Have you ever met your congress(wo)man or senator?

I’ve been to a barbecue at Jimmy Duncan’s house. I was pleasantly surprised at how friendly, down to earth, and cool he is.

Fluther won’t let me make a tidy link to his wiki article, so here he is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Duncan,_Jr.

My sister was a secretary for Peter DeFazio and I used to do random work on the offices computers. Super nice guy and we get Christmas cards from him every year.

My high school civics teacher, Bruce Reynolds, was one of our state representatives when I was in high school. He served as a state representative for 18 years and was the Chairman of the Educational Committee for several years. He was a great teacher and taught us a lot about congress in his civics class. He took us to the capitol on several occasions and we got to interact with other state representatives as well.

I’ve also met Congressman Michael Castle, VP Joe Biden (when he was a Senator in Delaware), and Senator Thomas Carper. I met all of them while I was living in Delaware.

I guess because Delaware is such a small place, it’s pretty easy to run into people. I was able to actually have conversations with each of these guys without it being rushed. It was really nice. They were all nice to chat with and I enjoyed the opportunity.

I accidentally bumped into Chuck Schumer as he was heading towards the VIP section for the Grizzly Bear show in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in 2009. Does that count?

@aprilsimnel sure, why not?

I’ve met him. I’ve done some work for him. I think his heart is in the right place. What was more fun was meeting my Mayor long before he became mayor at a community meeting and having a chance to ask him questions (yes, one of my questions). In those days, he was given little chance, but he impressed a lot of people over time. It’s just too bad he got elected at a time where his only choice was to cut, cut, cut the city budget.

I haven’t met my current one, but Rahm Emmanuel was my previous Congressman, and one day I went grocery shopping and he was at the front of the store shaking hands and asking everybody simply, “What do you want to say to your Congressman?”

Not personally, but I have been in touch with their offices from time to time, and I correspond regularly.

To all:

Don’t you understand this process? Of course they are personable, lovable, helpful, kind, courteous, brave, clean and reverent! It’s their entire job to be all things to all people, gems every one of them. The only product that most of them have to sell is “themselves”, so they really work on the packaging and marketing, the high-quality cosmetics and elective surgery, and the best dental veneers that money can buy for that high-wattage (but sustainable!) smile.

If you don’t understand this at least then there is no hope for this republic.

@CyanoticWasp, you of all people should know that I am aware of this. Jimmy Duncan is one of the very few politicians I believe to actually be truly nice. His record is remarkably free of scum-bagness, on top of that. Just sayin’.

@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard I’ve never met any politicians face-to-face. I make it a point not to. I’ve seen enough of them from close enough (and far enough away) to realize that they are generally exactly what anyone wants them to be: chameleons and actors, changing colors and roles like you can change a shirt. They can be alternately “truly nice” and “wicked tough” as required, or at least appear so. And the business is a hard one, I admit, which I would not want to get involved with. I don’t have the stomach to gladhand and beg for money and fawn and pretend respect for people (that is, the general voting public) whose intelligence I consider to be beneath my own… as these people do every day. Because I can’t be that dishonest and appear to be that ‘nice’ all the time. Sometimes I can be one, and sometimes the other, but trying to do both at once would strain me too much.

When you meet them at their fundraisers and their public appearances and parades and go to their Washington offices to beg them for favors which they should not even be in a position to bestow or to their local offices to tell them what great guys they are and how good they are for the District then they are all as nice as can be. But they’re involved in an awful business, and it rubs off on them.

“If nominated, I would shoot the asshole who nominated me. If elected, I would only serve under guard and protest and while chained to my desk,” could be my other motto. I won’t vote for anyone who wants the office; it’s that simple.

I make a point to get to their town hall meetings when they are nearby. I write them at least once a week, email them 2–3 times a week when congress is in session, and send them a report card every quarter.

One of them likes to see me, the other 2 duck and run if they can. Surprisingly it is the one I disagree with the most that makes it easiest for me to contact.

I met with a California representative once to cover a requirement for a merit badge. I wrote to Dianne Feinstein once for a different one.

Having worked on the last three presidential campaigns, as well as the intervening off-year elections, I’ve gotten to know all the Democrats who represent me in Washington, at my state capital, and at the city and county level.

I used to date the new Senator from ND.

@WestRiverrat any potential for blackmail?~

Yes, but I am broke, so you won’t get anything.