Abusive Constituent Mail & My Response

I honestly do not know how to begin this post other than to tell say that I sit here, for probably the third night this week, greatly disturbed over the amount of rude, abusive, threatening email from angry constituents that has filled my inbox and those of my colleagues. All who know me know that I love communicating with constituents and welcome the opportunity to hear differing viewpoints but a surprising amount of recent emails have been outrageous!

The email that spurred this post. the straw that broke the camel's (or elephant's) back was not directed to me but was an email sent to a colleague. The author of the email forwarded a copy to me and to a large number of media persons/outlets. I was shocked when I read the email and pray that the author, a patriot and a passionate American realizes his mistake and makes amends. What follows is my response, not directly to the author (I was asked not to contact him) but to another constituent addressing the same legislation/legislator.


I understand passion and admire persistence, even accept anger expressed in email communications but there is never, in my opinion, an excuse for rudeness or emotional abuse. Unfortunately many people do not realize that these type of emails almost always backfire. So many decisions made by government officials affect our daily life, it is easy to let emotions get out of control but proper thought must be given when communicating by email.

The effect of the inappropriate email is misunderstood...the abusive letters do not hurt, the threats do not motivate us to change our mind. Hardly any weight is given to these type letters since there is no sense of decorum. (I know this as I have been on the receiving end of many of these also, for a variety of votes.) It is possible to disagree with dignity and as I mentioned before, even possible to express extreme anger without being over-the-top rude. In fact, I think that you and I will probably end up disagreeing on this very subject but you and I will more than likely continue to engage each other despite disagreeing because we communicate without bashing each other, name calling or other disrespectful actions. Now, that being said, you and others may not have an ounce of respect for "Representative ABC". That is your choice and I am not attempting to change you mind, I am just saying that their ought to be given a bit of respect for the office. Am I making sense?

I commend you for taking the time to engage in the process but I beg you to urge your friends and colleagues to re-evaluate the effectiveness of their communications. It is so easy to hit the "delete" button when you read the first inappropriate comment...I believe the majority of my colleagues do this. it is our job to listen to our constituents...whether we agree with them or not but we do not have to take verbal or in this case, written abuse. "Representative ABC" is a reasonable, logical member who takes his/her job very seriously. If you have the opportunity to express your opinion on an issue before he/she votes, he/she will take what you say under advisement.

I find it interesting that I am "lobbying" on the behalf of "Representative ABC" as we are not close, not friends and do not work together as a rule but I must be honest in telling you that I admire him/her in that he/she is a very good representative for rural Arizona. He/She has been tireless in his/her advocacy for the residents of district XYZ and although I consider myself a bit more conservative then he/she, I can tell you that he/she is a conservative republican.

I appreciate you listening to me and hearing me out. Honestly, the disgustingly inappropriate emails we receive just sap our energy when for the most part, no matter how misguided we are or appear to be we believe we are doing the right thing...standing up for what is right. As blessed as we are to have this honor and serve in this capacity, just fighting the democrats day is and day out is difficult and depressing…the job sometimes appears hopeless and sucks the life out of you. Evil is everywhere here and people like you, who are gracious and take the time to say thanks are few and far between.. There is tremendous reward for doing what is right, whether it is acknowledged or not but there is never respite from the criticism…I believe even that can be weathered when it does not constitute abuse.

Most sincerely and with great respect,
RepGroe