A Loud Mouth Is as Good as Money

Well, almost

Photo by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash

It’s easy to think your elected representatives don’t care about your concerns unless you bribe them, I mean, contribute to their campaigns.

I don’t contribute to anyone’s campaign, because I don’t have money for that. What I do have is one vote and a loud mouth and a willingness to use both.

My former career in newspapers means I’ve met a lot of politicians. I’m not best buds with any of them, but successful politicians are invariably quite good at remembering people. I like to imagine that gives a letter from me a tiny bit more of a boost, but it probably doesn’t. In fact, it’s the office staff who listens to the voicemails and reads the emails and letters — in most cases, your representative merely gets a report from staff that sums up constituent contacts.

But contact them anyway

I believe contacting your elected representatives is one of the most helpful things you can do. Representatives actually do want to know what their constituents care about. They can be pretty sure that if they get a load of calls and letters about something, that signals strong feelings.

It can also give them some cover. If their party is pressuring them to vote one way or another on something, and they can show that their constituents feel strongly about it, their party has some reason for flexibility; their party does not want them to lose their seat.

If I had oodles of cash, of course, my concerns would get a more thorough hearing. I could show up at expensive campaign dinners, look the candidate right in the eye, and tell them what I want from them. Campaign money is powerful. Yet, it’s important to realize that votes are, too. All the campaign money in the world won’t get you elected if the people won’t vote for you, and many races are quite close.

All this is to say if you feel strongly about something, write or call. Don’t do it constantly, or they’ll write you off as a crank. But when you feel strongly, do it.

It isn’t only the rich who have the right to steer the politics. The rest of us also have a voice and a vote and should use both.

I’ve made calls twice recently. I heard back from the Democrat but not the Republican.

Darin LaHood ignored me

I didn’t hear a word back from U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood when I called him to protest his having voted to formalize the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. LaHood is a Trumper and he didn’t get my vote. The apple fell very far from the tree — his father, former U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood, a Republican who also served as President Barack Obama’s secretary of transportation, always got my vote. I’d been covering the elder LaHood since the end of the 1980s and used to run into him all the time. He’s probably the last Republican I’ve ever supported. I’ve always liked the elder LaHood. His son is such a disappointment.

But Dick Durbin got back to me

However, I did hear back from U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin when I called to let him know how disappointed I was that more has not been done about Supreme Court ethics.

Here’s Durbin’s response:

Dear Michelle:

        Thank you for contacting me about ethics concerns regarding the Supreme Court. I appreciate hearing from you.          

        Recently, several high-profile instances of ethically questionable behavior by members of the Supreme Court have come to light. These include members of the Court receiving previously undisclosed gifts in the form of luxurious trips to exotic locations, private school tuition payments for family members, as well as questionable property transfers, and the business dealings of family members of the Justices. It is clear that the Supreme Court, our nation’s highest court in the land, has some of the lowest ethical standards.

        The absence of an adequate code of ethics has come at a real cost to the Court’s reputation as an institution, and public trust in the Supreme Court has fallen to near-record lows.

        I am a cosponsor of the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency (SCERT) Act (S. 359), introduced by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island. This bill would require Supreme Court Justices to adopt an enforceable code of conduct, create a mechanism to investigate alleged violations of the code of conduct and other laws, improve disclosure and transparency when a Justice has a connection to a party or amicus before the Court, and require Justices to explain their recusal decisions to the public. On July 20, 2023, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to advance the SCERT Act to the full Senate.          

         It is imperative that we understand the full extent of how people with interests before the Court are able to use undisclosed gifts to gain private access to the Justices. On November 30, 2023, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to authorize subpoenas for Harlan Crow and Leonard Leo relating to the committee’s Supreme Court ethics investigation. This vote to issue subpoenas to Crow and Leo, two individuals who have refused to comply with the committee’s legitimate oversight requests for months and are at the center of the Supreme Court’s ethical crisis, furthers my goal of ensuring that Supreme Court Justices are bound by an enforceable code of conduct.

        More recently, reporting has found that Justice Alito flew, at two separate residences, flags that were carried by insurrectionists at the Capitol on January 6th. In response, I sent a letter to Chief Justice Roberts urging him to ensure that Justice Alito recuses himself from cases concerning the 2020 election and the January 6th insurrection, as displaying these flags creates the appearance that Justice Alito has already aligned himself with the “Stop the Steal” campaign. Justice Alito has since refused to recuse himself, to my disappointment and to the detriment of the Court’s credibility.

        While I will continue working as Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the fact is that Chief Justice Roberts has the power to make a difference and restore public faith in the Supreme Court and the honesty of those who serve by imposing an enforceable code of ethics for all Supreme Court Justices. In this moment, history will judge all of us. I urge my Republican colleagues and Chief Justice Roberts to meet the moment and embrace a code of ethics that measures up to the highest court in the land.

        Thank you again for contacting me. Please feel free to keep in touch.

       Sincerely,

      Richard J. Durbin
      United States Senator

One call or letter from one voter means little, of course. So does one vote or one dollar in campaign contributions, or one person holding up a sign at a protest. But if you’re like me and don’t have the means to make a splash with a check, use your voice and your vote. Call. Write. Show up at marches. And, of course, always vote. Always. Always!

So much is at stake right now. Don’t give up.

About Michelle Teheux

I’m a writer in central Illinois. If you like my work, subscribe to me here or on Medium. or help support my work with a one-time gift. Thanks!