Monday May 24th, 2010:
Upon heading into the office this morning I ran into our new summer intern, Sarah, on the CUMTD bus. I found out that Sarah’s grandfather had passed away over the weekend. She will be heading home early this afternoon, which will leave the office short staffed seeing as I will be out of the office (Wed-Thurs).
When Sarah and I arrived into the office we began to work on a variety of numerous tasks, which needed to be completed. Sarah began to work on newspaper clippings while I listened to the voicemails, which were left over the weekend. After, I took out the trash and recycling. Upon return to the office, I continued to work on newspaper clippings with Sarah.
Remainder of the day utilized to respond to a variety of constituent emails and continue work on constituent casework.
Tuesday May 25th, 2010:
Continued to work on newspaper clippings and constituent emails. Addressed necessary constituent casework files.
Wednesday May 26th, 2010:
PERSONAL DAY: CHICAGO CUBS CARE CHARITY EVENT
Thursday May 27th, 2010:
PERSONAL DAY: TRAVEL TO CHAMPAIGN
Friday May 28th, 2010:
OFFICE CLOSED: OBSERVANCE OF MEMORIAL DAY
Friday, May 28, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
Senator Michael Frerichs Office Week Eighteen
Monday May 17th, 2010:
This past week due to an ongoing illness I had minimal opportunity to work within the district office. Honestly, I do not fall ill often; however, when I do fall ill it seems to be quite a fight in terms of recovery. I still do not feel 100% percent today but will forge ahead as much work needs to be completed in the office.
On a side note: Our new summer intern Sarah Tanaka begins her internship today. Laurie texted me this morning to let me know that she would be into the office late this morning; therefore I needed to be at the office by 9 a.m. sharp to unlock the office for Sarah.
This morning Sarah and I began to work on the numerous local newspapers which had begun to due to my absence. The task is not too exciting; however, it must be completed. As I was reminded late least week when Senator Frerichs asked questions concerning my blog, he is in an election year. The effort which myself and other interns put forth to clip all of these articles and prepare them for mailing is not for naught as it will certainly garner further recognition of Senator Frerichs and may lead to additional votes in November.
As I have mentioned before this process regarding “Saw You in the News” clippings is quite extensive and time consuming.
With the remainder of my office hours today, I began to work diligently on the series of constituent letters which were still in the box awaiting correspondence. The letters which needed to be responded to depicted concern related to diabetes treatment issues (schools), illegal immigration (AZ), telecommunications etc. A few letters too remained in the inbox from inmates which needed a call into the Department of Corrections in order to properly address their concerns.
Tuesday May 18th, 2010:
This morning Sarah and I finished the work which needed to be completed related to the “Saw You in the News” clippings. Due to the many steps which are involved to prepare these pieces for mailing oftentimes once one of the several tasks are completed I or one of the interns will put it off to the side for later completion. As this task is not too glamorous it can often become boring and exhaustive.
Work continued related to the constituent letters which I referred to yesterday. Our office has had some issues which I have expressed in earlier entries related to technology (computers) which often deters progress related to projects. My personal computer in the office will not allow me to save any type of Microsoft office project or print a document. Therefore, I have to ask either Laurie to do so or Sarah. Today, I waited for Sarah to leave at noon to continue work related to the constituent correspondence.
In the meantime, I worked to respond to a few emails which I knew I could send an appropriate response. The emails showed concern related to education funding. This is an issue which I am truly aware of and I myself have begun to feel the effects which the inability of the State to pay its bills has had upon the University and the State of Illinois as a whole.
Upon Sarah’s leave, I was able to respond to the remainder of the hard-copy letters and prepare them for mailing.
Wednesday May 19th, 2010:
Primary task of the morning completed: clip the morning newspaper as to prevent a considerate number of newspapers to begin to form a pile on the back counter.
With the office in great shape due to the hard work which I have put forth these past few days only a few tasks remain which I need to complete.
This morning Laurie assigned a project to Sarah to complete. Sarah will continue to work and follow-up with the individuals in the 52nd District who work in a non-profit who have an interest in a grant PDF which our office receives on a monthly basis. One of our previous interns, Ayesha, was not too computer savvy and thus the spreadsheets and contact information in the Gmail account needs to be looked over for errors. An email which Ayesha sent out to these individuals received a generous amount returned in the form of bounce backs. Therefore, if this task is to be successful and worthwhile for our office and the Senator’s constituency it must be completed correctly.
While Sarah began her work on this project, I began to work on the emails which have amassed the week prior in the inbox without my attention. The topic of emails show a wide variety: Budget FY11 concerns, cancer treatment accessibility, educational issues, telecommunications issues, etc.
When I began to write responses to these various emails the inbox contained near 130 emails. Upon the time which I had left the office at the end of the day the inbox had numbered around 17. It is a great feeling to see the office in such great shape which allows for all tasks to be completed in a timely manner.
Prior to leaving the office for the day, I too completed all of the filing which needed to be completed.
Thursday May 20th, 2010:
With the office in a great state, the stress related to the completion of tasks had been lifted. I clipped the morning newspaper and Sarah updated a few emails on the contact list of non-profits. Sarah left the office early after she completed the updates.
I continued to answer constituent phone calls and investigate constituent casework issues which had been brought to my attention via phone call. A few issues which I had the chance to look into and return today concerned the Human Services Department and Medicaid and Medicare.
An individual who was on Medicaid and Medicare called into the office and had state that she had been offered a life insurance policy by JcPenney. She contacted our office in an effort to seek out whether or not it would be in conflict with her Medicaid and Medicare if she opted into the plan. Upon contacting the Human Services Department I was told that if the plan was in excess of $2,000 it certainly would have an effect.
Another individual who had lost her Medicaid and Medicare card due to her son turning 19 contacted our office to see if we could be of any assistance in her obtaining a new card as she was a cancer patient and needed the card to obtain affordable treatment. Upon contacting the Department of Human Services I was told that she had submitted a form which needed to be approved which often takes up to 75 days.
After completing these few tasks, I used the remainder of my time in the office this afternoon to seek out available assistantships. Both Laurie and the Senator are in high hopes that I will come across an available position but the stress is honestly beginning to mount as every avenue I check ends in a dead end in some form.
Friday May 21st, 2010:
The office remains in top-shape. Therefore, I answered phone calls from constituents with concern to a variety of issues and answered a variety of emails. Otherwise, the office was quite calm this afternoon.
This past week due to an ongoing illness I had minimal opportunity to work within the district office. Honestly, I do not fall ill often; however, when I do fall ill it seems to be quite a fight in terms of recovery. I still do not feel 100% percent today but will forge ahead as much work needs to be completed in the office.
On a side note: Our new summer intern Sarah Tanaka begins her internship today. Laurie texted me this morning to let me know that she would be into the office late this morning; therefore I needed to be at the office by 9 a.m. sharp to unlock the office for Sarah.
This morning Sarah and I began to work on the numerous local newspapers which had begun to due to my absence. The task is not too exciting; however, it must be completed. As I was reminded late least week when Senator Frerichs asked questions concerning my blog, he is in an election year. The effort which myself and other interns put forth to clip all of these articles and prepare them for mailing is not for naught as it will certainly garner further recognition of Senator Frerichs and may lead to additional votes in November.
As I have mentioned before this process regarding “Saw You in the News” clippings is quite extensive and time consuming.
With the remainder of my office hours today, I began to work diligently on the series of constituent letters which were still in the box awaiting correspondence. The letters which needed to be responded to depicted concern related to diabetes treatment issues (schools), illegal immigration (AZ), telecommunications etc. A few letters too remained in the inbox from inmates which needed a call into the Department of Corrections in order to properly address their concerns.
Tuesday May 18th, 2010:
This morning Sarah and I finished the work which needed to be completed related to the “Saw You in the News” clippings. Due to the many steps which are involved to prepare these pieces for mailing oftentimes once one of the several tasks are completed I or one of the interns will put it off to the side for later completion. As this task is not too glamorous it can often become boring and exhaustive.
Work continued related to the constituent letters which I referred to yesterday. Our office has had some issues which I have expressed in earlier entries related to technology (computers) which often deters progress related to projects. My personal computer in the office will not allow me to save any type of Microsoft office project or print a document. Therefore, I have to ask either Laurie to do so or Sarah. Today, I waited for Sarah to leave at noon to continue work related to the constituent correspondence.
In the meantime, I worked to respond to a few emails which I knew I could send an appropriate response. The emails showed concern related to education funding. This is an issue which I am truly aware of and I myself have begun to feel the effects which the inability of the State to pay its bills has had upon the University and the State of Illinois as a whole.
Upon Sarah’s leave, I was able to respond to the remainder of the hard-copy letters and prepare them for mailing.
Wednesday May 19th, 2010:
Primary task of the morning completed: clip the morning newspaper as to prevent a considerate number of newspapers to begin to form a pile on the back counter.
With the office in great shape due to the hard work which I have put forth these past few days only a few tasks remain which I need to complete.
This morning Laurie assigned a project to Sarah to complete. Sarah will continue to work and follow-up with the individuals in the 52nd District who work in a non-profit who have an interest in a grant PDF which our office receives on a monthly basis. One of our previous interns, Ayesha, was not too computer savvy and thus the spreadsheets and contact information in the Gmail account needs to be looked over for errors. An email which Ayesha sent out to these individuals received a generous amount returned in the form of bounce backs. Therefore, if this task is to be successful and worthwhile for our office and the Senator’s constituency it must be completed correctly.
While Sarah began her work on this project, I began to work on the emails which have amassed the week prior in the inbox without my attention. The topic of emails show a wide variety: Budget FY11 concerns, cancer treatment accessibility, educational issues, telecommunications issues, etc.
When I began to write responses to these various emails the inbox contained near 130 emails. Upon the time which I had left the office at the end of the day the inbox had numbered around 17. It is a great feeling to see the office in such great shape which allows for all tasks to be completed in a timely manner.
Prior to leaving the office for the day, I too completed all of the filing which needed to be completed.
Thursday May 20th, 2010:
With the office in a great state, the stress related to the completion of tasks had been lifted. I clipped the morning newspaper and Sarah updated a few emails on the contact list of non-profits. Sarah left the office early after she completed the updates.
I continued to answer constituent phone calls and investigate constituent casework issues which had been brought to my attention via phone call. A few issues which I had the chance to look into and return today concerned the Human Services Department and Medicaid and Medicare.
An individual who was on Medicaid and Medicare called into the office and had state that she had been offered a life insurance policy by JcPenney. She contacted our office in an effort to seek out whether or not it would be in conflict with her Medicaid and Medicare if she opted into the plan. Upon contacting the Human Services Department I was told that if the plan was in excess of $2,000 it certainly would have an effect.
Another individual who had lost her Medicaid and Medicare card due to her son turning 19 contacted our office to see if we could be of any assistance in her obtaining a new card as she was a cancer patient and needed the card to obtain affordable treatment. Upon contacting the Department of Human Services I was told that she had submitted a form which needed to be approved which often takes up to 75 days.
After completing these few tasks, I used the remainder of my time in the office this afternoon to seek out available assistantships. Both Laurie and the Senator are in high hopes that I will come across an available position but the stress is honestly beginning to mount as every avenue I check ends in a dead end in some form.
Friday May 21st, 2010:
The office remains in top-shape. Therefore, I answered phone calls from constituents with concern to a variety of issues and answered a variety of emails. Otherwise, the office was quite calm this afternoon.
Brady in Brussels
Not much to report as of late, for most of our projects are long term and ongoing. The majority of my work these past weeks has been in preparation for our UNCITRAL conference in the first week of June. I had to edit all of the texts from our list of speakers which was a grueling task. They all utilize extremely “legal” language, which means very long sentences, excessive quotations, and a complete lack of human emotion. Some of them are not native English speakers either. Thus, it took a lot of patience, concentration, and coffee to read through the 150 or so pages of text. However, I was able to write the introduction to the conference, as well as assist my boss in writing his own text on the reform of Belgian arbitration law.
I have also been working painstakingly to market out upcoming mediation training course and our postgraduate program at in international business arbitration. However, I am very excited to report that I will in fact be able to participate in our mediation training this August. This means that I will be flying out to England to subject myself to an intensive two-week training course in cross-border civil and commercial mediation. It will be a tough task, for I will be alongside very experienced lawyers and arbitrators from around the EU. Nevertheless I am of the opinion that you the best mediators have no history in litigation because the aim is to facilitate cooperation and “expand the pie” instead of reap whatever rewards are available.
Upon completion of the course, and assuming I pass the final exam, I will be a certified mediator and can apply for accreditation a various mediation centers around the world! It’s hard to say what exactly I will do with this behind me. It will afford me various job opportunities, I’m sure, but only if I decide to dedicate the next 4-5 years of my life developing a mediation practice. A lot of this I will know once I have taken the course and experienced what it is like to be a real mediator. For now, I will simply prepare myself for two weeks of non-stop lectures on mediation theory and continual mediation mock trials.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Treasurer's Office- Late April and Early May
It has been quite a while since my last post and it is definitely time to give an update on what has been happening here in Springfield. The first week in May marked the scheduled end of session and as a new-comer to Springfield, I did not know exactly what this would all entail. But I knew I would be busy- and I was very right. So now that I am less busy I have some time to write what is sure to be a long post.
Monday, April 26th was an uneventual day in the Capitol. Everyone was gearing up for what would likely be a busy week as the General Assembly prepared for adjournment in the upcoming weeks. The House would be in session starting at noon on Tuesday, with a committee hearing scheduled for 9 am. It was a little unusual to have a committee hearing scheduled before session on the first day legislators were in town for the week, but regardless, I volunteered to go.
Therefore, on Tuesday I was sitting in the House Judiciary I committee bright and early at 9. Only one matter was before the committee and it was the possible constitutional amendment that would change the redistricting process that takes place within the state after every census. The amendment had already passed out of the Senate on a partisan vote and was now in the House. I knew this matter would likely take a while because it is a very controversial issue, but when I finally left the committee 4 hours later I felt I had learned enough about the redistricting process to be at least somewhat of an expert. Even though it was the longest committee I had ever sat through by far, it was interesting at least. Debate became very heated at times, both from legislators and witnesses. Although session was scheduled to start at 12, the hearing was no where near finished by that time and the start time was pushed back until 1:15. After the proposed amendment (which was a Democratic initiative, FYI) was debated for over three hours, the Republican House leader came to the committee to present the GOP's version of a redistricting amendment. The chances of the Republican initiative making it out of committee was essentially none, but I am assuming their idea was presented to be sure they at least had their voices heard and to vocalize their discontent with the Democratic idea. After the Republican initiative was debate for over an hour, the committee chairperson finally halted debate and took a role call. The Republican initiative failed and the Democratic initiative passed, both votes going according to party lines. Whew! Finally time to return to the office.
The rest of Tuesday involved more listening to debate from the House floor. When bills were being debate that were not central to the Treasurer's Office, I wrote up an extensive report on each of the redistricting proposals that had come before the committee. Again, I felt I could at least be somewhat of an expert now! When session ended at 5, several committees had hearings scheduled so I attended one of those and was out of the office relatively early that night.
Thankfully Wednesday did not start off with a four hour committee hearing. The House had several committees before session, but it was nothing exciting. Session then went from 11-3:45 which made for a somewhat long day sitting at my desk and listening to debate. I assumed committees would decide to hold hearings after session, but they did not and I left the office a little before 5. That was the earliest I have ever left on a day when the GA was in session for sure.
Session on Thursday, the 29th began a little earlier than expected, at 10. Bills were debated all day. The biggest one of note was the redistricting amendment that I had learned so much on in committee. After approximately 2 hours of debate, the amendment failed on the House floor, with some Democrats even voting against it. After all that debate, I was a little surprised to see it fail!!
Friday saw more debate in both the House and the Senate, but it wasn't anything terribly exciting. Both chambers wrapped up in the afternoon. There was a definite tone to the day that said "go home this weekend and prepare for a long weekend ahead".
Monday, May 3rd brought a lot of speculation as to what the coming week would bring. Would the GA finish by Friday? Or should we plan to be here over the weekend? And how late would we be staying every night? It was definitely a busy week and most of those questions would not be answered until late Friday.
Both chambers began session at noon. House committeess started at 3 so I attended the Financial Institutions committee (I learned a lot about how interest is calculated on loans made to businesses and corporations- probably more than I really wanted to know but oh well).
Tuesday morning started out pretty slowly. There were several committee hearings before the House began at noon but the items in the committees were nothing that our office cared about- at least we thought anyway. When the GA is attempting to adjourn, often things are done very quickly and without much notice. Ordinarily, when an amendment is filed to a bill, it cannot be heard before a committee for 24 hours. However, this type of deadline is waived when the GA is trying to finish for the summer. An amendment was filed Tuesday morning, heard in committee and passed out all before 10 AM. This type of action makes for very hectic days. Fortunately it was an amendment that our office definitely wanted to pay attention to, but it was not something that directly affected our office. I had even checked what amendments had been filed within 15 minutes of arriving at work that day (anticipating this sort of quick movement) and it was not on the computer system yet. I checked back 45 minutes later and it was there, but had already been passed by that time.
I listened to the House for the remainder of the day and they adjourned, somewhat to my surprise, around 4:45. The Senate had committee hearings and session until 7.
Wednesday morning proved to be somewhat of a repeat of Tuesday morning, as an amendment was filed, heard in committee, and passed all before 10. This one dealt with the state's payment to pension plans, which is a huge topic in Illinois government right now. The amendment (which erased the contents of the previous bill, or "shelled" it, and inserted completely new contents and became the bill once it was adopted) provided that the State borrow money to pay for the pension system payments the state is required to make. Because the State is in such a poor financial situation at the moment, the only two options for funding pensions is to either borrow to make the payments or skip making payments completely.
Amendments containing big pieces of legislation continued to come out all day and I felt like I was constantly sending out emails to alert our office of what legislation was moving. On the floor, one very controversial bill was discussed for well over 2 hours. The bill would have allowed parents of the children in the Chicago Public School system to use vouchers from the State to send their children to private schools. Listening to the debate was very interesting. This was easily the most divisive bill I have heard thus far. Legislators from Chicago were either wholly for it or extremely against it. Both Democrats and Republicans stood up and spoke in favor of and against the bill. In the end, the bill failed by almost 15 votes.
Thursday was the longest and busiest day of my internship thus far. I checked what amendments had been filed all day and it seemed there was always something new and of major substance happening. I was again sending out emails to get feedback on the amendments and to see if any impacted our office in a negative way. One the House floor, several big items related to the budget were discussed and surprisingly most of them failed.
The House recessed at 5 to go to committees and came back to the floor around 7. They then debated a bill to reform policies of the McCormick Convention Center in Chicago that had been recieving a lot of press lately. The debate lasted for a little whle, but surprisingly the bill passed out very easily. The House then adjourned for the evening around 9.
The Senate was a different story. An appropriations committee scheduled a hearing for 9 to discuss the amendments that would make up the State's budget for FY 2011. The Senators came back to the floor around 10:30, only to have the Republicans go into caucus immediately. Debate finally began on the bill around 11:30 and lasted until after 1. All of the amendments passed out on partisan lines (with a few exceptions) but the debate still lasted for a long while. I left the office around 1:15 AM after a very long day.
The start of the workday on Friday came much quicker than I would have liked after being at work so late on Thursday. The House went into session at 9:30 and passed out one bill but then went in caucus. Rumor was the Democrats did not have enough votes to pass the same budget that the Senate had passed out the night before. Governor Quinn even came into the Democratic caucus to try to get more members to vote for the bill. In the end, the bill was never called in the House. Speaker Madigan said that the GA will be returning at some indefinite point in the future to finish the budget and other things that were not finished prior to them leaving on Friday. I was shocked to find myself leaving the Capitol at 7 that night, when I had originally assumed that I would be there very late Friday and possibly Saturday.
There was a lot left unfinished so it will be interesting to see what happens in the coming weeks!
Sorry for such a long post!
Monday, April 26th was an uneventual day in the Capitol. Everyone was gearing up for what would likely be a busy week as the General Assembly prepared for adjournment in the upcoming weeks. The House would be in session starting at noon on Tuesday, with a committee hearing scheduled for 9 am. It was a little unusual to have a committee hearing scheduled before session on the first day legislators were in town for the week, but regardless, I volunteered to go.
Therefore, on Tuesday I was sitting in the House Judiciary I committee bright and early at 9. Only one matter was before the committee and it was the possible constitutional amendment that would change the redistricting process that takes place within the state after every census. The amendment had already passed out of the Senate on a partisan vote and was now in the House. I knew this matter would likely take a while because it is a very controversial issue, but when I finally left the committee 4 hours later I felt I had learned enough about the redistricting process to be at least somewhat of an expert. Even though it was the longest committee I had ever sat through by far, it was interesting at least. Debate became very heated at times, both from legislators and witnesses. Although session was scheduled to start at 12, the hearing was no where near finished by that time and the start time was pushed back until 1:15. After the proposed amendment (which was a Democratic initiative, FYI) was debated for over three hours, the Republican House leader came to the committee to present the GOP's version of a redistricting amendment. The chances of the Republican initiative making it out of committee was essentially none, but I am assuming their idea was presented to be sure they at least had their voices heard and to vocalize their discontent with the Democratic idea. After the Republican initiative was debate for over an hour, the committee chairperson finally halted debate and took a role call. The Republican initiative failed and the Democratic initiative passed, both votes going according to party lines. Whew! Finally time to return to the office.
The rest of Tuesday involved more listening to debate from the House floor. When bills were being debate that were not central to the Treasurer's Office, I wrote up an extensive report on each of the redistricting proposals that had come before the committee. Again, I felt I could at least be somewhat of an expert now! When session ended at 5, several committees had hearings scheduled so I attended one of those and was out of the office relatively early that night.
Thankfully Wednesday did not start off with a four hour committee hearing. The House had several committees before session, but it was nothing exciting. Session then went from 11-3:45 which made for a somewhat long day sitting at my desk and listening to debate. I assumed committees would decide to hold hearings after session, but they did not and I left the office a little before 5. That was the earliest I have ever left on a day when the GA was in session for sure.
Session on Thursday, the 29th began a little earlier than expected, at 10. Bills were debated all day. The biggest one of note was the redistricting amendment that I had learned so much on in committee. After approximately 2 hours of debate, the amendment failed on the House floor, with some Democrats even voting against it. After all that debate, I was a little surprised to see it fail!!
Friday saw more debate in both the House and the Senate, but it wasn't anything terribly exciting. Both chambers wrapped up in the afternoon. There was a definite tone to the day that said "go home this weekend and prepare for a long weekend ahead".
Monday, May 3rd brought a lot of speculation as to what the coming week would bring. Would the GA finish by Friday? Or should we plan to be here over the weekend? And how late would we be staying every night? It was definitely a busy week and most of those questions would not be answered until late Friday.
Both chambers began session at noon. House committeess started at 3 so I attended the Financial Institutions committee (I learned a lot about how interest is calculated on loans made to businesses and corporations- probably more than I really wanted to know but oh well).
Tuesday morning started out pretty slowly. There were several committee hearings before the House began at noon but the items in the committees were nothing that our office cared about- at least we thought anyway. When the GA is attempting to adjourn, often things are done very quickly and without much notice. Ordinarily, when an amendment is filed to a bill, it cannot be heard before a committee for 24 hours. However, this type of deadline is waived when the GA is trying to finish for the summer. An amendment was filed Tuesday morning, heard in committee and passed out all before 10 AM. This type of action makes for very hectic days. Fortunately it was an amendment that our office definitely wanted to pay attention to, but it was not something that directly affected our office. I had even checked what amendments had been filed within 15 minutes of arriving at work that day (anticipating this sort of quick movement) and it was not on the computer system yet. I checked back 45 minutes later and it was there, but had already been passed by that time.
I listened to the House for the remainder of the day and they adjourned, somewhat to my surprise, around 4:45. The Senate had committee hearings and session until 7.
Wednesday morning proved to be somewhat of a repeat of Tuesday morning, as an amendment was filed, heard in committee, and passed all before 10. This one dealt with the state's payment to pension plans, which is a huge topic in Illinois government right now. The amendment (which erased the contents of the previous bill, or "shelled" it, and inserted completely new contents and became the bill once it was adopted) provided that the State borrow money to pay for the pension system payments the state is required to make. Because the State is in such a poor financial situation at the moment, the only two options for funding pensions is to either borrow to make the payments or skip making payments completely.
Amendments containing big pieces of legislation continued to come out all day and I felt like I was constantly sending out emails to alert our office of what legislation was moving. On the floor, one very controversial bill was discussed for well over 2 hours. The bill would have allowed parents of the children in the Chicago Public School system to use vouchers from the State to send their children to private schools. Listening to the debate was very interesting. This was easily the most divisive bill I have heard thus far. Legislators from Chicago were either wholly for it or extremely against it. Both Democrats and Republicans stood up and spoke in favor of and against the bill. In the end, the bill failed by almost 15 votes.
Thursday was the longest and busiest day of my internship thus far. I checked what amendments had been filed all day and it seemed there was always something new and of major substance happening. I was again sending out emails to get feedback on the amendments and to see if any impacted our office in a negative way. One the House floor, several big items related to the budget were discussed and surprisingly most of them failed.
The House recessed at 5 to go to committees and came back to the floor around 7. They then debated a bill to reform policies of the McCormick Convention Center in Chicago that had been recieving a lot of press lately. The debate lasted for a little whle, but surprisingly the bill passed out very easily. The House then adjourned for the evening around 9.
The Senate was a different story. An appropriations committee scheduled a hearing for 9 to discuss the amendments that would make up the State's budget for FY 2011. The Senators came back to the floor around 10:30, only to have the Republicans go into caucus immediately. Debate finally began on the bill around 11:30 and lasted until after 1. All of the amendments passed out on partisan lines (with a few exceptions) but the debate still lasted for a long while. I left the office around 1:15 AM after a very long day.
The start of the workday on Friday came much quicker than I would have liked after being at work so late on Thursday. The House went into session at 9:30 and passed out one bill but then went in caucus. Rumor was the Democrats did not have enough votes to pass the same budget that the Senate had passed out the night before. Governor Quinn even came into the Democratic caucus to try to get more members to vote for the bill. In the end, the bill was never called in the House. Speaker Madigan said that the GA will be returning at some indefinite point in the future to finish the budget and other things that were not finished prior to them leaving on Friday. I was shocked to find myself leaving the Capitol at 7 that night, when I had originally assumed that I would be there very late Friday and possibly Saturday.
There was a lot left unfinished so it will be interesting to see what happens in the coming weeks!
Sorry for such a long post!
Monday, May 17, 2010
First post from the International Atomic Energy Agency
So, I just realized that I have been neglecting the CLP blog this afternoon and will try to bring you up to date on my goings on in Europe.
I worked at the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy for around 3 months, and really enjoyed my time there. The Institute really did a phenomenal job of helping me to realize what it is exactly that I might want to do after school and gave me good insight into what it is like to work at an NGO, and I discovered that I really enjoy it. Living in Berlin was also just an amazing experience; I don’t think there are many cities out there that can compete with the German Capital.
But, despite all of this, I decided to try my hand at another internship in Vienna, Austria, working for the International Atomic Energy Agency in the UNO City. So I packed my bags and jumped on a train to Vienna, and will be living here until August.
I first realized just how different the two internships would be when I arrived at the Vienna International Centre and had to go through something similar to airport security, which I soon realized I would have to do everyday before going to work, which is quite obnoxious. Once through security I got my first real look at how large the centre is, with six different towers, some with around 28 floors (which doesn’t seem big for us Chicagoans, but over in Europe is pretty tall) and around 5000 total employees, the complex is pretty large.
After my orientation I found out the biggest difference between the internships, which was my workspace. In Berlin I shared a workspace with about 8 other people, which, needless to say, would get pretty tedious. In Vienna, I have my own office, that is in a room fairly close to the same size as the one I use to share. This sounds like it would be a nice change, but, after much comparison, I think that I preferred to work closely with other people, it was easy to communicate, and was generally fun. Although in Vienna I have a nice 24th floor view of the Danube to make up for the lack of fun.
What has surprised me most through the process of changing internships is how similar the work is at the IAEA and ICD. I thought that going from an NGO to an IGO would be a completely different experience; however, it seems that, for the most part, things run in a very similar way, with the same types of tasks in need of completion in both organizations. This being said, its easy to see how great of an effect that bureaucracy has on efficiency at an IGO. It seems that everything needs to be approved by several people before anything can be completed.
Within the IAEA I am working on the Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy (PACT), which currently is the major focus of the entire organization. As of now I have been working mostly as something of a press officer for the programme. I write information for the website, write correspondence for the office, construct and finalize official documents and write news stories. I just had my last story published on the front page of the IAEA website last week, which was exciting.
Our programme just launched a new project called the VUCCnet, which is a virtual university for cancer education in Africa. It’s meant to increase the number of medical practitioners dealing with cancer in the region, while keeping costs as low as possible. This form of education will also hopefully decrease the effects of brain drain in the area. I have been working almost exclusively for this project and have developed an increased interest in Africa. Its been a good experience so far and I hope that the interesting tasks keep coming.
I worked at the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy for around 3 months, and really enjoyed my time there. The Institute really did a phenomenal job of helping me to realize what it is exactly that I might want to do after school and gave me good insight into what it is like to work at an NGO, and I discovered that I really enjoy it. Living in Berlin was also just an amazing experience; I don’t think there are many cities out there that can compete with the German Capital.
But, despite all of this, I decided to try my hand at another internship in Vienna, Austria, working for the International Atomic Energy Agency in the UNO City. So I packed my bags and jumped on a train to Vienna, and will be living here until August.
I first realized just how different the two internships would be when I arrived at the Vienna International Centre and had to go through something similar to airport security, which I soon realized I would have to do everyday before going to work, which is quite obnoxious. Once through security I got my first real look at how large the centre is, with six different towers, some with around 28 floors (which doesn’t seem big for us Chicagoans, but over in Europe is pretty tall) and around 5000 total employees, the complex is pretty large.
After my orientation I found out the biggest difference between the internships, which was my workspace. In Berlin I shared a workspace with about 8 other people, which, needless to say, would get pretty tedious. In Vienna, I have my own office, that is in a room fairly close to the same size as the one I use to share. This sounds like it would be a nice change, but, after much comparison, I think that I preferred to work closely with other people, it was easy to communicate, and was generally fun. Although in Vienna I have a nice 24th floor view of the Danube to make up for the lack of fun.
What has surprised me most through the process of changing internships is how similar the work is at the IAEA and ICD. I thought that going from an NGO to an IGO would be a completely different experience; however, it seems that, for the most part, things run in a very similar way, with the same types of tasks in need of completion in both organizations. This being said, its easy to see how great of an effect that bureaucracy has on efficiency at an IGO. It seems that everything needs to be approved by several people before anything can be completed.
Within the IAEA I am working on the Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy (PACT), which currently is the major focus of the entire organization. As of now I have been working mostly as something of a press officer for the programme. I write information for the website, write correspondence for the office, construct and finalize official documents and write news stories. I just had my last story published on the front page of the IAEA website last week, which was exciting.
Our programme just launched a new project called the VUCCnet, which is a virtual university for cancer education in Africa. It’s meant to increase the number of medical practitioners dealing with cancer in the region, while keeping costs as low as possible. This form of education will also hopefully decrease the effects of brain drain in the area. I have been working almost exclusively for this project and have developed an increased interest in Africa. Its been a good experience so far and I hope that the interesting tasks keep coming.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Senator Michael Frerichs Office Week Seventeen
Week Seventeen:
Monday May 10th, 2010:
PERSONAL DAY: FIANCE’S GRANDFATHER FUNERAL- BELLEVUE, MICHIGAN
Tuesday May 11th, 2010:
SICK LEAVE: MCKINLEY HEALTH CENTER DIAGNOSIS: SINUS INFECTION
Wednesday May 12th, 2010:
SICK LEAVE: MCKINLEY HEALTH CENTER DIAGNOSIS: SINUS INFECTION
Thursday May 13th, 2010:
Due to a series of personal days accompanied by a short sick leave I have returned to the office to a firm list of tasks to complete.
The local newspapers which the office receives on a daily basis as should be expected began to form a considerable stack on the back counter due to my absence. As I still did not feel 100% this morning I began my time in the office clipping newspapers and preparing “Saw You in the News” clippings for later mailing.
The remainder of the day I had composed an appropriate response to the series of emails which littered the inbox with concern and opposition to “Pension Holidays”.
Intermittent constituent phone calls and daily mail sorting served as an effort to halt any and all progress which I was making on these tasks.
Friday May 14th, 2010:
I came into the office this morning and first logged onto my email account and saw a reply from Mardia Bishop of the Communications Department regarding the COMM 101 TA position. The email simply stated that although my resume depicts admirable accomplishments, others are better qualified to fill the position. The stress related to finding a TA or RA position continues to mount and this morning it exceeded my ability to cope. The uncertainty of my academic future which undoubtedly is spurred by the University of Illinois and State of Illinois budget crisis is overwhelming.
I decided to take an early lunch in an effort to calm myself. I organized a meeting with Dr. Greco at which we discussed the current situation at length and possible solutions. I asked Laurie thereafter if I could have the remainder of the afternoon off to call around to different departments to seek out any available positions and she obliged as she is certainly aware of the importance this issue holds with concern to my education.
State Senator Michael Frerichs Week 16
The slow pace which characterized the office the past week appears as if it will continue this week. The Illinois State legislature is in the final scheduled week of session. However, the budget process may delay the adjournment date of the legislature. Or, perhaps the Illinois legislature will adjourn as scheduled and decide to call a special session in the near future to work out a feasible State budget.
However, as all of us are aware the wheels of government tend to turn at a slow pace. The office has a few constituent letters which address a variety of issues which still need to see substantial action before a proper response can be authored. Or perhaps these various pieces of legislation will ultimately be held in either the House or the Senate and die. The pace of which the legislation conducts business basically decides the pace of business in district offices etc. The emails in the inbox which continue to mount with respect to these issues too cannot be responded too.
A few email topics which we were waiting a proper response for could be cleared this week: Emergency Budget Act, Education Funding related issues (SB2494), and HB4673
Therefore, all the work that remains in the office currently is the Saw You in the News newspaper clippings. Each morning this week I first clipped all the photos which were related to constituents of the 52nd District and processed them (laminated, sought address, placed in envelope). However, mailing of these is too delayed as our office has now run out of 2 and 4 cent stamps. The weight of mail dictates cost of mailing and in this fiscal crisis it would certainly be reckless to place an additional full stamp on an envelope when only a small fraction of that cost is necessary; therefore these mailings will once again continue to stack up until these stamps arrive.
Other than that, I worked diligently on a few constituent issues throughout the week. Unfortunately for the sake of the constituents are office could be of little to no assistance. An individual called in about standing water at the edge of her property (husband has a disease due to standing water) The property is in fact state property; however, due to a clause it is the duty of the residential property owner to conduct the proper repairs as it allows access to the highway (DOT).
Too, I worked on a series of constituent requests which involve incarcerated individuals around the state. Unfortunately, many of these requests need to be redirected to their counselor.
The week ended early as I had to leave Thursday after work to attend the funeral of my fiance's grandfather who resided in Michigan.
However, as all of us are aware the wheels of government tend to turn at a slow pace. The office has a few constituent letters which address a variety of issues which still need to see substantial action before a proper response can be authored. Or perhaps these various pieces of legislation will ultimately be held in either the House or the Senate and die. The pace of which the legislation conducts business basically decides the pace of business in district offices etc. The emails in the inbox which continue to mount with respect to these issues too cannot be responded too.
A few email topics which we were waiting a proper response for could be cleared this week: Emergency Budget Act, Education Funding related issues (SB2494), and HB4673
Therefore, all the work that remains in the office currently is the Saw You in the News newspaper clippings. Each morning this week I first clipped all the photos which were related to constituents of the 52nd District and processed them (laminated, sought address, placed in envelope). However, mailing of these is too delayed as our office has now run out of 2 and 4 cent stamps. The weight of mail dictates cost of mailing and in this fiscal crisis it would certainly be reckless to place an additional full stamp on an envelope when only a small fraction of that cost is necessary; therefore these mailings will once again continue to stack up until these stamps arrive.
Other than that, I worked diligently on a few constituent issues throughout the week. Unfortunately for the sake of the constituents are office could be of little to no assistance. An individual called in about standing water at the edge of her property (husband has a disease due to standing water) The property is in fact state property; however, due to a clause it is the duty of the residential property owner to conduct the proper repairs as it allows access to the highway (DOT).
Too, I worked on a series of constituent requests which involve incarcerated individuals around the state. Unfortunately, many of these requests need to be redirected to their counselor.
The week ended early as I had to leave Thursday after work to attend the funeral of my fiance's grandfather who resided in Michigan.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
State Intern Continued
I really can't believe that it is already May. I have seen other interns in my bureau come and go and I am still here. A lot has been going on, meetings with State and USAID, attending hearings for House Foreign Affairs, Senate Foreign Relations etc. It has been a great experience and since my last post I have done a lot, much of which I can't really discuss in detail, explaining the frequency of my posts. There was a nuclear summit here, causing panic on the metro system, and there was also a volcano in Iceland that grounded a lot of diplomatic flights that had been planned. I finally got to see Lizzy and Sara too!
At State, I have been doing lots of research as usual, I helped my bureaus Green Team organize a park clean-up to improve the neighborhood, and make their offices more green. Also as an intern you pretty much get volunteered for everything..so I helped with a Model UN Conference that was being held at State. It was really interesting, there were high schoolers, and even middle schoolers pretending to represent countries in UNGA. They even had remarks from the A/S of my bureau which covers all the international organizations. I realize how great it is to have the government immediately around, I wish that I would have been introduced to diplomacy at such a young age. I did meet some students though, that had lived in Washington their whole lives and have never been the U.S. Capitol building which is hard to believe.
Speaking of the Capitol, I am going to add a new chapter to my residency starting next week, I'll be working for a Senator on the hill. Hopefully I will be working with her senior foreign affairs staffer, but I am interested in seeing how politics works on that side of town. State doesn't report to any sort of constituency, so the actions of the employees are much different in a personal office of a senator. I also do not know my way around the Capitol building, and the Senate office buildings, so that will be interesting to learn. I was told there will be up to 30 interns in the office which is a little weird to me who has been in this office with two interns. But we will see how it goes, I will report back on that later.
At State, I have been doing lots of research as usual, I helped my bureaus Green Team organize a park clean-up to improve the neighborhood, and make their offices more green. Also as an intern you pretty much get volunteered for everything..so I helped with a Model UN Conference that was being held at State. It was really interesting, there were high schoolers, and even middle schoolers pretending to represent countries in UNGA. They even had remarks from the A/S of my bureau which covers all the international organizations. I realize how great it is to have the government immediately around, I wish that I would have been introduced to diplomacy at such a young age. I did meet some students though, that had lived in Washington their whole lives and have never been the U.S. Capitol building which is hard to believe.
Speaking of the Capitol, I am going to add a new chapter to my residency starting next week, I'll be working for a Senator on the hill. Hopefully I will be working with her senior foreign affairs staffer, but I am interested in seeing how politics works on that side of town. State doesn't report to any sort of constituency, so the actions of the employees are much different in a personal office of a senator. I also do not know my way around the Capitol building, and the Senate office buildings, so that will be interesting to learn. I was told there will be up to 30 interns in the office which is a little weird to me who has been in this office with two interns. But we will see how it goes, I will report back on that later.
Friday, May 7, 2010
State Senator Michael Frerichs Week 15
Although I had anticipated a busy week in the office it appears once again it will be a slow week in the district office. This week has been another short week in the office as I had to travel to Chicago Wednesday evening in order to attend a doctor's appointment on Thursday afternoon in downtown Chicago. As expected, I will have a repeat of a surgery which I had at the age of 10 which will help to correct the effects CP has had with my walking stride. Ultimately, it is best as it will prevent any major issues later in life. Therefore, expect a two week sabbatical from all blog posts June 3rd-June 21st as I recover and rehabilitate.
The week in the district office has been absolutely dead. Many of our interns finished their open projects. Our Chief of Staff Laurie was out of the office most of the week ill. Therefore, I made the executive decision to send many of the interns home early to allow them further time to prepare for finals as our office was in great shape with no constituent letters which we could respond to in the box, emails were down, and newspapers clippings were complete.
The week in the district office has been absolutely dead. Many of our interns finished their open projects. Our Chief of Staff Laurie was out of the office most of the week ill. Therefore, I made the executive decision to send many of the interns home early to allow them further time to prepare for finals as our office was in great shape with no constituent letters which we could respond to in the box, emails were down, and newspapers clippings were complete.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Brady in Brussels
These couple weeks were exceptionally stressful. It was suddenly decided that we needed to make and distribute brochures for two of our biggest upcoming events and with little background in marketing, this proved to be a very difficult task. Not only was it painstakingly difficult to create a proper brochure layout on Microsoft Word (the only accessible program on my computer), but I had to constantly corresponded with the lecturers of our training courses to make sure their pictures and bios met their “professionally expectations,” so to speak. This meant I had to constantly revise the slightest of issues at a moment’s notice. Needless to say, the environment in the office was chaotic. Luckily we managed to piece it all together on time and are very happy with the results. I have emerged from the experience with a new threshold of patience.
Other than the brochures I have begun editing the texts we are receiving from the speakers at our upcoming conference. I am a bit worried because we do not have has many registered attendees as we would like at the moment, but my boss seems fairly confident that many people will register in the final two weeks when they are certain of their availability, which is understandable (you cannot imagine how busy some of these international lawyers are). I have also had the opportunity to read several books on mediation and negotiation that were sent to us by a major international law publisher. I wrote several reviews for our newsletter.
I was very happy to hear that we were nominated for international firm of the year by Corp. International, the UK based business magazine that I wrote an article and bio for. I submitted our nomination form and am hoping to receive some very good news in the next month. Having been responsible for this project myself it will feel great if we win. The magazine has indeed taken quite a liking to our organization, and will include an interview with our President in the upcoming edition as well.
Finally, I have been working on putting together our grant proposal for the EU Commission. We have received confirmed acceptances from two partners (one of which is coincidentally an NGO I applied to for my residency) and will begin working with them to come up with a project outline and financial breakdown. This will be very time consuming and technical. However, after the conference in the beginning of June we will have several other interns at the office that may assist us.
As for this week, my parents are using me as an excuse for vacation and are staying in Belgium for ten days which means I am temporarily changing jobs from intern to tour guide.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Sara Cline- May 4, 2010
Hi Everyone. Sorry this post is coming a few days late.. I finished at Patton Boggs last week- so didn't have time to post with all the packing (woof), tying up loose ends, and traveling. Anyway, I finished up last week doing wrap up on the Greek visits. There are currently 210 co-sponsors for CHIA in the house, which is extremely close to our goal of 218 (to achieve a majority).
Although I have left PB, I'm going to try to stay involved as much as possible. I'm currently back in Champaign and will be through graduation. This summer I'll be continuing my residency with a public policy internship at Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council- a group that represents all of Chicago's hospitals. I don't start until June, so won't have any posts until then. Hope everyone else is enjoying their internships.
Although I have left PB, I'm going to try to stay involved as much as possible. I'm currently back in Champaign and will be through graduation. This summer I'll be continuing my residency with a public policy internship at Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council- a group that represents all of Chicago's hospitals. I don't start until June, so won't have any posts until then. Hope everyone else is enjoying their internships.
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