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Obama's Car for your Future

Just Who is Representing Us?
Mike Gempeler

 It seems that just about every political speech that I listen to, mentions the millions of middle-class Americans that live everyday in our troublesome economy.  As one of those middle-class Americans, I am concerned when I am told that the job market is fading and our country continues to dig ourselves into a larger financial debt.  Yet, as we are told these problems, the people that we elect as our voice in Washington rarely report on the solutions that are promised before making their trek to the capital.  We are left with listening to the news media, which often times picks and chooses what to convey to the public.  Because of this, it has become equally important for our elected officials to properly represent their citizens and to keep them informed on what they are doing to better our lives.

 As a resident of Missouri’s 5^th District, on paper, my congressman is Emanuel Cleaver.  However, as I look at his activities, I’m beginning to wonder if he represents the constituents of this district in name, and not in duty.

 I was fortunate enough to live in Democratic Congressman Ike Skelton’s district a few years ago.  Mr. Skelton did a tremendous job informing the residents of his district on important issues through various mailed literature and columns submitted to the local newspapers (which he still does today).  It seems Congressman Skelton sees the importance of keeping people “in the loop” in terms of his political actions, a practice that Cleaver apparently takes for granted.  In his tenure, I’ve yet to see anything from him on what he is doing to represent the people of the 5^th District.

 To be fair, after a recent conversation with a representative of Mr. Cleaver’s, perhaps they don’t even know what he’s doing.  I called Cleaver’s Kansas City office a few weeks ago to inquire what the Congressman was doing to help his constituents in terms of the much-publicized “Energy Crisis.” I was told that he was serving on a committee that would discuss solutions when Congress reconvened in the coming weeks, but at the time, he was on vacation in Kansas City.  When I pressed for specifics, in between the heavy sighs and long pauses, I got textbook political spin to my questions.  However, most of my questions had no answer.  Except for the one that concluded our conversation.  I mentioned the seas of campaign signs for his opponent, Jacob Turk, and witnessing first-hand Turk’s volunteer efforts and his “around the clock” community presence.  In light of Turk’s effort to represent the people, I asked what Cleaver was doing to represent “me.”  Why should I vote to keep him in office?  The reply I was given: “That’s a question for Mr. Cleaver’s campaign office.”

 Needless to say, I wasn’t satisfied.  Perhaps the Internet would be a little more informative.  I decided to check his Congressional website (which Google lists as his Official Website) to see when he was going to be out in the community, talking with my neighbors and I.  In true “Cleaver-representation-fashion,” as of this past Thursday (September 25), the website lists his next event on November 20, 2007.  At least he’s doing a better job in keeping people up to date; the most recent news reflects information from February 11, 2008.

 A couple of months ago, our United States Congress was dubbed the “Do-Nothing” Congress by pundits everywhere.  Apparently, these pundits must have lived in Congressman Emanuel Cleaver’s district.