Dissatisfaction with senators
Feeling dissed
Regarding “Poor John Cornyn: His pesky constituents keep calling” HoustonChronicle.com, Feb. 10), I heard on the radio John Cornyn make a couple of comments that seem very dismissive of his constituents.
After the confirmation of U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, he said he had been overwhelmed with comments about DeVos’ nomination: “And you can imagine the volume of phone calls and mail and social media contacts that we get on a daily basis. And there’s no doubt that there was a concerted campaign by the establishment to try to sink Ms. DeVos’ nomination.
“They effectively crashed our voice mail system and threatened to bring down our website and the like. But I think that this is part of the angry response to the fact that President Trump won.”
Then, in the story “Carbon tax idea receives a lift” (Page B1, Feb. 9), in which James A. Baker III, the former secretary of state, voices support for a carbon tax to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Cornyn says “… I don’t see any need for a carbon tax. I don’t feel a popular uprising in Texas or around the country; I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree on that.”
I know that there are many people (both Re- publicans and Democrats) who are concerned that climate change is real. We want potential solutions to be objectively evaluated with and for the best workable solution to be implemented.
Maybe our senators don’t vote exactly following public opinion, but I feel that our correspondence to our senators should be objectively considered and not simply dismissed as an “angry response.” Our senators need to do better. George Newman,
The Woodlands
Frustrated
Regarding “Cruzing in the Trump Era” (Page A1, Feb. 12), I am a newly politically engaged Caucasian female between the ages of 25 and 35. Previously, I voted on Election Day and complained the remaining 364, but now I’ve discarded such complacency. I actively contact Texas’ members of Congress, specifically Sen. Ted Cruz. I call, email and mail their offices in Austin and D.C. All responses were in the form of a template letter providing me with information that I already knew.
Upon inquiring about Cruz’s upcoming town hall meetings, I was informed that he has none scheduled. Cruz has not scheduled any town hall meetings during the Senate’s recess. This is unacceptable. It is unacceptable because as our political representative, he should be listening to our opinions, thoughts and concerns and conveying them in Washington. How can any representative accurately represent her constituents if she refrains from visiting those constituents? Answer: She can’t and won’t.
Ashlie M. Contos, Houston