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This post is intended to reflect my opinions as a citizen and not as the list manager. ----------------------------------------------------
Yesterday, someone in this forum, suggested that they might drop by their council members private home to register disapproval over a city council vote. They made it clear, that they do not know this council member.
This caught my eye and I've since had some offline exchanges with several individuals about the ethical considerations or appropriateness of a constituent dropping by an elected officials home unannounced to complain about their job performance.
The responses have been mixed, some of those I exchanged emails with thought it was reasonable, others agreed with me, that it might be inappropriate.
I'd very much like to hear what others have to say.
For me, this is a serious breach of an elected officials privacy. Most of our elected officials provide phone numbers, email addresses, and offices where they can be reached. For constituents to visit their home, without an invitation, feel to me like a serious and unnecessary intrusion into their private lives.
Some have pointed out to me, that elected officials regularly knock on other peoples doors while campaigning. However, in my opinion that is something very different. Reaching out to random constituents by door knocking does not feel the same. A constituent can easily turn a politician away or refuse to speak with them, the politician is very unlikely to press an uninterested citizen to speak with them.
An angry citizen, on the other hand, has come to the elected officials home with one purpose in mind. The elected official is going to be under some pressure to drop whatever personal business they were engaged in to respond and the constituent is much less likely to take "I'm not interested" as a legitimate response and move on.
When elected officials or candidates visit private homes, it is often because this is the most convenient means for that interaction to take place. However, there are many more appropriate and sufficiently convenient opportunities for citizens to contact their elected officials.
At the very least, I find the idea of dropping by an elected officials home unannounced to register an opinion to be very disrespectful at the worst an illegitimate invasion of their private and personal lives.
I welcome feedback on this and am completely open to changing my position. I'd be curious about how often this kind of thing takes place and how elected officials feel about it.
What do you think?
Best wishes,
Tim Erickson Hamline Midway [EMAIL PROTECTED]
-- ================================================= Tim Erickson http://www.politalk.com St. Paul, MN - USA 651-643-0722 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ICQ: 105978430 =================================================
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