A Chequer-Board of Nights and Days

Georgia blogger and journalism grad student Matt Duffy took it upon himself last week to get some idea of how his Congressmen and Senators proposed to offset the cost of hurricane disaster relief and reconstruction.  I was interested in his efforts because I'm represented by the same guys.

He summarizes the responses he got from staff for Congressman Tom Price (R-GA6), Senator Saxby Chambliss , and Senator Johnny Isakson on his blog, having been much more impressed by his interaction with Isakson's office than by either of the other two.  I suspect, though, that Matt may have been influenced by a little trick I used to use in a former life on the Hill, and that Isakson staffer Bradford Swann appears to have used in this instance.

This trick is to listen to a constituent calling in, take his concerns seriously, and have something to say in response.  If you sound like a dope, your make your boss sound like a dope; if you sound like the constituent's call is an intrusion, the caller will not unreasonably conclude that your boss feels the same way.  From Matt's account, Swann has this lesson down, to his credit -- staff for Isakson's two colleagues, not so much.

There is one catch, though.  This is that listening and being prepared with a plausible response is a good way to avoid being very revealing.  Matt's account strongly suggests that Sen. Isakson isn't much more enthusiastic about finding new spending cuts to offset Katrina-related spending than either Chambliss or Price.  You don't have to look far to see why.  By my count, Isakson has issued 51 press releases since September 7, better than two a day; 45 of them announce funding for some project or other, almost always in cooperation with Sen. Chambliss.  Amusingly, of the remaining six, one is an announcement of an award given to Isakson -- by Citizens Against Government Waste!  Evidently it isn't just conservatives in Congress who aren't serious about keeping spending in check.

Incidentally, Matt's main gripe about Congressional Republicans -- that they sound too much like Democrats, especially when government spending is involved -- is pretty much mine as well.