I saw this episode of Cheers!
Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson threatens legal retaliation against constituent who won’t give up trying to talk to him
He is free to resign at anytime, and let a capable person do the job.
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Turns out, maybe, this guy called so often because they wouldn’t pick up the phone and talk to him. He logged how many times he had to call each day before they deigned to speak to him.
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How clueless is this yahoo? Meet with this guy and lie to him, its called being a politician…
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Oh, Earl good. I thought his first name was Public.
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Admittedly, the thought of having to actually interact with other people is the main reason I’ll never work in public service.
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Definitely. I’m torn. I have no sympathy for politicians who treat contact with their constituents as some sort of evil to be avoided at all costs. As a Canadian, that was my major beef with former PM Harper (I mean, I had many beefs but this was the MAJOR one): his “I don’t have to explain myself to you people” attitude.
However, I’ve also worked in the public service before so I know that for some people, “engaging” with them doesn’t just mean listening to and considering their concerns when making decisions. Unless they are given everything they want immediately, no matter how much that might conflict with the rights and desires of other citizens or how much time has been spent listening to their concerns, they will believe that they are being deliberately and unfairly ignored.
Without details, there’s no way to know one way or the other.
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So as everyone has noticed, congressional offices do get their share of crazies, the staff doesn’t have to take a one-man phone DDOS attack lying down, there can be reasonable limits on how people can petition the government for redress of grievances, etc. Fair enough. Johnson is a fairly smelly turd even by modern GOP standards, but that doesn’t mean anything goes with his employees.
BUT.
Watch this space. Was it Johnson’s staff who leaked this letter in the first place? Are we going to hear about this again, maybe with a different crazy constituent? Because other members of Congress are already canceling meetings and such on the grounds that rude people might yell at them. And while I don’t care if this one enthusiastic constituent gets put on mute, I care very much if a senator’s normal ration of harmless cranks is suddenly going to be the excuse for withdrawing from even the pretense of listening to constituents.
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I am not a lawyer.
Is this cease and desist legal? He is a senator and people have the constitutional right to petition the government. The person petitioning the government has 1st amendment protections.
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Republicans can have stalkers too.
HRC got death threats, Giffords was shot in the head, but hey, phone calls can be so hurtful.
When you’re in the public, you can expect to have abuse hurled at you. If he can’t take it, he needs to resign.
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Anyone can send a cease and desist letter. (It’s like calling spirits from the vasty deep.) It’s often just a scare letter, but real ones are bullet points on the way to a civil suit. Violating one isn’t a criminal matter, so I don’t see how the Capitol Police would be involved unless there’s more to this story.
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Apart from printing his name on the ballot?
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From that same article Johnson’s office is implying (with vague, weaselly wording), that the constituent “crossed the bounds of decency”. Considering the crafted lack of specifics in the statement, however, I’m inclined to think the Senator’s idea of “inappropriate behavior” is anyone expecting him to actually do his job.
A spokesperson for Senator Johnson responded, saying, “Constituents are always welcome and encouraged to contact our office with their concerns, regardless of political viewpoint. Unfortunately, very infrequently a pattern of inappropriate behavior emerges that crosses the bounds of decency and requires action to ensure the well being of visitors to the office and staff.”
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Maybe he did meet with the guy and lie to him, and then the guy didn’t like being lied to and insisted on more than just lies. So he had to send this, “Come on man, lies are all you get,” letter.
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As Republicans are repeatedly wont to say about everyone else’s working conditions (but their own, apparently): “you don’t like it, you can always get another job!”
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I’m genuinely curious what “Staff” did to assist him with his concerns.
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He could send a rejection letter of this letter and insist they send a new letter with a signature on it.
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Doesn’t Representative Johnson work for his constituents? And, unless they are physically threatening him, calling him repeatedly may be annoying but how about you just answer the damn phone (and his questions?) might actually be called doing your job.
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Was it Johnson’s staff who leaked this letter in the first place?
No. Because its posted on the Wisconsin Citizen Action website.
Some politicians believe that they don’t need to listen to the concerns of constituents, only supporters. Some of those that believe this fake it well and will at least meet with constituents and respond back to their concerns even if their response is some weasely-worded way of saying “don’t care, not going to do anything”. Lately we’ve been getting a breed of politicians who can’t even do that. Which is kind of astounding - the electoral process used to select against politicians who couldn’t at least fake pretending to care about a constituent’s concerns.
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