(Cross posted from BoydaBloc)
We've said it over and over and over again, and we're happy to say it again today: Congresswoman Nancy Boyda will be re-elected on the backs of her fantastic constituent services staff.
Congress on Your Corner, a program that has taken Boyda and her staff into every single county in the district at least once (there have actually been 31 of them- there are 26 counties in the district), is only a small part of the excellent work she and her staff have done.
Recently an article was placed on her official web site detailing all of the casework handled by her offices in Topeka, Pittsburg and Washington, DC. That article shows that in one year Boyda and her staff helped more than 2,000 with all sorts of problems relating to the federal government.
In brief:
• Boyda and her staff helped more than 350 people with military/ veterans issues, ranging from correcting veteran's benefit problems or obtaining medals never awarded.
• They assisted more than 170 groups and individuals going through the federal grant process.
• Cases directly related to the disasters early in the year, and helping people deal with FEMA, took up a significant amount of time, and the article mentions for many that process is ongoing for many victims.
The story that article tells about the Social Security disability backlog is particularly poignant- 3 years for an appeal to work it's way through after someone has been rejected the first time and no improvement in sight:
Of course, disability applicants are generally unable to work, so this kind of wait puts them in a terrible place. Our office has worked diligently to find a solution to this problem, and throughout the last half of 2007, we worked with the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review to shepherd cases through the bureaucratic mess. Since then, many of our constituents have been able to obtain the benefits they need. The Social Security Administration is also working with us to help reduce the backlog so that others won't have to face going years unable to work without the benefits they have earned.
We're sure many of you remember the passport crisis that hit international travelers in the beginning of 2007, and in what might be the most stunning number related in the whole article, Boyda's district staff helped nearly 800 people receive their passports in a timely manner.
OK, actually, that's not the more stunning number in the article, this one is: Boyda and her staff sent more than 60,000 letters to constituents in response to letters on all sorts of subjects.
Just that much more fact to support the idea Congresswoman Nancy Boyda is always there for all of us.