Well, it’s only a few more days until Christmas, and so I decided to look for a “good news” type of story. I’m pretty sure my kindly and forgiving editor really doesn’t want any more stories on the impeachment (Ed: no, I don’t) and in hopes of finally nailing down that huge Christmas bonus I assume I’m getting (Ed: keep dreaming, bub), I decided to write on something involving the “good” kind of Colorado politics, which, I’m told, is the main point of all this.

A recent story in Colorado Politics reminded me of my days working for U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, and more importantly, how elected officials can do well and do good at the same time. The CP story noted that first-term 6th Congressional District U.S. Rep. Jason Crow announced that his office had assisted the good people of his district in getting back over $1 million from the federal government. What does that really mean? Happily, I’m in a pretty good position to tell you, as that type of work made up a solid majority of the work I did in the Bennet office for four years. 

Each House member and senator has a staff, and that staff covers quite a few different areas of work. Bennet devoted a very significant portion of his office funding to hire what he called “constituent advocates,” of which I was one. My areas were primarily military and veteran issues. 

You’ve heard the phrase, “you should write your congressman!” from time to time? It was those letters (and phone calls) that the constituent advocates took care of. I’m sure it is very similar in Congressman Crow’s office. (Full disclosure, Jason is an old friend from my own quixotic run for the Congress back in 2008. Jason chose to win his race, which I always thought was a little “showy,” but good for him.)

Anyway, his staff, like Bennet’s then and now, works to help people who have problems with the government. These problems range across every part of the federal government and beyond (I say “beyond” because I once spent a half hour on the phone with a fellow who wanted Bennet to personally come and fix the pothole in front of his house. I tried to explain that the city and county governments did that sort of thing, but he was unphased and quite insistent.)

In my area of vets and military folks, I quite often worked with people frustrated by their experience with the VA. In some cases, these good people were owed back pay, and the bureaucracy of the VA was impenetrable, at least from their perspective. So, we’d get involved. I used to say that Bennet, as a member of the legislative branch, can’t “order” the VA to do something, but we get to ask them for help on really good letterhead.

So, what did Crow’s office do to get a million bucks back? Likely it was cases like I worked, and for example include the very nice widow of a military member who was awaiting the pension due to her for over a year. By the time she reached our office, she was taking out payday loans to buy food. I was very pleased we were able to break the logjam and get her pension started, along with a big check for the past-due amounts. Other coworkers dealt with people battling the Social Security Administration and still others, the Department of Interior, the State Department, and others. 

So why am I telling you all this? Well, if you live in CD-6, and you read the story, you know that Crow and his people work very hard to right as many wrongs as they can. And you, my dear fellow Coloradan, have such an advocate as well. In fact, you have three of them: your member of the House and your two U.S. senators. So, if you are banging your head against the wall over a problem with the federal government, please do call your local office of your rep or your senators and ask for help.

And speaking of Colorado politics, you will be pleased to learn that this area — constituent services — is an area completely devoid of partisanship and silly games. I had 5th Congressional District U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn’s office on speed dial, as well as then-U.S. Sen. Mark Udall’s. The staffers who work these issues all get along. I talked to my counterparts in the Lamborn and Udall offices every day, to coordinate our efforts on cases we were working.

So, if you are sick of “politics as normal” these days, and can’t really stomach another congressional hearing on impeachment, please do think about the dedicated, non-partisan staffers waiting to serve you. And if you have a problem with the federal government, please give them a call.

For potholes, though, please call your local authorities. And Merry Christmas.

Hal Bidlack is a retired professor of political science and a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who taught more than 17 years at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.