Resend the email, but put obamacare in the subject line.   Then the staffers may actually read your liberal rant.

Same thing happened to me. I guess they're to chicken sh!t to see the flip side of their hollow coin.

Generally, elected officials respond to constituents (even those that are criticizing them) because it is in their interest to do so.  When they don't respond, constituents get mad and do things like write blog posts about it.  The fact that Cravaack doesn't respond to letters he doesn't agree with (and you are not the first I've heard this from) means that either: 1) His staff is incompetent, or 2) He is so arrogant and overconfident that he believes he doesn't have to worry about pissing off the "libtards."

I just wish I could get the guy to stop robo-calling me every other week.   Calling it a "Telephone Town Hall" means I should be able to ask a question.  Otherwise it is false advertising.

Disenchantment Badge: acquired.

Gee, Joel's story sounds familiar. Doesn't Cravaack claim to have run for office b/c he tried to meet with Oberstar and got blown off?

I sent Cravaack several emails and submitted several on the form on his website.  No response on any of them.  Recently he did start spamming me with his weekly update newsletter, though.

I dunno Sam. If he didn't think he'd be re-elected because he now lives in New Hampshire, don't you think he would have said he's not running for re-election so perhaps some other Republican could run in his stead, so the GOP would keep that seat? Unless you think he's totally in denial.

He'd never get elected to anything else in the Republican party if he dropped out, and thus handed the seat to the DFL. Maybe he is banking on redistricting, though Minnesotans throughout the state have such a strong connection to this region, I can't see him winning in any other MN district, when he doesn't live even here. I like your point that he's going to just ride the gravy train as long as he can, and do what's best for Chip. So what else is new for him, right? It's going to be an interesting campaign, that is for sure.

Like Sam pointed out, Cravaack just doesn't give a damn.

Performing the basic requirments of one's office requires one to actually take the job seriously.  I met Chip Cravaack for the first time last weekend at the Lester River Rendezvous.  My impression is that he has little actual interest in public policy or in governing. I get the impression that he ran for office because he thought it would be "fun" and "exciting."  Turns out it is a lot of work to be a member of Congress -- particularly if one actually takes the job seriously.

I really don't know why he is having this staff problem.  I have theories, but I know my theories are unlikely.  It just doesn't make sense when he doesn't train his staff to respond to simple constituent letters.

Can we make these observations a part of his re-election literature?

I, too, talked with Cravaack face-to-face for the first time at the recent Lester River Rendezvous. He kept mentioning PolyMet.  He may be hitching his political wagon to PolyMet becoming a reality in time to help his election.  Cravaack said he believed PolyMet would create 1,000 jobs for the district.  He has responded to my letters, but he has frequently simply quoted Tea Party talking points and failed to actually answer my questions.  If he is counting on redistricting to save him, then his hopes should be dimming:  with Bachmann's presidential campaign imploding, he cannot count on being the only Tea Party darling aiming for a GOP-heavy St. Cloud-to-Stillwater congressional district.

Roger Reinert is one of the most accessible politicians I've ever met. I know he's been working hard on restoring MN/WI tax reciprocity (something near and dear to my heart), and he's always ready to talk and to listen to his constituents. And he's always out and about. Definitely one of the good guys in our state legislature.

A bit of a threadjack, but I think it's perverse to fault legislators for taking their salaries during the shutdown.  Legislators' fundamental job isn't to crank out a budget on time--it's to represent their constituents, and Minnesotans right now are pretty divided as to what we want state government to do and how they want it done.  The shutdown would have been over very quickly if one side or the other had caved in to the other's plan.  Failing surrender by one side or the other, an impasse was the outcome.  If you stipulate that legislators may not collect salary while the budget is unfinished, you are in effect empowering wealthier people to exercise additional influence in the Legislature (if I'm independently wealthy--as if--I could hold out til hell freezes over), and perhaps forcing out some "citizen legislators" altogether.

Thanks Rougement. 

TimK, Joel and I were just talking about the fact that this thread is pretty damning: the guy blows off boy scouts? And no one is responding, defending him. Seems to me even the DCB trolls can't defend such incompetence or arrogance.

One thing about Oberstar and his people, they did not blow off constituents. I wanted to go to Obama's inauguration in 2008 and emailed Oberstar. They couldn't get me a ticket, but they were wonderful in selling me a ticket to the Midwest Inaugural Ball. They could have just blown me off. After all, who was I? A nobody. I will always be grateful to Oberstar and his people for the way they treated me when I wanted to be a part of history.

A little inconsistent on the censor button boys. Allowing someone to say that Chip supporters hate blacks? Are you friggin kidding me?

I'll answer your question Red, over on the troll zone, where you belong.

I'd like to know what website Joe is referring to, Jim. Sometimes, where there's smoke, there's fire. And Congressman Cravaack did blow off Boy Scouts. Boy Scouts!

Besides, since when did anyone put credence into one person's website? Do you really want to be judged by a site that someone puts up under the guise of being a liberal? That seems like a pretty scary generalization, and a slippery slope.

Ooooh. I just got called into the Headmasters. "Does seem to state..."? You are rationalizing for him. To that I say Fuck you- you're just as bad as him then. Quote "...his supporters certainly hate women and black people." That's a fucking quote, oh pious one.

You are on someone else's site Jim, as such they have complete control over what stays and  goes. There really needs to be no pretense that they care about what you consider fair. This is not your site. There is neither legal nor moral bases why you should be allowed to comment, or why your comments should be protected. PDD is not your Representative in congress and owes you nothing. It is as if you are in someone's home. So, frankly when you come in with  both guns blazing and demanding things be changed to suit your desires, you kind of look like an ass. can I come over to your house and demand you hang pictures of my left big toe? Of course not. It is less about liberal and conservative than about polite and taking a shit in the middle of the room. I can listen to conservatives try and make a cognizant point even if I disagree, I can't listen to thin-skinned folks throw a hissy fit because someone on the internet kind of, sort of insulted them. Good grief.

Respect is earned, not given.

Coming into the middle of a conversation to weigh in with namecalling and "i've been disrespected" hyperbolic bullshit isn't the best way to *gain* respect among those you're trying to get it from.

Demanding respect is Napoleonic at best.

Projecting and transferring your own intolerance onto others to in effect paint yourself in the light of the victim isn't winning you any points either.

I thought it was about Edgeways' alluring toe.

"Useful information."