Senator Bingaman Reinvents the Constituent Telephone Call—Hear How They Did It
Posted by: Tim HysomCross-posted from The Partnership for a More Perfect Union
Managing high volumes of constituent calls is a challenge for many congressional offices, but the office of Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) is taking matters into its own hands to help New Mexicans get their answer when they first call the office.
Most of us take the telephone for granted—myself included—but I remember as a kid (here we go, right?) calling my friend’s house to see if he could go do something. If the line was busy, I’d hunker down, exercising my redial finger until my call would finally go through. I’m happily pushing 40, but I suspect other people can also appreciate what life was like before voicemail, call waiting, texting, and all the other amazing things we now can’t picture our lives without.
Congress has experienced and leveraged a great many of those advances in telecommunications, too, but still congressional offices struggle with how to effectively manage what can—at times—be an overwhelming volume of calls. I was in Sen. Bingaman’s office recently and his staff told me how they were handling some of the challenges they face on the front lines with phones. I thought one approach, in particular, was innovative.
