Being an intern at the capitol, a large part of your job includes drafting letters or tributes to constituents. Through this process, you are able to receive feedback from a legislative assistant regarding your writing. A lot of mentoring occurs just as you observe the daily routines of assistants and representatives. If you have any questions about something you see the assistants do, you can easily ask them about it and learn from it. Often, Rep. Smiley's assistant Scott will update me about a person that called him over the phone, and just feed me information to use for future reference. For instance, a constituent called our office seeking to get tickets to tour the capitol in Washington DC. In cases regarding a federal issue like this, Scott showed me the proper way to draft a response letter and told me to refer them to their respective U.S. representative.
A lot of times, I'll watch the assistants take constituent calls and they'll be very calm and collected, but as soon as they get off the phone they'll be incredibly frustrated. That shows me it takes a lot of patience and restraint to deal with some of the people that inquire about political issues.
From what I have learned, many state representatives started their careers working as city mayors or holding positions on city councils. Most politicians begin their work at a more local level, or pursue an extensive educational background in law or business before turning to politics. I think this is a very important observation to make because it tells me that other career options may be more suitable for me until I gain enough experience to work in a legislative office.
My first five weeks at the Capitol have provided insight into the life of a Congress member when session is still being frequently held. However, now that the session calendar is winding down for the summer, it will be interesting to see how different the conditions are when working in one's own district.
No comments:
Post a Comment