from Casey’s office:
Dear Mr. [WayneNight]:
Thank you for taking the time to contact me. I appreciate hearing from all Pennsylvanians about the issues that matter most to them.
On April 13, 2007, I marked my first 100 days in office. During this short time, I have represented Pennsylvania’s interests in Washington, DC and followed through on a number of legislative priorities. I am pleased that in the first 100 days of my Senate term I have been able to make progress on changing the direction in Washington and focusing on Pennsylvania priorities. The Senate has reversed course from last year’s "Do Nothing Congress" by passing important, long-stalled legislation and by meeting two weeks more in the first 100 days than the previous Congress.
I joined the Senate in passing a number of my top priorities: a minimum wage increase, a strong ethics reform bill, the remaining 9/11 Commission recommendations and a balanced budget that returns to fiscal responsibility while also reversing ill-advised budget cuts to programs that benefit Pennsylvanians.
I am also sad to note that since I took office, we have mourned the loss of 17 Pennsylvanians killed in Iraq. As of today, 165 Pennsylvania troops have been killed since the war began. I was proud to be part of a bipartisan majority in the Senate to pass legislation calling for a change in direction in Iraq and a reversal of the Bush Administration’s stay the course strategy. I have cast votes demanding a full Senate debate on our Iraq policy, and I have spoken out on the Senate floor against President Bush’s policy.
Providing quality and affordable health care to every American is my top domestic priority. The Senate passed a Baucus-Rockefeller-Casey-Kennedy amendment making protection and expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) a top federal budget priority. I also participated in activities to build support for reauthorization of SCHIP with the Children’s Health Fund, Families USA and the Campaign for Children’s Health Care.
I have cosponsored legislation to allow Medicare to use its bargaining power to negotiate for lower prices on prescription drugs. Medicare is currently prohibited from negotiating for lower prices due to a provision in the Medicare prescription drug law supported by President Bush and the pharmaceutical industry. The Pennsylvania AARP publicly thanked me for supporting the price negotiation legislation that will reduce drug prices. I am also cosponsoring legislation to allow for the reimportation of lower priced FDA-approved prescription drugs.
I cosponsored a bipartisan amendment which would have increased homeland security funding for Pennsylvania by recalculating how homeland security grant funding is distributed to place more of an emphasis on risk assessment. The risk-based Homeland Security Grants Amendment would have increased funding for Pennsylvania by more than a million dollars this year.
To fight global warming pollution, especially among developing countries, I am cosponsoring legislation to call on the President to address global climate change through international agreements. I am also cosponsoring legislation to study the potential of carbon sequestration to reduce global warming pollutants in the atmosphere.
As much as I enjoy the excitement and challenges in Washington, I am always eager to travel home to Pennsylvania each week and spend time with my constituents. I have visited a number of hospitals and health facilities in Pennsylvania to gather information and draw attention to the importance of reducing the number of uninsured and increasing quality of care. These include the Altoona Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh, the Lehigh Valley Medical Center in Allentown and the Cambria County Head Start Center in Johnstown as well as Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, DC. I also joined Senator Specter and Governor Rendell at a hearing in Philadelphia to examine the pending merger of Highmark and Independence Blue Cross and to assess its effect on health care delivery.
In February, I began a tour of Pennsylvania farms to listen to constituents and gather information as the Senate Agriculture Committee gears up to consider the Farm Bill. So far, I have visited dairy farms in Dauphin and Wayne Counties and met with several groups representing Pennsylvania farmers. To follow up on my concerns about the problems they face from rising fuel and feed costs, I introduced legislation to provide $125 million in emergency relief for Pennsylvania dairy farmers. I also met with U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns and asked for help from the Department for Pennsylvania dairy farmers.
I worked with Senator Specter and Congressman Tim Holden to convince the Bush Administration to reverse its decision to revoke funding for the Schuylkill County coal-to-liquid fuel plant. I also joined Senator Specter in introducing legislation that would establish an affiliate of the national park system in southwest Pennsylvania devoted to the history of the steel industry in the United States. The Steel Heritage National Historic Site would be located at the former U.S. Steel Homestead Works in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Specific sites would include the location of the Battle of the Homestead, the Carrie Furnace Complex, and the Hot Metal Bridge. I also visited Tobyhanna Army Depot to see firsthand the vital work done in Northeast Pennsylvania to keep our armed forces prepared and equipped.
I have opened five offices in Pennsylvania: Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Scranton and central Pennsylvania. Additional offices in Erie and the Lehigh Valley will open in the near future.
If you have access to the Internet, I encourage you to frequently visit my web site, http://casey.senate.gov. In the months ahead, I will continue to develop the site in order to allow you to stay up-to-date on my work in Washington. If you wish to e-mail me, you can do so on the web site.
Again, thank you for taking the time to share your concerns with me and giving me the opportunity to share my priorities with you. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future about any matter of importance to you.
Sincerely,
Bob Casey
United States Senator
Now, granted, all of those things are nice, and I’m glad to have an update on the good work that Senator Casey has been doing since taking office. Nevertheless, the fact remains – my original e-mail was about the Employee Free Choice Act. And, nowhere at all did the Senator’s reply address that matter.
Not mentioning the EFCA in a reply to a letter about the EFCA might very well be acceptable if Senator Casey disagreed with me on the matter. However, what makes this all the more peculiar is the fact that Casey not only agrees with me on the issue, he’s also a Senate co-sponsor of the EFCA. I found this out not from his office, but from an AFL-CIO e-mail I received a few weeks after contacting Casey. Also, the AFL-CIO lists him as a cosponsor on a website they have devoted to the issue.
I suppose, in the greater scheme of things, this might be a very minor oversight. However, it bothers me for two reasons.
The first reason is that if you’re an elected official, it’s not enough to simply do good things. You have to be seen doing them, as well.
My original e-mail made it clear that I am very much in favor of the Employee Free Choice Act. Although I found out, from different sources, that Senator Casey is a co-sponsor of the act, I can only imagine that there are quite a few people who agree with Casey on the issue, but might not realize where he stands. When they contact his office, sending them a response that unequivocally states his support for unions on this matter would be a great way for the Senator to cement his support with a key constituency. On the other hand, sending out replies that do not mention the issue at all seems like a way to make people mistakenly think that, perhaps, Senator Casey is contemplating a break with unions on the EFCA.
The second reason is that, frankly, it seems more than a little rude to receive a "reply" that doesn’t even address the issue I contacted Senator Casey’s office about.
I realize how busy the Senator’s staff must be, and I realize how chaotic the first year can be for new Senators. Nevertheless, receiving a reply that doesn’t mention the issue I contacted them about has a way of making me feel that my views aren't valued by the Senator’s office. If an issue is important enough to me for me to contact my Senator about it, it would be nice if someone could at least take the time to use a form letter that addresses that issue.
This is not just a whiney, "my feelings are hurt" gripe. This is a valid concern about Senator Casey’s abilities at constituent outreach. Pennsylvania is a "purple" state, and one in which the Democrats have historically had difficulty winning U.S. Senate contests. Senator Casey will stand for re-election in 2012, and, given this state’s history, there’s no guarantee that he’ll have an easy race.
Many other members of the Democratic "class of 2006" are in similar situations. Each Senate Democratic freshman – Casey included – would be well advised to spend the next six years working like hell to establish a record as someone with excellent constituent services and outreach. When their names are on the ballot six years from now, they need to have as many constituents as possible who go to the voting booth feeling that their Senator cares about their issues and their concerns.
I like Senator Casey. Despite my disagreements with him on some social issues such as abortion, I value greatly his willingness to stand up for working families. I think that he’s going to have a fine record as a United States Senator. Indeed, although I don’t agree with every vote that he’s cast, I feel that he already has a fairly decent record.
However, the fact that he missed an opportunity to take credit for something that he agrees with a constituent on is a bit unnerving. I hope that this represents an early term slip up, and not the direction that Senator Casey’s constituent outreach will take for the majority of his time in office.