One of the challenges of being a twice-weekly writer of columns for Colorado Politics is some days there are just way too many interesting things to write about. We live in an interesting, if oft troubling, world.

I’m tempted to write about the brand new congressman from New York, George Santos. It seems after he won his election to the U.S. House of Representatives, good old George admitted to a few boo-boos on his campaign website. And by boo-boos, I mean being caught lying about, well, most everything on this so-called resume. He lied about graduating from a prestigious college, which he did not attend, and he bragged about working on Wall Street for big companies that, it turns out, never heard of him.

He did apparently work for a company that engaged in what the Securities and Exchange Commission called a “classic Ponzi scheme.” Oh, and on a salary of roughly $55,000, he somehow managed to loan his own congressional campaign $700,000. Back in my 2008 run for congress, I donated a grand total of $1,000 to my own campaign on a retired lieutenant colonel’s pension. I’m also tempted to write about the GOP House leadership, and how none of them have called on this obvious crook to resign, but I’m not going to write about that… (Editor: good).

Instead, I’d like to draw your attention to a Colorado Politics story that may seem trivial at first, but actually is a pretty interesting example of how people matter in politics. My regular reader (Hi Jeff!) will recall my aforementioned campaign for the US Congress here in the Colorado Springs area back in 2008. I ran against U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, a man with whom I disagree on, well, pretty much everything. That said, I began every speech by saying “Doug Lamborn is a good and decent person, who is wrong on everything, and I hope he feels the same way about me.” I thought it important to not only not demonize my opponent, but to also acknowledge people with good hearts and honest intentions could honestly differ on the best path forward for the United States and for Colorado. Lamborn would later call me the most honorable person he has run against, which is kind, but also kind of easy to say after you thump someone in a general election, as he did me.

The CoPo story notes a rather seemingly dull and unimportant personnel detail in the Lamborn office, or so it might seem. But actually, it is an important thing for the folks that live in CD-5, which Lamborn represents. Dennis Hisey, a former county commissioner and state senator, was selected by Lamborn to be his district director, the guy who runs the local office. That role is important, albeit not so much for the big policy issues, but rather for the far more immediate role of constituent services.

As I’ve mentioned in previous columns, I spent a bit over four years working in the Colorado Springs office of U.S. Sen. (and hopefully future U.S. President) Michael Bennet. My job was to work the issues brought forth by constituents in military and veterans affairs. So if someone was having a problem with, say, the VA, and called Bennet’s office, I was the guy who called back to meet with the person and to try to get the issue fixed. Bennet was, and still is, all about customer service.

During my time there, I worked more than 1,200 military and veteran cases for the senator, and that work was some of the most rewarding out there. Helping an aged widow, for example, who is owed a VA pension but is not getting it, really makes you feel good – especially when a big back-benefits check arrives. That “case work,” as political science-y folks call it, is vital to a congressional office.

Sometimes, people with issues would contact both their U.S. senators and their House member for help, thinking that all three offices working on the problem might speed things along. Oddly, that’s not true. If you have such a problem with the VA or with HUD or with any government agency, you are better off with a single House or Senate office working the issue. The explanation is if an agency gets, say, two different inquiries about a case, they have to stop what they were doing on the one that came in first, and must restart for both offices. So, FYI, if you have an issue, just contact one office.

On my senate phone, I had several numbers on speed dial, and the top two were the other senator’s office and the Lamborn office. I talked to those other rep’s offices at least twice daily, as we worked through various constituents’ cases, and they called me just as often. One wonderful discovery was at the staffer level, we all got along just great, and we worked together very efficiently. It was a pleasure to work with the folks over there, and hopefully, they liked working with me. There is nothing partisan about helping a vet get an owed benefit.

And that is why the Hisey hire is so important. While working for Bennet, I often interacted with Hisey (usually in his role as county commissioner) and he was always a delight and was quite helpful. There were quite a few occasions when a person would call the Bennet office to complain about something that was actually a county issue (such as a pot hole) and I’d send the caller to the appropriate commissioner, often Hisey. I grew to respect him, even once telling him, with a smile, that if I had to have a Republican in office, I’d pick him. He chuckled.

The choice of Hisey by Lamborn shows a commitment to district service. Let’s face it, Lamborn is not now, nor is he likely to become, a great leader in the Republican Party. His legislative record is spotty, and you don’t see him too often pontificating on the issues of the day on national television. But with picking Hisey, I see a message he gets constituent service is a key mission for his office.

Have fun, Dennis, it will be a bumpy but interesting ride.

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.