Nethercutt’s Office Needs Telecommunications Policy

I’m heartily in favor of giving Congressman George Nethercutt more than five months to learn his new job. We’ve all experienced that confusion - learning everything from how to use the phone system to finding the bathroom.

But some duties seem so fundamental that no matter what the demands, they should be performed.

In a congressional office, constituency service ranks right on top. If we need information from the House isn’t Nethercutt’s office the source for locating it?

This certainly doesn’t apply to such inquiries as “Where is the Washington Monument?” and “What’s a good restaurant in D.C.?”, but it should include locating information on pending legislation.

This need led me to call the congressman’s office recently. After all, I am a Spokanite - born in Sacred Heart Medical Center, reared on the North Side, attended school and college in Spokane and worked in the area for seven years. And although I’m pursuing further studies outside the area, I naturally expected my home representative’s office to help.

The receptionist was pleasant as she promptly gave me the name of the staffer working the issue and transferred me to his desk. It didn’t surprise me to get his voice mail since Capitol Hill staffers are quite busy.

I left a message which identified me as a Spokanite doing graduate work in Virginia on telecommunications policy. I asked that he please call me to discuss the issue. That was on June 21.

When I had received no response by July 5, I called again. I was transferred to the same staffer’s voice mail and left the same message.

I have yet to hear from him.

The amazing part is that in the time it took for my own representative’s office to not return my calls, the White House, Commerce Department, FCC, Senate staffers and various industry groups not only responded but provided useful information!

Now, maybe this problem at Rep. Nethercutt’s office is technical - e.g., no one has figured out how to use the voice mail system - but if he wants to build a responsible public-servant image, he should check into this voice mail mystery.

Then again, it could simply be that his staffer is still looking for the bathroom.

MEMO: Your Turn is a feature of the Wednesday and Saturday Opinion page. To submit a column for consideration, call Rebecca Nappi/459-5496, or Doug Floyd/459-5466.