Dear Sen. Ensign

[LadyHawkAZ]

I doubt you remember me. Come to that, I doubt you even heard of me, unless your staff made jokes about my phone call later on.

I was the woman who called your Las Vegas office in April of 1996, asking for help. I was the woman who had the stepson with cerebral palsy. I was the woman who had just been told for the second time that SSI had no record of the two changes of address we had submitted, and maybe we could try for his check again next month.

I was the woman your office said a flat "no, we can't help with that" to and hung up on. I was told "I'm sorry, but that's between you and the Social Security office, and there's nothing we can do. Thank you for calling." Click.

Remember me?

You're obviously a very caring person. Hurting your family seems to have made you very sad. It should cheer you up to know, then, that after I finished crying I called the office of Senator Harry Reid, and wouldn't you know it, he had someone on staff assigned to dealing with problems like mine. And they had things straightened out in twenty minutes, and we picked up my stepson's money within an hour.

I can't tell you how much I've appreciated you sending me to Reid. I've appreciated it every time Harry Reid came up for re-election and got my vote. I've appreciated it even more every time you came up, and didn't. As a matter of fact, I don't think I ever even looked at the name of the person running against you. They could have been eight feet tall, wearing a black hooded robe and carrying a scythe. They'd have gotten my vote.

See, I never forgot those two phone calls, Mr. Ensign. They told me everything I needed to know about which person cared about other people, and which did not.

So, Mr. Ensign, after reading of your "worst mistake"- was it the sex, or was it getting caught?- I will repeat to you what your staff told me: "I'm sorry, this is between you and your voters, and there's nothing I can do to help. Thank you for calling." And I'll include the words your staff didn't bother to say; "Because you're not worth it."

Have a nice day.

Click.

[Tansy_Gold]

1. Glad to be the first rec on this!

Excellent!


:thumbsup:



Tansy Gold

[LadyHawkAZ]

2. I wish it hadn't been a true story

but it was. We were brand new to Vegas, just moved there, and I knew nothing about either man. At the time, Ensign was our Rep. and Reid was Senator. I picked them out of the phone book looking for help.

Karma bites, and it bites hard.

[kestrel91316]

4. I knew Ensign in vet school (as a senior, I taught his class all the

microbiology lab techniques that they have since forgotten, lol) and something about him rubbed me wrong even then. Too slick. Brown-noser.

Your story doesn't surprise me in the least.

[TheCowsCameHome]

3. Great post, and welcome to DU.

I'm glad you finally received the help you needed.

[Orsino]

5. Lookes like I've been wrong about calling Reid completely useless.

I like that not only did his staff have the power and will to work for you, they had enough of a process in place to do it quickly.

Good on you, Senator Reid. :thumbsup:

[LadyHawkAZ]

7. Glad I helped change an opinion

Reid cared enough to have that in place. We've since moved to Arizona but I've followed and supported Reid when I could- we're right on the AZ border and we get the Vegas paper here. Sure wish our AZ senator cared that much.

I sent a similar letter to the Vegas paper yesterday but I doubt it will ever see print. They've been bombarded with letters about Ensign and I don't think mine's going to make the "interesting" cut. Thank the gods for DU.

[Hepburn]

6. Welcome to the DU...

...one hell of an OP you got there! K&R

:hi: