COMMENTS

STATE SENATOR RASMUSSEN IGNORES VOTER CONCERNS

By: Scott Richter October 9, 2008

The voters of the 2nd lesgislative district need to know that state senator Marilyn Rasmussen has an aversion to letting her constituents know what her voting intentions/legislative plans are. I have contacted her office on at least 4 occasions (I know
it is more, but I did not start keeping track until after I noticed a pattern) to find out her voting intentions, what she was doing to fix a certain issue, etc, and the ONLY time a got an answer was when the issue (bridge toll increases) was not a legislative issue (they are set by a commission). While her office has responded to my expressed anger at their refusal to answer my questions or concerns, once using the excuse that the office manager had been on vacation, another time using the excuse that the office manager was "new", but still, my questions went unanswered. Even after the "new" manager's apology, my very next question (what is the senator doing to reform the Department of Corrections debacle that has resulted in the deaths of several
police officers and citizens?) again went unanswered. By comparison, both 2nd district representatives have been amazingly responsive to my questions, always answered, usually within just a day or two and usually by them personally. On one occasion, an assistant was calling me within 15 minutes of my sending an email. At some point, I just have to presume that the clear pattern of refusing to
answer and/or ignoring the concerns of constituents is reflective of the attitude of the senator herself. If this had been one or two isolated incidents, I might be more forgiving, but at this point it is clear to me that senator Marilyn Rasmussen does NOT have
the concerns of her 2nd district constituents as a priority. I have no affiliation with Randi Becker, but at this point I have no choice but to believe the 2nd district would be better served with a Senator Becker than it currently is with senator Rasmussen.

-Scott Richter