Congressman Closes Houghton Office. Tells Constituents to Send Email or Look for Bus.

Congressman Benishek predicts constituents will be better off because of his decision to close two congressional offices in our district, including one here in Houghton staffed for years by a member of our community.  In fact, the new congressman expects us to have easier access to him than in the old days with Congressman Bart Stupak.  Really?

Yes, according to Congressman Dan who points to his office-on-a-bus and an email address, which he says is all the access we need.  Oh, and he has a Facebook account too, but if you want to contact the new Congressman you need to use email.  And patience.  They get a lot of email.  Or, you could travel to Iron Mountain or Marquette or Gaylord or Petoskey — if those are more convenient for you.   Do not plan on his support for high-speed rail, though.

Facebook post by Congressman Benishek

Our new representative  says he closed two offices to save some money, but he wants to spend the money to hire another staff person, obviously to help him read all that email.  That, and I imagine he will need a bunch of it to buy all that bus gas.

Congressman Dan’s naive, possibly careless, understanding of how to represent constituents is evident in his claim that email and a bus are equal to the value of local offices staffed by people who live in communities he was elected in our big district to represent.

On the other hand, to help our previous congressman understand the needs and concerns of his constituents and the communities they live in, Rep. Bart Stupak counted on local staff in seven offices to help him keep up.  They were his personal representatives in our communities who not only relayed local concerns but also those elements of community life unique to each the part of the district where they worked and lived.  No human could represent such a diverse district as ours without help from people who live in it.

Bart’s office in Houghton served constituents having no email access (yes, they exist).  Constituents could visit or call Amy, his congressional aid, to explain their concerns or get some information or assistance without getting a runaround.  But such personal representation was replaced with an email address and a bus route.

What do you think?  Do you feel constituents in our part of the district will be better represented by a traveling office-on-a-bus and an email address than congressional staff at a Houghton office?

We started a poll about Congressman Dan’s decision to close two congressional offices, including the Houghton office.  You are welcome to vote on our new poll here on the right-hand part of our blog, and/or comment below.