Advice to AOC.

[Are_grits_groceries]

You better set up a damn good staff in your district to handle consituent questions and problems. Take them seriously.
If not, you are going to be out on your ass.

[HopeAgain]

1. Advice to one Freshman Congresswoman

Any reason we're referring to just her?

[Are_grits_groceries]

4. She is in the spotlight.

She has gotten a lot of attention about her number of twitter followers and her committee assignments.
While I realize she wants to tackle big issues, the people in her district will expect her to address them and their concerns. Ask Eric Cantor.
This is advice for ANYBODY in public office. However,when you are in the spotlight, you have also got a bullseye on your back. She best not forget her peeps.

[NurseJackie]

30. You make many valid points.

[WeekiWater]

2. I don't think it matters.

The manner in which she is a media creation makes her a national figure. She will be flooded with funds from outside of her district. Those funds will then be used to remind the people of her district that she has been paying attention to them. Money talks and AOC is going to be rolling in it. It's a strategy that can work. It almost took out Cruz in Texas.

[Are_grits_groceries]

5. Ask Eric Cantor.

In addition, Ted Cruz was in a different situation in a different type of district.
The national spotlight may not bring in the votes you think she may get. Twitter followers don’t get to vote for her.

[WeekiWater]

9. She and Sanders do one fundraising email for her...

And she will bring in more than any competitor in her district can for a month. That is my opinion.

"Twitter followers don’t get to vote for her."

Money does get votes.

[George II]

27. If you look at her FEC filings, that has already happened. 99% of her contributions...

...came from outside the 14th District, 77% came from outside New York State.

Obviously some people not in her district or state wanted her in office.

[Eliot Rosewater]

53. I dont trust JD, anything connected to Cenk. I hope she divorces herself from them as I would

love to see her be successful.

[violetpastille]

3. If anyone is in the mood this morning to advise someone else's MOC

Please pick mine!

She is truly awful.
Tell her we stand with Inslee and want light-rail.

Here is a zip code: 98660

https://twitter.com/herrerabeutler


Washington, DC Office
2352 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Fax her your lunch order!

[Are_grits_groceries]

7. Some are beyond help.

I live in SC.
However, some of the best run offices were those by Strom Thurmond and my GOP Congressman Tom Rice. I would vote for neither if they delivered my lunch order.
That remark was spurious and you know it is not what I mean.

[violetpastille]

11. I'm not being sarcastic.

I'm in earnest.

If anyone is in the mood to advise someone elses' MOC, I want in on that.

Please tweet Jaime Beutler-Herrera and tell her that killing sea-lions is not the answer and that we stand with Jay Inslee and want light-rail.

[Are_grits_groceries]

16. Fax her your lunch order is earnest? nt

[violetpastille]

22. Yes

I can see you aren't interested.

That's cool. Do you.

[Stare Decisis]

6. Can we please not mansplain

to a courageous woman how to do her job? My guess is she will be just fine with her constituents. My advice to you would be to make sure that Tim Ryan knows that there is just working class, not a white working class, or a black working class. Just working class.

Or is my fellow Irish male exempt from criticism?

[Are_grits_groceries]

12. Well, you assumed I was a man.

How quaint.
My advice comes from talking to political reps and observations over the years.
This was advice. It has been learned the hard way by some.
It is a reminder to a new member of Congress who probably has a lot of people working to undercut her whether she can see them or not.
I am not one of them. I hope she serves several terms.

[Stare Decisis]

18. Your concern is noted.

My only advice to her is to listen to the people who know what they are talking about. Like Speaker Pelosi. She is and that is a very good thing. Beyond that? She got herself elected. Should I not assume she knows what she is doing?

[Cuthbert Allgood]

28. Do you think she doesn't understand that role as a MOC?

Because I'm sure she's aware.

[athena]

33. Do you really think she reads DU?

If your concern is genuine, you should send her a letter, not post here.

But I suspect this has more to do with grandstanding than genuine concern.

[Tipperary]

71. This. nt

[George II]

29. Just because a man gives a woman advice it's "mansplaining"? Sheesh. BTW, we don't know....

...if Grits is a man or woman.

[cwydro]

64. I think grits is a woman.

She’s said so in the past.

[Autumn]

8. Are the people in her district complaining?

[Are_grits_groceries]

13. Well, she just got started.

I haven’t run a poll.

[Autumn]

15. You should. That way you can put your mind at ease. Worry and stress sucks. nt

[Are_grits_groceries]

19. Not gonna be my hopes gone flying.

She can worry about her own self.
Ask Eric Cantor how it went for him.

[Autumn]

24. So is your concern for Eric Cantor? Maybe after 13 years people in his district finally realized

he was a fucking Republican who never gave a fuck about their needs

[George II]

56. How does what he/she said get translated into concern for Cantor?

[tonedevil]

26. Closer to home...

she can ask former Rep. Crowley.

[Squinch]

60. This. Rep Crowley who really does poll higher in her district.

[tonedevil]

62. If that is true...

then him just phoning in the primary was not merely dim, but boneheaded stupid.

[Squinch]

65. It really was. And he has admitted as much. She deserved to win it. But she can't phone in

anything about her constituents either.

[tonedevil]

66. If that isn't obvious to her...

she too would deserve to be unseated.

[George II]

31. I know some people in her district (I grew up in Queens). Yes, they're complaining.

[tonedevil]

38. Did they prefer Rep. Crowley? /nt

[Are_grits_groceries]

14. Oh please.

That was real advice that you ignore at your own risk.

[LanternWaste]

21. 'Real' advice would have been through a mechanism through which she would be certain to see it

Were it real advice, it would have been through a mechanism through which she would be certain to see it. Anything else is simply righteous-person-yelling-at-rain.

Regardless, I see zero indication that Cortez is not listening to her constituents.

So yours is simply advising the sky to remain blue.

[demmiblue]

43. Pretty much this. n/t

[sarcasmo]

23. Self delete since everything is being flagged.

[Yosemito]

17. I don't think it's Rush

It's Chuck Johnson.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

20. Isn't this one of the messages she ran on?

[pwb]

25. New York has a blue Governor, senate and legislator . We don't need advice .

From anyone. We elected her and will again because of the way she is.

[RandySF]

55. I think the OP is referring to a potential primary

[athena]

32. What gives you the authority to advise a congresswoman?

How many elections have you won?

[Mariana]

34. The First Amendment gives everyone the authority.

However, as someone already pointed out, it isn't really advice at all. It's just criticism. If it were advice, it would be sent to the Congresswoman, rather than being posted on a message board that she probably doesn't read

[athena]

40. I guess what I should have said is,

“What makes you such an authority on the subject?” I meant “authority” as in, speaking authoritatively on a subject. After all, AOC is the one who won her election, and she would be expected to know something about how to do her job better than some random person on the internet.

I was the other person, btw.

[Mariana]

42. Oops, sorry I didn't scroll back to see you'd said it.

Anyway, it is interesting that there's a whole bunch of new Representatives, but only this one keeps getting singled out for this kind of phony "advice". There is no reason whatsoever to suppose she isn't making friends and building alliances, seeking the advice of the elders, staying in contact with her constituency, and all the other things the perpetually concerned constantly "advise" her to do.

[athena]

44. Excellent points.

It seems to bother some people that she’s young, female, fearless, and popular. I agree that she appears to be doing everything right. At first, seeing all the criticism, I assumed there must be some truth to at least some of it, but every time I look into what she said that drew criticism, her words seem professional and completely reasonable.

[TexasTowelie]

47. I wonder if Rep. Cuellar thinks of Cortez as a friend

considering that the organization that she is associated with decided that he should be primaried?

I must have missed out how that move counts as alliance building.

[George II]

58. She's more than just associated with Justice Democrats.

She is (or was up until a few months ago, if not still) in the inner circle of decision makers for Justice Democrats.

[Mariana]

63. Why should she befriend Rep. Cuellar?

Cuellar is more Republican than many Republican reps. He votes in favor of Trump's position most of the time.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/a-qa-with-the-house-democrat-whos-voted-with-trump-75-percent-of-the-time/

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/congress-trump-score/house/

[TexasTowelie]

69. Cortez doesn't have to befriend him,

but she almost certainly made an enemy when she didn't use her influence with the Justice Democrats to stop them from attacking a Democrat.

Cuellar was elected repeatedly by the voters in his district and Cortez should respect that--Cuellar even has a school in Laredo named after him. I'm certain that a lot of people would be in hysterics if the situation were reversed and Cuellar set out to recruit a candidate to primary Cortez in her district in 2020.

BTW, I grew up 100 miles from Laredo so I'm very familiar with the politics and voters in that area going back almost a century. A lot of Texans will label Cortez as a "carpetbagger" and what plays well in NYC won't work in Laredo. She should stick to the SXSW festival in Austin where the crowd will adore her. Oddly enough, I never could afford to attend SWSW when I worked in Austin even though I earned a decent income.

[ehrnst]

37. Take it easy... I think AOC will be ok if Grits says something on DU....

[Mariana]

48. Sure she will.

Even so, it's rather silly for Grits to pretend to be giving advice.

[ehrnst]

70. Then you must find most of DU "silly," because I see "pretending to give advice"

to everyone in the public eye here at one time or another.

No need to raise your blood pressure.

[ehrnst]

35. She'd do well to take a lesson from Deb Haaland from NM:

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/new-mexico-federal-workers-feel-pain-of-shutdown/article_0b7e2fc2-c25d-5c07-b1f9-86f1b1643acd.html

[manhattan123]

36. Wash Post: "A cautious hope emerges among Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's constituents"

From the Washington Post: "A cautious hope emerges among Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s constituents"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/a-cautious-hope-emerges-among-alexandria-ocasio-cortezs-constituents/2019/01/05/ef6d44f4-02fe-11e9-b6a9-0aa5c2fcc9e4_story.html?utm_term=.08bf679452d6

[ehrnst]

39. Whe I went to Bill Clinton's inauguration, I saw all of the adoration, the cheers

the magazine article about the post WW2 generation saying "It's finally our turn - here's our voice."

I thought, "There is no way anyone can live up to this hype. The higher you fly, the harder you fall."

We all know what happened.

And now it's happened to Sanders.

I get the same feeling about AOC. She's like a hothouse flower, and she's going to be expected to get out in the weather for her constituents.

[SharonClark]

41. This is important for all elected officials.

Why do you think Charles Grassley gets re-elected? He takes acre of his voters and they know it.

[Mariana]

49. Just like every other Representative who wins more than one term. nt.

[malaise]

45. Sound advice

All bases must be covered but charity begins at home.

[bullwinkle428]

46. When she was interviewed by Rachel last week, the VERY FIRST thing

she addressed was the fact that the shutdown was preventing her staffers from acquiring the necessary equipment needed to handle all of the essential services for her constituents.

[Mariana]

50. I suspect that isn't enough to satisfy the perpetually concerned. nt.

[wishstar]

51. She is only one in Congress I have heard talking about effect of shutdown on her constituent service

Maybe you missed it, but in a recent interview she talked about how her staffers who provide constituent service were being hampered in providing help to residents in her district because they were not able to obtain equipment such as laptops due to budgetary and equipment constraints caused by shutdown. She seemed quite focused and concerned on that aspect of her responsibilities. She won her election by going door to door meeting many residents of her district so I don't think she is in danger of neglecting that important part of her job.

[Mariana]

57. But she tweets, you know.

Some of the perpetually concerned seem to think that composing those takes up all of her time, so she can't do anything else.

[Eliot Rosewater]

52. On latest threads page this thread has an arrow, someone tell me what the arrow is?

[RandySF]

54. Good advice to any freshman

And I think she will because my gut tells me she has her eye on higher office in NYC.

[PoliticAverse]

59. I'm guessing she doesn't read DU. Perhaps you should email this to her? n/t

[Squinch]

61. This IS good advice to any freshman. I don't know why you are taking so much shit for saying it.

The guy she ousted was more popular than she was, and she simply outdid him in direct contact. So your advice is particularly germaine in her district.

[Voltaire2]

67. Lulzd.

the Agony Caused by Ocasio-Cortez here is both pathetic and amusing.

ACOC.

[KG]

68. I LOL'd

[demmiblue]

72. Advice to everyone: stop placing a Band-Aid over the blinking 12:00 on your VCR. n/t

[betsuni]

73. K&R

[ProfessorPlum]

74. ? what the hell