3.1 Attitudes toward the work
A look at the levels of effort and focus congressional teams put toward engaging and responding to their constituents.
FINDINGS
Some congressional teams take constituent correspondence very seriously and approach it with heart; others do only what is necessary.
For many offices, meaningful constituent engagement is a deeply held value.
Strongly held ethos come directly from the Member:
“Our boss is strict that constituents get priority; she always wants to meet everyone coming through the door.”
“Our boss sends handwritten note cards to constituents who’ve shared moving stories with us. She loves this part of her week.”
“We put an hour on our boss’s calendar every week for him to call constituents who’ve reached out to us with a powerful statement. He really values getting to surprise them with a phone call, and hearing their voices himself.”
Staff take pride in doing right by those they serve:
“There can’t be anything more frustrating for a constituent when they think they’ve contacted their congressperson and don’t ever get a response.”
“There’s no interaction that is too small.”
“Some offices ignore campaign emails. We don’t. It’s good to respond to the campaigns, you know. It’s still engagement.”
“I made the determination that if someone took the time to find and call us, that those constituents wanted to talk to a human — and we’ll do our best to make sure they get a human.”
For many others, constituent correspondence — both conducting and improving the process — takes a back seat to efforts perceived to be higher priority.
“When I first started, I was always trying to strategize around a smarter mailing system. However, I’ll admit that once I was promoted — and away from the cumbersome nature of the mailing process — I didn’t follow through on any of that, focusing on policy-related matters instead.”
“We didn’t send any mail for the first four months we were in office because there were so many other important things to get set up.”
“Offices often lose track of mail and panic when the backlog is insurmountable.”
“When Congress is in session, we can’t keep up with mail due to all the other things that need to be tended — pushing out bills, committee meetings, etc.”
Frontline work is conducted by the most junior staff and considered a stepping stone to more prestigious roles. These staff generally aren’t given much authority or training, but are ostensibly carrying a great responsibility of the office.
“The junior-most members of congressional teams are responsible for talking to constituents, while more senior team members rarely engage directly with constituents and the constituent correspondence system.”
“There is high turnover built into these junior roles, and thus these staffers are often entrusted with very little access to information, tools, etc.”
“We don’t give interns access to the CRM because it takes time to train them, and if they enter the information wrong, it will get lost and we’ll never be able to find it.”
“We put this work at the bottom of the ladder, and it is a grind . It is actually one of the most important jobs , but we treat it as a low-level thing.”
“We need to redo the org charts to change the position. When you treat the work as entry level, you don’t get the quality to do it well.”
District offices (DOs) feel they have a richer, deeper connection with a Member’s constituents, who, in turn, engage more familiarly than with D.C. offices — but D.C. offices are the brains of the operation.
District offices tend to have a more personal relationship with constituents and a finger on the pulse of the district.
Constituents tend to engage with DOs in a more intimate and familiar manner, and caseworkers, in turn, have insight into the specific needs and general attitudes of constituents.
Though uptick in volume is detected by both district and D.C. offices, the D.C. office determines action steps and talking points to address shifts in intake (and subject matter).
The D.C. office typically detects uptick in call volume first, then shares this observation with the district office. The communications director may help draft talking points if the volume persists.
“We [D.C. office] also make sure district offices are able to defend every single word, and we mean every single word.”
D.C./DO check-ins typically tend to focus on operations and human resources above strategy and policy, reflecting a relational dynamic that sets D.C. offices at the helm.
“Check-ins between DO and D.C. are common; however, issue-specific dialogue is not as prevalent.”
“We attempt to drive casework towards legislative changes. The biggest challenge is communicating the weight of the challenge with the D.C. office.”
3.2 Value of constituent input
This article is part of From Voicemails to Votes (PDF), a report conducted by The OpenGov Foundation on the mindsets, capacities, tools, and operations of Congressional offices with regard to constituent engagement. More about the project here.
