Relationships

How close are Representatives to their constituents? Representative Tim Johnson of Illinois calls his constituents and talks to them personally. Calling one by one he averages about 4,000 a year. Johnson makes his own rules and tries to understand where the people are coming from.  He says, “I came to the conclusion that the problem with government is that they were too out of touch with people and had very little individual relationships.” This brings around to the idea of Fenno’s article “U.S. House Members in Their Constituencies: An Exploration” talks about the constituency, here we see that Johnson has an emotional and personal relationship with some of his constituents and this would help him get re-elected. Although he is retiring this year, he will not give up the relationship he has built until he is out of office.

Hello, Illinois