SENATOR LECHQER

“Leadership with an Empire State of Mind”

Dear Staffers:

After a rigorous election season, I am honored to represent the great state of New York in the
United States Senate. A senator cannot properly do their job without a competent and dedicated
team working alongside them. I am grateful for all of your hard work during this past election.
Many of you sacrificed weekends and great amounts of personal time. You were willing to do so
because you are passionate to affect positive change in the United States. Now it is time to reap
the rewards of your hard work. The efforts of our team will now get legislation passed that could
impact the lives of hundreds of millions of Americans. A responsibility this great requires an
equally great and organized team.
The chief of staff (COS) is the highest-ranking congressional staff member which means they
oversee all other staffers in my office, and they report directly to me. The COS will understand
the roles of everyone else in the office and monitor that they are doing their jobs correctly. Also,
the COS’s knowledge of legislation must be vast because their analysis on my legislation will be
considered before it is introduced in the Senate. Lastly, they will make sure the inner workings of
our offices (including potential bills) are not leaked to media sources.
The legislative directors (LD) are the senior legislative aides, and they oversee all of the
other legislative staff. Like the COS, the LD keeps their team members organized and diligent.
Also like the COS, the LD will give insight on the pros and cons of certain issues and policies.
However, unlike the COS, analysis of legislation is the main duty of an LD. The LD guides my
legislative agenda, and they are the final stop of legislation before it reaches me. The LD edits
the legislation, and they advise me on whether to co-sponsor or introduce a bill. Furthermore,
they even advise me on how to vote on a bill. This job is extremely important because my main
responsibility is to pass good legislation, and I need you to do that.
Legislative Assistants are a jack of all trades. You do not oversee anyone, however, that does
not mean your job is not important. You will have enough responsibility monitoring our
legislation as it goes through committee review, meeting with lobbyists and constituents that are
interested in the current legislation we are working on, writing floor speeches, and drafting
legislation. (SGIM)
Legislative Correspondents are the members who speak directly to constituents. This is a
very important role because it is what makes the voters feel heard and understood. As a
representative of the people, making sure their opinions are reflected in congress is crucial.
As I have stated before, I am merely a representative of my constituents. They must always
feel their views are not only heard and understood, but they must also feel that I am representing
these views in the Senate. They trusted me to represent them, and I can never betray that trust
because the foundations of our democracy rely on it. With this being said, my constituents
cannot possibly understand every bill and the intricacies of every issue. In cases where my
constituents have limited knowledge, I will vote in a way I believe is in their, and the country’s,
best interest.
 While in DC, I plan to take calls from my constituents whenever I can. Also, I will meet with
constituents who are willing to travel to DC for a meeting. To make sure my constituents feel
connected to me when I spend so much time in DC, I will attend prominent events and hold
meetings with constituents while I am in New York. I will answer their calls personally
whenever I can. I cannot stress how important it is that my constituents feel connected to me. We
can learn a thing or two from New York’s very own Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her
fascinating victory against a former successful Congressman.
There are of course many important issues, however, I have some that I am particularly
passionate about. Environmental protection, universal health care, national defense, and foreign
relations are the most important issues for me. These issues are important because they effect
every American in an obvious way. I would like to reduce waste in the United States, and I
would like to use more alternative fuels like hydro-electric power. As for health care, I would
like for Americans to not feel financially strained to receive a basic human right such as medical
treatment. Medical care should not be viewed as a luxury. For national defense, I would like to
see more efficient spending of our annual defense budget. Higher budget does not necessarily
mean better performance. As for foreign relations, we live in an ever-globalizing world.
International relations are more relevant and important now than they have ever been. After four
years of failed foreign policy, I would like to see a restoration of our clear and strategic foreign
affairs policy which helps our economy in terms of trade and helps our national safety by giving
us less adversaries.
Because New York is such a diverse state, we should also closely monitor immigration
reform. Also, we should monitor legislation about equal pay between men and women because
the there is a disparity in pay in New York between the two genders. Because we have run on a
platform of “leadership with an empire state” we need to make sure that we are monitoring
economic policy, environmental policy, and immigration policy.
We should encourage cooperation with other senators to increase the likelihood that they will
vote in support of our bills. Also, we should work together to mobilize like-minded senators to
increase our influence. Furthermore, we can use the influence of lobbyist groups and other
political organizations to further our agenda. We can use the personal relationships I have with
other committee members to increase my influence. Also, we can take advantage of floor
speeches by delivering an interesting and powerful speech to increase attention to our bill.
Lastly, we can consider adding amendments to our legislation to gain votes. Although, we do not
want too much “pork” in our bills, so that should be used strategically and sparingly.
 

Reflection: In Congress & Its Members we discuss how and why people run for congressional
office. We discuss the election process in depth. Although C&M includes many real-life
examples of its content, it is still largely theoretical. In Acts of Congress, we see a much more
personal or realistic view of Congress members and their experiences. We read about pork-barrel
legislation and its importance in getting your bill passed. Also, we learn of the personal way
Congress members try to maneuver a myriad of ideologies, agendas, and other competing bills.
This assignment is most reflected by Acts of Congress as we imagine that we are trying to get
legislation passed in the Senate.