May 15,2010

I worked 2 days this week, from 9-5 both days.

On Thursday, I did a variety of things. When I got there, they had me start up by cutting newspapers like I have done almost every other day. However, the amount of newspapers increased (3-4), so that took me more time. There were two articles I believe that I had to copy and file away. One was from the day before Thursday criticizing the NOAA and their restrictions on the fishing industry, explaining that many fishermen predict that their caution will end the industry as a whole in places like Gloucester and New Bedford. The second article, written on Thursday, was a response to the previous one. It explained that the NOAA believed things were going to only get better from the situation they were in in the year 2009.

I also started faxing stuff down to Washington DC and opening mail for the secretary. I would open the mail and put it in the respective person's folder (each person deals with a specific issue, and most went to the scheduler because they wanted the Congressman to show up at an event). The rest of the day, I answered phones. It was my first time doing that for an extended period of time. A lot of the phone calls I got were from people who already knew what they wanted, but one lady wasn't sure who she was supposed to talk to in the office. She had heard something about Social Security and wanted to know if it was true. I transfered her to the secretary, who told her that the group that sent her the letter with all of this information was known for trying to threaten people into giving money to the organization (they claimed they could stop the "crisis") and that there was nothing to worry about. I got out around 5:30.

The next day, I was told to show up around 8:45 AM because Gary Barrett, the District Director, would be taking me to a speech in a Salem Hotel where Congressman Tierney would be speaking. We went to the hotel and got our respective seats, and I watched the Congressman talk about Medicare, Social Security, and senior citizen health for about 15-20 minutes. He was one of a few politicians, mostly state, there to convince this senior citizen group that they were doing all they could to help out their situation.

Then, I had my first experience with Congressman Tierney personally. Me, him, and one of the office workers all drove back together to the Peabody offices. It was about a 20 minute drive. The Congressman was extremely kind, talkative, and personable. I was amazed at how nice he was, as the media nowadays tends to show politicians as being selfish, elitist, and arrogant human beings. We talked about sports, high school, colleges, and a few other things. He never made me feel out of place as an intern. He even asked if we could stop at a Dunkin' Donuts (which we did) and then asked me if he wanted him to get anything for me in there. While I was already full, I could tell that the Congressman was a really genuine and nice person from the beginning.

We got back around 11 AM, and I went straight to work with opening up the mail like I did the day before. After I sorted all of the mail out, I was given a stack of 6 or 7 newspapers and had to find articles, like every other day, that mention Congressman Tierney or in some way link local issues to the Federal Government. The only main article I remember seeing was in the Jewish Journal (though there was a minor one about FEMA again). There were actually two articles, both on the topic of Tierney and his support or, as one said, lack there of, of Israel. The first article claimed that he didn't have the strongest voting record in supporting Israel, and had a really long quote by the Congressman. What both I and the secretary found interesting was the fact that the Journal interviewed John Tierney personally, but that they used the quote to negatively portray him. I got the feeling that the office sort of felt like the journal was cheating by not telling them the purpose of their article before interviewing him. The other article was a response to the criticism by another Jewish man, who claimed the exact opposite, that Tierney always votes to support Israel as much as he should.

For the rest of the day, I answered phones and sent out a couple of letters to people who wanted to have a tour given to the in Washington of the Capitol.