Constituent Casework

The function that gets members reelected is constituent casework: easy to do, with a supporting staff; not likely to be thwarted, unlike legislation. Except if you hire the wrong intern. Perhaps there is another explanation for this:

Congresswoman Puzzled Over Obscenity in Letter to Constituent

Thursday , April 20, 2006

WASHINGTON — Nobody expects to get a letter from a member of Congress that ends with an expletive.

But that's what happened when Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo., recently corresponded with a resident of her southeast Missouri district.

The letter ended with a profane, seven-letter insult beginning with the letter a — "i think you're an. ..."

Emerson says she can't explain how the offensive language made it into the letter, which otherwise reads like a typical response to a citizen's question about last year's testimony of oil executives before the Senate Commerce Committee.