The mystery of how a Democrat in New Hampshire got a year-end report from Senator Hagel in the mail now seems to be solved by the admission that a company in Vienna, Virginia, InterAmerica Technologies sent it out by mistake.
So, instead of relying on his staff and the government printing office to communicate with citizens, the Senator has farmed out this task, as well. I say, as well, because ever since the anthrax-laden letters there's a history of adding layers of bureaucracy making it harder and harder for citizens to communicate with their representatives.
Hand-written letters are discouraged, because they take too long. Direct email to their offices is now accepted by only a few. Most require the use of a form on a web site, where all one's personal information, including street address is required and, if the address isn't within the representative's district, rejected.
Although most representatives are keen on collecting money for their campaigns from all around the country, they'll only accept questions from people who actually vote for them. But still, their responses are often not connected to the question and it's not possible to send a direct reply either. That's because, as we are now finding out, the responses don't actually come from Capitol Hill.
Which makes you wonder, doesn't it, what they actually do there anymore, other than stick their noses into people's most personal affairs?
Posted by Hannah at April 11, 2005 02:04 PM