I awoke this morning completely exhausted. Although I had slept for 7 hours I felt as if I had not slept a wink. Sadly, this set the tone for the entire day in the office; especially since I decided I did not want to grab a cup of coffee on the way in to work. What was I thinking!!!
Monday was a slow day in the office; partly due to my physical state. In the midst of session it is essential that our office keep contact with the individuals who inspired key pieces of legislation. Therefore, today I contacted a variety of individuals with regard to legislation to provide an update.
Too, although I had worked hard weeks prior to diminish the stack of newspapers on the back counter in the office; once again it had reappeared. I believe the newspapers although of minimal importance in terms of daily office activities must become an object of concern for a brief period on a daily basis unless I want to become overwhelmed every so often by the task.
Further, I worked on a series of constituent issues in an effort to decrease the overall workload for all in the office.
Tuesday was a brief day in the office for me as I had several errands to run before I left for Springfield that night. I took a half-day and left the office at one. Therefore I completed only basic tasks. Importantly, I began to look over and correct the letters which were to be sent out to primary winners and losers.
Wednesday I arrived in the Capitol at 8:30. The senator did not arrive into the office until near 10 a.m. He suggested I take a tour of the Capitol until he arrived; although having worked in the Capitol before I decided to relax at his front desk and wait patiently.
Since I had not been granted access as of Wednesday morning I worked in the senator's office on his MacBook . The senator asked that I create a spreadsheet which included all of his active substantive bills which were still in assignments. Therefore, the senator would be able to know which bills he would need to request be pushed out of assignments. Too, I made a few phone calls relative to constituent issues before he returned. Sadly, thereafter without computer access the remainder of the day I sat at his front desk, answered phones, and stared into the abyss.
Thursday too began with a delay. Once again I had arrived at 8:30 as asked but with no computer access I was not able to be productive. The senator arrived at 10 a.m. After a conversation with Toby of Senate communication staff, the senator had him bring me his MacBook so that I may be a productive member of staff. The senator and Toby exchanged brief words on the bureaucratic nature of the Senate.
With computer access, I finished checking the accuracy of the primary results letters and the senator signed them which enabled me to finally send them out. Thereafter, I worked on a spreadsheet of all agencies which offer forms of help to constituents in Champaign County. In addition, I answered phones, and served as first point of contact for those wishing to meet with the senator.
Friday the senator and Laurie were in and out of the office. I finished correctly a few primary letters and prepped them to send. Too, I spent the majority of the day on a variety of constituent calls. I finished the day working on a few Saw You in the News mailings.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Sara Cline- February 26, 2010
Not much to report- did dppropriation request forms all week. The deadline for many Members' forms is today, so we have been working on that non-stop all week.
Next week's post will likely contain more.. I'll be lobbying on the Hill on Tuesday and should have a greater variety of projects that I am working on.
One exciting note- one of the associates just got back from 7 months in Afghanistan and is going to be writing a book about his expereince and asked me to help him do research for it!
Next week's post will likely contain more.. I'll be lobbying on the Hill on Tuesday and should have a greater variety of projects that I am working on.
One exciting note- one of the associates just got back from 7 months in Afghanistan and is going to be writing a book about his expereince and asked me to help him do research for it!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Almost 2 months at AIA
This is a late post, and will likely be a short one as well. Last week was mostly spent finalizing the course outline for the EMTPJ project, for it was sent out at the beginning of this week to all of the collaborating mediation centers.
I have registed myself for several conferences in Belgium related to international law, which I will attend on behalf of AIA for networking purposes. This I like, for I have the opportunity to escape the confines of the office and socialize. I am confident I will be able to say very nice things about AIA as well.
Mr. Billiet, the president of AIA, will be a panel judge at an ELSA Moot Competition in Leuven next month, and so I have been helping him to look over the case material and familiarize himself with the issues. I have also begun writing a speech for him to deliver during the opening ceremonies.
I have been spending a lot of time looking for sponsors for our ongoing projects, as well as inviting speakers to our conference on UNCITRAL in June. The March newsletter is due next week as well, so I have been editing the external submissions and putting togerh my own articles for the publication. Finally, Mr. Billiet has asked that I write an article for Corporate International Magazine on international arbitration. That is all for now. I promise a more detailed, and perhaps more colorful entry next week.
I have registed myself for several conferences in Belgium related to international law, which I will attend on behalf of AIA for networking purposes. This I like, for I have the opportunity to escape the confines of the office and socialize. I am confident I will be able to say very nice things about AIA as well.
Mr. Billiet, the president of AIA, will be a panel judge at an ELSA Moot Competition in Leuven next month, and so I have been helping him to look over the case material and familiarize himself with the issues. I have also begun writing a speech for him to deliver during the opening ceremonies.
I have been spending a lot of time looking for sponsors for our ongoing projects, as well as inviting speakers to our conference on UNCITRAL in June. The March newsletter is due next week as well, so I have been editing the external submissions and putting togerh my own articles for the publication. Finally, Mr. Billiet has asked that I write an article for Corporate International Magazine on international arbitration. That is all for now. I promise a more detailed, and perhaps more colorful entry next week.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Week 3 at the icd
Last week was a great week. On Monday I was permanently assigned to work on the news team, which is what I wanted. The news team tends to get the more interesting and relevant work, so I’m glad to get to continue to be working with them.
I also had my first case study approved, which means I will be starting my own research project this week. My topic is the role of cultural exchange in the development of democratic institutions in the United Nations. I had my first interview for the study on Thursday with Andreas Bummel, founding director of the Committee for a Democratic United Nations and head of the Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly. The interview was over the phone since he was out of Berlin, but it lasted around a half hour and went really well. I was surprised by how much I actually liked conducting interviews. It is like a game that you play trying to get the interviewee to say what you want them to. However, since the interview was over the phone I’ve been having a really hard time transcribing it from the Dictaphone, as it’s hard to make out exactly what is being said through the static. I’m hoping to get the interview transcribed and a tentative outline of my project written up by the end of next week. I also managed to write two other proposals for case studies this week, although I think I might wait until I’m finished with the current one before I try to get them approved.
There was also a conference this week at the icd on cooperation between Latin America and Europe. I thought that this topic sounded interesting so I went to see one of the speakers only to find out that they were speaking Spanish, which was a bummer. I did, however, get to cover events taking place at the European Commission office in Berlin and the Bundestag (German Parliament). At the EU Commission I was covering a speech by Dr. Ulrich Brückner, a Stanford professor working for Team Europe, a group that works to educate the world on the role of the European Union. Following this speech we went to the Reichstag, where we heard another speech and got a chance to tour the Reichstag building. This was something that was on my list of “tourist” things to do, so it was nice to be able to do it during work, which also allowed me to skip the lines.
The rest of the week was spent writing the academic report on the Berlin International Economic Conference. This is interesting work, but requires a lot of time spent watching video footage from speeches and even more time spent rummaging through old notes trying to find particular information. Hopefully we will be able to get it published in the near future, if our boss is ever able to decide exactly which format he wants it to be in. That’s all for this week. Tschüss aus Berlin.
I also had my first case study approved, which means I will be starting my own research project this week. My topic is the role of cultural exchange in the development of democratic institutions in the United Nations. I had my first interview for the study on Thursday with Andreas Bummel, founding director of the Committee for a Democratic United Nations and head of the Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly. The interview was over the phone since he was out of Berlin, but it lasted around a half hour and went really well. I was surprised by how much I actually liked conducting interviews. It is like a game that you play trying to get the interviewee to say what you want them to. However, since the interview was over the phone I’ve been having a really hard time transcribing it from the Dictaphone, as it’s hard to make out exactly what is being said through the static. I’m hoping to get the interview transcribed and a tentative outline of my project written up by the end of next week. I also managed to write two other proposals for case studies this week, although I think I might wait until I’m finished with the current one before I try to get them approved.
There was also a conference this week at the icd on cooperation between Latin America and Europe. I thought that this topic sounded interesting so I went to see one of the speakers only to find out that they were speaking Spanish, which was a bummer. I did, however, get to cover events taking place at the European Commission office in Berlin and the Bundestag (German Parliament). At the EU Commission I was covering a speech by Dr. Ulrich Brückner, a Stanford professor working for Team Europe, a group that works to educate the world on the role of the European Union. Following this speech we went to the Reichstag, where we heard another speech and got a chance to tour the Reichstag building. This was something that was on my list of “tourist” things to do, so it was nice to be able to do it during work, which also allowed me to skip the lines.
The rest of the week was spent writing the academic report on the Berlin International Economic Conference. This is interesting work, but requires a lot of time spent watching video footage from speeches and even more time spent rummaging through old notes trying to find particular information. Hopefully we will be able to get it published in the near future, if our boss is ever able to decide exactly which format he wants it to be in. That’s all for this week. Tschüss aus Berlin.
February 8th-19th with the Treasurer
The week of February 8th was the first full on back for state legislators after the primary. The House was back in Session on Wednesday last week, but little was accomplished while the Representatives were here. The Senate came back into Session on Monday night but it was mainly a formality as nothing was really done and they adjourned around 5:30. However, from what I have gathered, bringing the Senate in Monday night, just like having the Represenatives come back last week, is what normally happens to bring the legislators back into "legistlative mode" versus being in thier districts or campaigning more recently. Most of Monday was spent reviewing the week ahead (committee hearings scheduled mainly) and reading legislation that is continually being proposed.
On Tuesday both the House and the Senate were back in Session. Our legislative team has divided up to take care of the House and the Senate. Sheleda and I are responsible for most activities in the House and Brittany, the other intern in the office, and John deal mainly with the Senate. While it would be nice to have a little more exposure with both, dividing up responsibilities by chamber makes our office much more efficient. This way we don't always have to decide who is listening to what chamber on what day, who is going to what committee hearing, etc. I therefore listen to the House whenever they are in session. They did not do much on Tuesday because many had just arrived in town. There were committee hearings scheduled for that afternoon but many we had interest in were cancelled.
From what I have figured out so far, Wednesday seems to be the busiest in the Capitol. Legislators usually arrive in town on Tuesday and leave on Thursday so those days have tended to be a little slower because of the traveling. Wednesdays, however, have so far been packed with committee hearings and session tends to run the longest on those days. Some people may find listening to legislators discuss various issues absolutely boring but I really like listening to them. Many offices in the capitol are set up with speakers so you can hear either the House or the Senate while they are in Session without having to go to the chamber to listen. This is nice because I can look up a bill while they are discussing it to find more detail or if they are discussing a bill that is not any particular importance to our office I can work on something else at my desk. Wednesday was a very exciting day to listen to the House. The Republicans introduced a bill that would require the legislature to implement PAYGO budgeting (Nothing can be written in appropriations without first specifying where the money was going to come from- President Obama actually mentioned this in his State of the Union address to be implemented on the federal level.) However, the Speaker of the House (who chairs the Rules committee) refused to assign the bill to another committee. By keeping the bill in Rules it is essentially dead. When this happens, the member who propsed the bill can make a motion to have the bill released from rules. This however requires approval of the Majority leader, which seldom happens. The representative then called for a role call vote after many of the Republican members stood up to advocate the motion. I really enjoyed listening to the Republicans speak and hear how frustrated they are that bills like the one being discussed often fail to come out of Rules. It makes you realize how much politics can impede the legislative process. Passing a bill is often a long and tedious process to begin with, but adding politics into the process only makes it that much more difficult.
Thursday was another busy day in the office. The legislature was finished fairly early in the afternoon so legislators could drive home, but Friday and the coming Monday were both state holidays so we had to have everything ready to go for the next week, as we would only have a little time before the legislature was back in session on Tuesday.
After the long four day weekend, Tuesday the 16th started right away being extremely busy. The Legislature was due to be in Session at noon but there were many things to be taken care of first. Session did not last too long in either chamber but the afternoon was filled with committee hearings. I also lobbied Senators for the first time!! A bill that is an initiative of the Treasurer's office was going to be in committee on Wednesday afternoon and Colleen (my boss) wanted to make sure our bill had the support of the committee members. There were plans to originally have Brittany and I go with one of the staff members to observe how they lobbied a legislator before we went on our own, but in the craziness of the day that never happened and we ended up splitting up the committee members and going on our own. I went to the offices of four senators and two were in their offices that I was able to speak with (Considering that there were many committee hearings scheduled for the afternoon I thought seeing two of them wasn't too bad.) I was a little nervous before speaking with them but they were both extremely polite and listened to what I had to say before voicing their support. I was happy it worked out well!
Wendesday was likely the craziest day of Session I have experienced thus far. First, the Treasurer had a letter to send to every member of the General Assembly. I came in early knowing that this project was going to take a little bit of time and I had several other things I needed to take care of. I got started on the letter and then had to be in committee at 9:30. Unfortunately the committee was running late and they did not call the bill I was there to hear, but that happens. I also had to speak to the Senator from my home district at some point that morning because our office was hoping he would agree to co-sponsor the legislation I had been lobbying on Tuesday and I volunteered to speak with him. Before being a Senator, he was a teacher and coach at my former high school. He knows my dad (as he was a student of the Senator many years ago) and has always been very helpful to me whenever I have asked for assistance in the past. I had dropped off an analysis of the bill and my card in his office Tuesday and when I talked to him late that afternoon he asked me to come by Wednesday morning. Unfortunately he was in leadership meeting that morning so it was hard for me to track him down. I thankfully recieved a call from him 15 minutes before he was expected in caucus and had the chance to speak with him. He was going to have his staff look at the bill but he said he was considering co-sponsoring it. Hopefully he agrees to!
One of the reasons the capitol was such a zoo on Wednesday had to do with the several thousand state employees that had come to the building to rally for a tax increase. They asked for an increase because they believe that an increase would prevent some state jobs from being lost. Adding several thousand people to the building makes it very hard to get around, especially on the one day you have to visit the offices of every member in the legislature to deliver a letter from the Treasurer. I had to make use of back stairways and elevators and at least I can say that it caused me to know my way around the Capitol a little better.
After delivering all of the letters, I came back to the office to listen to the House. Nothing of particular importance to our office happened, but they discussed some bills that generated a lot more discussion than I had expected.
While Wednesday in the Capitol was crazy, Thursday was almost the complete opposite. Even though the House and Senate still had session that morning, there simply wasn't much going on. The House argued a bill that would increase the penalty for persons convicted of heroin possession. While I didn't expect the bill to pass extremely quickly, there was still much more discussion about the bill than I had expected. Eventually the bill did pass though. Friday was busy taking care of any matters that had come up during the week and going through all the committee hearings posted for the following week to determine what hearings and bills the Treasurer's office was interested in.
On Tuesday both the House and the Senate were back in Session. Our legislative team has divided up to take care of the House and the Senate. Sheleda and I are responsible for most activities in the House and Brittany, the other intern in the office, and John deal mainly with the Senate. While it would be nice to have a little more exposure with both, dividing up responsibilities by chamber makes our office much more efficient. This way we don't always have to decide who is listening to what chamber on what day, who is going to what committee hearing, etc. I therefore listen to the House whenever they are in session. They did not do much on Tuesday because many had just arrived in town. There were committee hearings scheduled for that afternoon but many we had interest in were cancelled.
From what I have figured out so far, Wednesday seems to be the busiest in the Capitol. Legislators usually arrive in town on Tuesday and leave on Thursday so those days have tended to be a little slower because of the traveling. Wednesdays, however, have so far been packed with committee hearings and session tends to run the longest on those days. Some people may find listening to legislators discuss various issues absolutely boring but I really like listening to them. Many offices in the capitol are set up with speakers so you can hear either the House or the Senate while they are in Session without having to go to the chamber to listen. This is nice because I can look up a bill while they are discussing it to find more detail or if they are discussing a bill that is not any particular importance to our office I can work on something else at my desk. Wednesday was a very exciting day to listen to the House. The Republicans introduced a bill that would require the legislature to implement PAYGO budgeting (Nothing can be written in appropriations without first specifying where the money was going to come from- President Obama actually mentioned this in his State of the Union address to be implemented on the federal level.) However, the Speaker of the House (who chairs the Rules committee) refused to assign the bill to another committee. By keeping the bill in Rules it is essentially dead. When this happens, the member who propsed the bill can make a motion to have the bill released from rules. This however requires approval of the Majority leader, which seldom happens. The representative then called for a role call vote after many of the Republican members stood up to advocate the motion. I really enjoyed listening to the Republicans speak and hear how frustrated they are that bills like the one being discussed often fail to come out of Rules. It makes you realize how much politics can impede the legislative process. Passing a bill is often a long and tedious process to begin with, but adding politics into the process only makes it that much more difficult.
Thursday was another busy day in the office. The legislature was finished fairly early in the afternoon so legislators could drive home, but Friday and the coming Monday were both state holidays so we had to have everything ready to go for the next week, as we would only have a little time before the legislature was back in session on Tuesday.
After the long four day weekend, Tuesday the 16th started right away being extremely busy. The Legislature was due to be in Session at noon but there were many things to be taken care of first. Session did not last too long in either chamber but the afternoon was filled with committee hearings. I also lobbied Senators for the first time!! A bill that is an initiative of the Treasurer's office was going to be in committee on Wednesday afternoon and Colleen (my boss) wanted to make sure our bill had the support of the committee members. There were plans to originally have Brittany and I go with one of the staff members to observe how they lobbied a legislator before we went on our own, but in the craziness of the day that never happened and we ended up splitting up the committee members and going on our own. I went to the offices of four senators and two were in their offices that I was able to speak with (Considering that there were many committee hearings scheduled for the afternoon I thought seeing two of them wasn't too bad.) I was a little nervous before speaking with them but they were both extremely polite and listened to what I had to say before voicing their support. I was happy it worked out well!
Wendesday was likely the craziest day of Session I have experienced thus far. First, the Treasurer had a letter to send to every member of the General Assembly. I came in early knowing that this project was going to take a little bit of time and I had several other things I needed to take care of. I got started on the letter and then had to be in committee at 9:30. Unfortunately the committee was running late and they did not call the bill I was there to hear, but that happens. I also had to speak to the Senator from my home district at some point that morning because our office was hoping he would agree to co-sponsor the legislation I had been lobbying on Tuesday and I volunteered to speak with him. Before being a Senator, he was a teacher and coach at my former high school. He knows my dad (as he was a student of the Senator many years ago) and has always been very helpful to me whenever I have asked for assistance in the past. I had dropped off an analysis of the bill and my card in his office Tuesday and when I talked to him late that afternoon he asked me to come by Wednesday morning. Unfortunately he was in leadership meeting that morning so it was hard for me to track him down. I thankfully recieved a call from him 15 minutes before he was expected in caucus and had the chance to speak with him. He was going to have his staff look at the bill but he said he was considering co-sponsoring it. Hopefully he agrees to!
One of the reasons the capitol was such a zoo on Wednesday had to do with the several thousand state employees that had come to the building to rally for a tax increase. They asked for an increase because they believe that an increase would prevent some state jobs from being lost. Adding several thousand people to the building makes it very hard to get around, especially on the one day you have to visit the offices of every member in the legislature to deliver a letter from the Treasurer. I had to make use of back stairways and elevators and at least I can say that it caused me to know my way around the Capitol a little better.
After delivering all of the letters, I came back to the office to listen to the House. Nothing of particular importance to our office happened, but they discussed some bills that generated a lot more discussion than I had expected.
While Wednesday in the Capitol was crazy, Thursday was almost the complete opposite. Even though the House and Senate still had session that morning, there simply wasn't much going on. The House argued a bill that would increase the penalty for persons convicted of heroin possession. While I didn't expect the bill to pass extremely quickly, there was still much more discussion about the bill than I had expected. Eventually the bill did pass though. Friday was busy taking care of any matters that had come up during the week and going through all the committee hearings posted for the following week to determine what hearings and bills the Treasurer's office was interested in.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Senator Michael Frerichs Office Week Five
Monday February 15th, 2010:
Office Closed: Observance of Washington’s Birthday
Tuesday February 16th, 2010:
I finally received the write-up of the letters which the senator would like to be sent to the winners/losers of the recent primary election. Although this was meant to be a minor project, a series of obstacles have occurred which have made this task more difficult. First and foremost, I am not an expert at the creation of spreadsheets on Microsoft Excel; however, at the end of this residency, at the current rate I expect to be.
The senator has drafted four different letters in which thanks those who ran in the recent primary election (democrat winners, democrat losers etc.) Since the letters were already written my main task was to type these into a Word document. Upon completion, I proceeded to begin a mail merge which utilized the different spreadsheets I had created. I continued to work on the project and ultimately printed the letters. I even printed out the corresponding envelopes and prepped them with stamps. Although it may appear this task may not take a substantial amount of time, if I couple this with my other responsibilities of answering phones, sorting mail etc. I had quite a busy day.
Near the end of the day, I filled the remainder of my time with cutting out articles and photos for the senator’s Saw You in the News effort.
Wednesday February 17th, 2010:
The office was quiet today, minus the noise created by a few other interns around the office. The mountain of newspapers was bound to crumble. I was to mount a historic effort to clip all articles related to constituents of the district, laminate, address, and send. Sometimes the minor projects are the most fun. The motivation to overcome such a minor task can be overwhelming.
With the help of the other interns I was able to rid the back counter of the newspapers which had haunted our office since before Christmas. However, I assume the mass of newspapers which needed to be laminated was ultimately too much for the office laminating machine to handle as it jammed. It is ironic how companies now create products which cannot be fixed and must be replaced. Office Chief of Staff, Laurie was not happy as she had just ordered the laminator after another had broke just two months earlier; I guess $180.00 for a laminator does not buy quality these days.
So, the Saw You in the News effort was sidetracked. Yet, as I once again neared the end of another exciting day in the district office I continued to work on follow-up with potential legislation and constituent cases.
Thursday February 18th, 2010:
Today in the office was a major headache. I came into the office this morning and was told that the letters which I had printed off with regard to the primary election had numerous errors related to the overall results. I am a strong individual; yet I do not take constructive criticism that well. I was sure that I had typed all of the results correctly into the spreadsheet which I had composed. Unfortunately, the senator is out of the office today and this issue will be addressed at a later date.
Too, the Senator had called and requested that his Chief of Staff pull some correspondence related to a constituent letter which was classified as potential legislation. At first, the senator had stated that he was unaware of the details of the correspondence but the letter was from a student in St Joseph. Upon searching through my files, I had not come across any letter. Thereafter, he stated the letter was from a student in Royal. The follow-up call included the reference, “I know I gave this correspondence to Matthew”. Although I had scoured through my files it was not to be found.
What an awful start to the day.
In an effort to calm myself I spent the rest of the day working on a series of constituent cases of interest.
Friday February 19th, 2010:
The majority of today was spent with follow up on potential legislation contact and constituent cases.
Office Closed: Observance of Washington’s Birthday
Tuesday February 16th, 2010:
I finally received the write-up of the letters which the senator would like to be sent to the winners/losers of the recent primary election. Although this was meant to be a minor project, a series of obstacles have occurred which have made this task more difficult. First and foremost, I am not an expert at the creation of spreadsheets on Microsoft Excel; however, at the end of this residency, at the current rate I expect to be.
The senator has drafted four different letters in which thanks those who ran in the recent primary election (democrat winners, democrat losers etc.) Since the letters were already written my main task was to type these into a Word document. Upon completion, I proceeded to begin a mail merge which utilized the different spreadsheets I had created. I continued to work on the project and ultimately printed the letters. I even printed out the corresponding envelopes and prepped them with stamps. Although it may appear this task may not take a substantial amount of time, if I couple this with my other responsibilities of answering phones, sorting mail etc. I had quite a busy day.
Near the end of the day, I filled the remainder of my time with cutting out articles and photos for the senator’s Saw You in the News effort.
Wednesday February 17th, 2010:
The office was quiet today, minus the noise created by a few other interns around the office. The mountain of newspapers was bound to crumble. I was to mount a historic effort to clip all articles related to constituents of the district, laminate, address, and send. Sometimes the minor projects are the most fun. The motivation to overcome such a minor task can be overwhelming.
With the help of the other interns I was able to rid the back counter of the newspapers which had haunted our office since before Christmas. However, I assume the mass of newspapers which needed to be laminated was ultimately too much for the office laminating machine to handle as it jammed. It is ironic how companies now create products which cannot be fixed and must be replaced. Office Chief of Staff, Laurie was not happy as she had just ordered the laminator after another had broke just two months earlier; I guess $180.00 for a laminator does not buy quality these days.
So, the Saw You in the News effort was sidetracked. Yet, as I once again neared the end of another exciting day in the district office I continued to work on follow-up with potential legislation and constituent cases.
Thursday February 18th, 2010:
Today in the office was a major headache. I came into the office this morning and was told that the letters which I had printed off with regard to the primary election had numerous errors related to the overall results. I am a strong individual; yet I do not take constructive criticism that well. I was sure that I had typed all of the results correctly into the spreadsheet which I had composed. Unfortunately, the senator is out of the office today and this issue will be addressed at a later date.
Too, the Senator had called and requested that his Chief of Staff pull some correspondence related to a constituent letter which was classified as potential legislation. At first, the senator had stated that he was unaware of the details of the correspondence but the letter was from a student in St Joseph. Upon searching through my files, I had not come across any letter. Thereafter, he stated the letter was from a student in Royal. The follow-up call included the reference, “I know I gave this correspondence to Matthew”. Although I had scoured through my files it was not to be found.
What an awful start to the day.
In an effort to calm myself I spent the rest of the day working on a series of constituent cases of interest.
Friday February 19th, 2010:
The majority of today was spent with follow up on potential legislation contact and constituent cases.
Sara Cline- February 19, 2010
Finally back at work! I thought one snow day was nice, but having Tuesday be my first full day of work in a week and a half was more than I could handle!
This week, we conduced interviews for the three summer interns who will have the same position that I currently do. Although it doesn't tie in with politics or lobbying, it was an amazing experience. I think I may have previously mentioned looking through cover letters and resumes of the 100+ people who applied. Kevin, Jess, and I all looked through each resume and graded it, and then averaged the grades to determine who would get a phone interview. After reading so many, I have a very clear idea of what I do and do not like on a resume, which will be helpful next time I update mine, and of what makes a good cover letter.
On Tuesday and Wednesday nights we did phone interviews with the ten applicants. The experience was extremely valuable. First, since I made up some of the questions, I think I will have a better idea going into an interview of the kind of questions I should be preparred to answer. Also, in comparing the applicants, I picked out different traits that made some stand out more than others. Talking with Jess and Kevin after the interviews about who they thought would/wouldn't be good for the position gave me insight into what interviewees think about certain things. The final decision hasn't been made, but I am extremely happy I was able to participate in this process.
Other projects I worked on this week: higher education research (how much top 25 public schools spent on lobbying last year) and grant analysis. For the grant analysis, I looked at the TIGER grants and high speed rail grants to see where the money went. Kevin was particularly interested in how much of the money went to states with two D senators, two R senators, or a mix. In combining the two types of grants together, states with two R senators only received about 4% of the money!
Additionally, I am still helping Jess with appropriations forms (see post from two weeks ago for explaination). It is interesting to see all the aspects/information that goes into requesting money from a senator or rep. I know this is the busiest time of the year for the firm, so am more than willing to help with anything I can.
Next week, I am going to be accompanying Kevin to the Hill. Which will be great. We were supposed to last week, but were unable to because of the snow.
This week, we conduced interviews for the three summer interns who will have the same position that I currently do. Although it doesn't tie in with politics or lobbying, it was an amazing experience. I think I may have previously mentioned looking through cover letters and resumes of the 100+ people who applied. Kevin, Jess, and I all looked through each resume and graded it, and then averaged the grades to determine who would get a phone interview. After reading so many, I have a very clear idea of what I do and do not like on a resume, which will be helpful next time I update mine, and of what makes a good cover letter.
On Tuesday and Wednesday nights we did phone interviews with the ten applicants. The experience was extremely valuable. First, since I made up some of the questions, I think I will have a better idea going into an interview of the kind of questions I should be preparred to answer. Also, in comparing the applicants, I picked out different traits that made some stand out more than others. Talking with Jess and Kevin after the interviews about who they thought would/wouldn't be good for the position gave me insight into what interviewees think about certain things. The final decision hasn't been made, but I am extremely happy I was able to participate in this process.
Other projects I worked on this week: higher education research (how much top 25 public schools spent on lobbying last year) and grant analysis. For the grant analysis, I looked at the TIGER grants and high speed rail grants to see where the money went. Kevin was particularly interested in how much of the money went to states with two D senators, two R senators, or a mix. In combining the two types of grants together, states with two R senators only received about 4% of the money!
Additionally, I am still helping Jess with appropriations forms (see post from two weeks ago for explaination). It is interesting to see all the aspects/information that goes into requesting money from a senator or rep. I know this is the busiest time of the year for the firm, so am more than willing to help with anything I can.
Next week, I am going to be accompanying Kevin to the Hill. Which will be great. We were supposed to last week, but were unable to because of the snow.
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