Ferguson's Constituent Services Leave A Lot To Be Desired

by: blue7thpac

Fri Feb 24, 2006 at 03:29:58 PM EST

They came to ask for more humanitarian aid and military support in a land where hundreds of thousand of Darfurians have been slaughtered, raped, wounded, driven from their homes, and attacked again while struggling for survival in the refugee camps of neighboring Chad.

Delegates met with NJ Reps. Steve Rothman (D-Dist. 9) and Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-Dist. 11), both of whom signed on as sponsors to the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act, a bill the lobbyists believe is vital to the salvation of the Darfurian people.

At the office of Rep. Mike Ferguson (R-Dist. 7), the delegates were seen by Amanda Tharpe, the congressman’s legislative aide. Ferguson has not signed on as a sponsor of the bill.

Describing Ferguson’s aide as “very cool” and not “terribly sympathetic,” Linda Kohl of Short Hills, president of AJC’s Metro NJ chapter, said both Frelinghuysen and Rothman were “very positive. They are really on our side. That was obvious from everything they said and everything they did.”

This is not the first time that people have reported Ferguson's constituent services have been weak.  A number of people have told Dump Mike that when they call to get information from Ferguson's NJ and DC offices they are told that the staffer doesn't know the answer, and that an answer can be expected in two to three weeks.  Others say that their questions by phone and submitted on Ferguson's web site go unanswered.

This is unacceptable.  The people who Ferguson represents have a right to know where he stands on the issues important to them, and waiting three weeks or receiving no answer is poor constituent support. 

The Rev. Luke Davis of the Greater Harvest Baptist Church in Newark, a delegation member who serves as vice president of the North Jersey Committee of Black Clergy ... said he “felt a bit that we were put off by the fact that we did not actually get to see Mr. Ferguson. The aide did not give the impression a real interest was there.” ...

  Susan Shapiro, the associate director of the American Jewish Committee’s New Jersey chapter, who led the delegation, said, “When we met with Amanda Tharpe, she started out by telling us that Ferguson was very supportive of Israel. We told her, ‘That’s not the issue we’re discussing.’”

Shapiro said she returned to New Jersey feeling both optimistic and frustrated.

Ferguson's spokeswoman, Abby Bird, said when contacted later about the complaints of the Darfur advocates that Ferguson would be signing on to the bill.

Crossposted from Dump Mike