In an interesting parliamentary development, the clerk for the U.S. House of Representatives, Cheryl Johnson, will take over the empty office for North Carolina’s 9th District and will see to constituent services until a congressperson is seated after the re-do election.
From a local reporter:
BREAKING: The Clerk of the US House is officially taking over constituent services for #NC09 until a new member is seated #ncpol @wsoctv pic.twitter.com/6HzI8dSeDQ
— Joe Bruno (@JoeBrunoWSOC9) March 14, 2019
I’m not sure why this is particularly “interesting.” This is the standard operating procedure when there’s a vacancy.
But they didn’t have this until now?
It would be nice too to get some explanation about what “Constituent Services” entails. I’m guessing getting various passes to the e.g. the White House or committee hearings, service academy nominations, passport expediting, that sort of thing. But I’m quite vague on what it means.
It means everything. You’ve got a problem with a government agency, say your medicare is screwed up? You can call your Congressman’s office to help. Vets call them all the time about VA claims. Etc. etc.
A politician friend suggested that route when we were having issues with passports for a family emergency a few years ago. But she told my spouse never mind when he informed her that we’d been redistricted from Lloyd Doggett to Michael McCaul.
(Everything did get worked out without congressional help, and I have nothing but high praise for the LA Passport office, which was kind and resourceful at an incredibly stressful time.)
Yup, and there’s often workarounds. But since Congressional Offices go straight to the top of the Agencies, they can often help circumvent problems at the lower levels, particularly with abnormal cases where folks get the runaround from people who don’t know how to handle a specific case.