Senator Mike Frerichs Office- Week 10

Monday began with the usual. I began with newspaper clippings, worked to respond to weekend emails, and then continued to work on a few constituent issues. Follow up with constituent issues is always a necessity; especially since the wheels of government tend to move at a slow pace.

With Laurie leaving the office tomorrow, today I had my focus upon being on the same page as Laurie as to what I need to accomplish while she is gone. As usual, I focused on emails, news clippings, constituent service work, etc. An issue which has seen a rise in correspondence as of late is the Olympian Drive Project. Fortunately, the News Gazette published an article on Tuesday which stated the city would not seek land acquisition as a means to accomplish the Olympian Drive expansion at this time. Therefore, I responded to numerous emails which were in the inbox in reference to the subject and was able to give callers some guidance on the issue.

I too took the opportunity to respond to a variety of miscellaneous emails in the inbox.

Time in the office Wednesday seemed to fly by. I believe our office may possess one of the slowest copiers I have ever seen. Today, I had to make copies of all of the General Assembly Scholarship applications that our office had received over the previous few weeks. Our panel of judges which serve to rank applications consist of 7 members; thus 7 copies of 28 applications. I did not have much of an option besides hovering over the copier for a few hours as the copier did its job. The printing process required the paper to be refilled numerous times and paper jams occurred a few times. By the time the copies were completed and ready to be stapled and stacked I had already reached the lunch hour.

As I returned to the office after my lunch break, the remainder of the day involved stapling all the applications and stacking and sorting the stacks by alphabetical order. Our Chief of Staff mentioned perhaps we ask applicants next year to make their own copies. Therefore all we will need to do is sort them alphabetically and deliver them to the panel. This option would also eliminate time utilized to open mailings which arrive on a daily basis with materials for the applications. I believe this would be a great option and should be installed next year. If an individual really wants a scholarship which provides for a years tuition I believe to ask for copies is a small token.
Upon logging into the Senator's email account Thursday morning the inbox had exceeded 300 emails. With the Senator at his Springfield office and the alarming rate of response with regard SB 1946, I had to contact Jim Shadid who works in Senate President John Cullerton's Office to assist in formulating a proper response to the email onslaught. Early in the morning, I received a response from Jim and was able to begin the lengthy process of clearing out the inbox. The effort to clear the inbox was slowed by the numerous phone calls which were placed to the office during this time too with regard to SB 1946. I believe I may have explained it before, but after we respond to emails we label them and archive them in an order to keep an electronic copy of all correspondence to constituents who contact the office.

A new intern, Mark Sulski arrived mid-day this afternoon to assist in the office. I was glad to have his help this afternoon. With the email onslaught many of the tasks which I had hoped to complete by weeks end with Laurie out of the office were being ignored. Mark a student at Eastern Illinois University decided to stay for a longer period of time than originally scheduled in an effort to assist with many of the tasks which I needed to complete. Together, Mark and I completed the Saw You in the News mailings which needed to be mailed, finished the filing, and eliminated the majority of emails in the inbox by days end. Mark was very talkative and admitted he has not worked as hard as he could academically, but his work ethic in the office impressed me. He too sorted and prepped the General Assembly applications for mailing to the panel of judges.

Friday was a shortened day in the office. I contacted the Senator last night to ask if he minded I leave early in the afternoon to take a bus to Springfield for a brief weekend away from Champaign. Prior to leaving for Springfield, I cleared out the remaining emails in the inbox and prepped a series of letters of congratulations and support which needed to be printed and picked up as soon as possible. I had just enough time to complete the necessary tasks and leave the Senator the necessary files before leaving.

*On a brief note- It was a nice weekend in Springfield. Although, it did rain on Sunday morning. Friday afternoon, my fiance and I arrived in Springfield in just enough time for an old acquaintance of mine to allow us to take pictures together on the House and Senate Floor. I thought it would be nice to place this picture with my others from a few years prior. And of course, the rest of the weekend we toured the historical sites and went to my favorite Museum- The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum.