333. In the Mailbox

I really want to write something about the Triple-3 entry number, but nothing comes to mind, other than there should be something significant about the entry which is numbered 3-3-3.

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From the mailbox today, I retrieved a bill from my dentist (who wants some money), a bill from LG&E (which also wants money), and from my State Senator, who included a donor envelope with his letter (so he wants money to).

My State Senator sent a letter today which in the first line tells me that representing me is a privilege that he "does not take lightly." He tells me he has been "dedicated, focussed, and effective" in his representation of me. And, he tells me that the district has approximately 105,000 and "it takes a great effort to communicate in a short period of time and it is costly." Hence, the donor envelope.

During the past three years while I have been represented by my State Senator, this is the first and only letter he has ever sent me telling me anything about his "dedidation, focus, and effectiveness." This is the first time I knew he "didn't take representing me lightly." In short this is the first time he has communicated with me while he has been on my and your payroll.

Conversely, I have communicated with him, at least twice during the recent General Assembly. I sent him an email on 01/24/2008 expressing my support for Senate Bill 3. I sent him another email on February 1, 2008 expressing my thanks for his support of Senate Bill 112. Neither email was responded to. I sent the same email to my other representative, Tom Riner, who serves me as the 41st District State Representative, who managed to respond back. I sent the SB3 email to a number of friends in the legislature and a few of them responded, but not my State Senator.

Now the truth is my State Senator pretty much votes the way I would want him to vote, whether he communicates with me or not. I have no qualm with his voting record. My State Representative, who does communicate regularly, with emails, phone calls, and personal conversations when we see each other in public, does not always vote the way I would want him to, but he bothers to tell me. And he bothers to just say hello. A lot. He sends Christmas cards, puts little American flags in yards on the Fourth of July, and helps out politically in the Fall, as he did in 2006 when we used his truck to transport tables for a John Yarmuth event in Fairdale, well removed from his district.

Another truth is that my State Senator will very likely very easily win his Primary a week from today, which is no doubt the reason he decided to finally send a letter telling me all the good things there are to know about him. His opponent hasn't raised much money and probably wouldn't vote nearly as well as my current State Senator. But, his opponent has asked me, in person and more than once, if I would vote for him. I know him through his former wife and their children. He has been asking me for that support since he filed for office back at the beginning of the year. He has used every opportunity he had, whether at the Kroger or the corner coffeeshop, to communicate in the same short period of time during which the incumbent has sent exactly one letter. As the incumbent said, it is difficult to communicate with so many people in such a short period of time. I mean he has only had three years.