http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/health-care/dianne-feinsteins-office-gripes-to-white-house-about-ofa-inspired-constituent-visits/Dianne Feinstein’s Office Gripes To White House About OFA-Inspired Constituent Visits
A rare bit of friction between Dems and Obama’s political operation, Organizing for America:
Aides to Senator Dianne Feinstein have complained to the White House about a deluge of visits to her offices by constituents who thought they had an appointment after OFA called on supporters to visit members of Congress, Feinstein’s office confirms to me.
OFA recently blasted out an email to its list asking supporters to “visit” the office of their representatives. OFA asked supporters to sign up in shifts to avoid overwhelming the offices, whereupon supporters received follow-up emails reminding them of the “scheduled visit” they’d chosen. OFA advised them to “call ahead” before visiting.
But some constituents took the follow-up email to mean that they had a hard-and-fast scheduled meeting with their members of Congress, and around 100 such people showed up at Feinstein’s offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles, Feinstein spokesperson Gil Duran says. The visitors got upset when they learned they didn’t have a scheduled meeting, Duran says, adding that Feinstein’s office “expressed their concerns” to the White House.
Roll Call reported today that GOP Rep Eric Cantor’s office is charging that OFA is “misleading” constituents into believing they have an appointment. But the OFA email merely calls for “office visits” and says that there’s “no need to schedule an appointment unless you’d like to have a longer conversation with staff.”
Feinstein’s office is the first Dem office to complain about the program.
“We asked people to visit their representatives to let them know that they had the support of their constituents in supporting insurance reform this year,” DNC spokesman Hari Sevugan told me. “In an effort to serve their constituents, we’ve had a few offices call to clarify that these were visits and not meetings. Of the tens of thousands of people who signed up, it wouldn’t be surprising if a few may have mistakenly thought they had an appointment. ”
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
