He says his staff answered every one of them within 72 hours.
Rep. David Trone
Washington DC (KM) Most people probably don’t think of constituent services when they look at the work of their Congressional representative or US Senator. . But 6th District Representative David Trone (D-Md.) says “it’s well over half of the job.” “As a business guy not a politician, I understand our customers; that’s our constituents,” he says. “We’ve got to be there for them every time. . We’ve got to be timely, and we’ve got to make it happen for them. It takes the work of a good team to do it. I’m fortunate to have a really good team throughout the distinct with four offices.”
Last year, Trone says his staff received 31,263 letters, e-mails and calls from constituents with questions, concerns and problems. He says his staff answered every one of them within 72 hours.
Trone said 1,520 of those requests had to do with unemployment compensation for constituents who lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. He says his office was able to return $4,427,423 in unemployment insurance benefits for citizens who were due these payments. “I spoke with Tiffany Robinson, Larry Hogan’s Secretary for unemployment compensation area. We chatted with her. We chatted with her. We chatted with her. We were the squeaky wheel. And when you’re the squeaky wheel, they take care of your folks. They take care of your requests,” says Trone.
Tiffany Robinson is the Secretary of the Maryland Department of Labor.
But Trone says there are some constituent problems which took a lot more time to resolve. “We had some things with the VA, Social Security Administration that went on and went on and went on. And some of them literally too months and months. But we kept banging, banging, banging,” he said.
And Trone said pressuring these agencies is the way to get results. “The key is get the details, and get the agency that’s causing the problem and push, push push,” he says. “And it yielded results. And I think the customers, the constituents, they really appreciate the effort to make their requests happen.”
In total, Trone says, his office was able to recover a total of $9,056,789 in savings for constituents over the next ten days, including unemployment benefits, Social Security income and other benefits.
Representative Trone’s staff hopes to open an office in downtown Frederick by the end of January. It will be located at 30 West Patrick Street, Suite 505. In the meantime, constituents who have problems, questions or concerns can visit Congressman Trone’s office in Hagerstown at 1850 Dual Highway. The hours are Monday through Wednesday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. They can also call the office at 240-382-6464.
By Kevin McManus