A democracy is based on the idea that representatives serve the interests of their constituents, the “we the people” mentioned in the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution.
How, then, can a member of Congress serve his constituents well if there is little face-to-face interaction? That’s the question a number of communities in Massachusetts’ 1st Congressional District are asking when it comes to their congressman, Rep. Richie Neal.
The Democrat, who is closing in on 30 years in Congress, is viewed as AWOL in Franklin County and other rural parts of western Massachusetts outside his populous power base of Springfield and Hampden County. Many politically active people in Franklin County’s western towns can’t remember the last time Neal appeared for any kind of event, even during his re-election campaigns.
Neal’s absence doesn’t sit well with people in the district who are used to more face time from their elected officials, even those who serve in Washington, D.C. They expect their representatives will visit throughout the district during the many breaks that Congress gets. It’s part of what we have come to expect as standard constituent service.
Voters in Franklin County say Neal can’t compare to his predecessor, John Olver, who represented this area until redistricting about four years ago.
One such political observer, Stewart “Buz” Eisenberg, an attorney, town moderator and Ashfield resident, said Olver “was sort of shoes-on-the-ground in the hilltowns. If there was an issue, he was responsive to it. He was the face of Congress in this district, and he was available to us, like (his predecessor) Silvio Conte.”
The same can’t be said of Neal, according to Eisenberg. “I think he’s incredibly inattentive to his rural constituents.”
Now, we get that the 1st District is the state’s largest, including parts of Hampden, Hampshire, Franklin and Worcester counties and all of Berkshire County, and we get that the largest population centers can be found in Springfield and Pittsfield. It’s also understandable that as an experienced U.S. representative, Neal has many responsibilities in the Capitol. He’s serving as at-large whip for the House Democrats and is a co-chairman of the New England Congressional Caucus.
It’s indeed a busy life. But … what’s on his plate shouldn’t be an excuse for failing to tour the district, to reach out to individuals and groups and, yes, even to meet with or at least respond to a phone call or email from local reporters — which Neal failed to do for weeks when contacted for a recent story by Recorder staff writer Richie Davis on the congressman that appeared this week.
The visits and the rest of the work inside the district go a long way to determine how constituents perceive the person they’ve elected to represent them. If Neal is too busy to touch base with rural parts of the district, he may find he’s unwelcome come election time. His job is to serve all his constituents, not just those clustered in urban areas who may easily gain him re-election.
Lots of what a politician does is about appearances, and so you would think that for that reason alone it would make sense for Neal to make an appearance here more often.