So, after reading about Bush’s blatant disregard for the checks and balances written into the Constitution, I decided to take a couple of minutes to give my Congress-critter and Representatives a call; just a quick, friendly "Hello."
I called my Congress-critter first, (Feeney (R–FL))
Intern: Hello? Please hold.
...
Intern: Hello? I’ll be right with you, please hold.
...
Intern: Hello? I’m sorry about that, how can I help you?
Me: Hi. That’s no problem. I’m calling to see what Rep. Feeney thinks of Bush citing executive power to refuse to provide Rep. Conyers with subpoenaed documents?
Intern: I’m sorry I haven’t heard about that yet.
Me: Yah, it just happened this morning. Bush refused to provide documents that were subpoenaed yesterday. I mean... can he do that?
Intern: I’m sorry, I’m new here. I’m not really sure. I do know that Feeney is big on personal responsibility.
Me: Well, personal responsibility is great, but if that person isn’t being responsible, doesn’t somebody have to do something? Doesn’t someone need to provide oversight?
Intern: Ummm.. I guess so.
Me: Well could you please let Rep. Feeney know that this is really a concern of mine?
Intern: Yes. I’ll do that. If you’d like to leave your info, I’ll try to get you a better response. (we’ll see about that)
Now I don’t know that she was an intern, just a probability. And to her credit, I thought she handled it well. Personally I feel bad, that’s got to be a stressful and mostly thankless job.
Next I called my Senator (Martinez (R-FL)) it took a couple of calls to get through, but I did eventually.
Intern: Please hold.
...
Intern: Ok, how can I help you?
Me: Hello, I’m calling to find out what Senator Martinez thinks about Bush using executive privilege to refuse to provide subpoenaed documents?
Intern: Bush? Do you mean Vice-President Cheney? I know he released a statement a couple of days ago.
Me: No, I know what you’re talking about. This just came across the AP this morning; that Bush was refusing to provide documents subpoenaed yesterday by Senator Leahy.
Intern: I’m sorry I haven’t heard about that yet... I don’t think Senator Martinez has a position on that yet.
Me: Ok, well could you make sure he knows that it’s a serious concern of mine? I mean this is just ridiculous. Doesn’t the constitution provide checks and balances?
Intern: Yes. I’ll let the Senator know.
Me: Ok, thank you, have a great day.
My other Senator is Bill Nelson (D-FL), I ran out of time on my lunch break, but I’ll be giving his office a call after work.
I don’t actually expect an (alleged) intern, who’s answering a dozen phone lines to be able to keep up with this stuff. But I figured a couple of calls would put some pressure on. Please help turn up the heat by calling your reps and voicing your concerns. You can easily find your reps here. And remember the person on the other end of the phone has a hard enough job, be polite.