This assignment is for US Power and Politics. Congressional Profile Essay Assignment: Profiling your U.S. Representative and your Congressional District As citizens in a representative democracy, you should have knowledge of who represents you and of the quality of that representation. The House of Representatives was designed by the founding fathers to act as the resonator of public passions. It was originally the only elective office that was chosen directly by the voters. That is why a term in the House is only 2 years in order to ensure that representatives are frequently accountable to their constituents. It is this structural aspect of frequent re-election that makes the House a nervous, reactive, institution and that in turn points to the potential power of you as a constituent. Representatives are acutely sensitive to informed constituents and, in that sense, knowledge is power. What do I request you to do? Find my representative… House.gov Put 9 digit zip code: 11377-3026 (Woodside, NY) in order to Find my representative. For information about the district Google US Census my congressional district… click on to NY State on the map… click on to the number of my US Congressional district. You can get the number of my US Congressional district from House.gov when you find my US Representative. Write up a profile (at least 4 pages double spaced with 1 inch margins and 12 point font size) that describes the congressional district in which I reside and the representative who represents its interests (and my interests) in Washington. The question that should guide the research is the following: How well does my representative do in representing my interests (those things that I want from the government) and the interests of my community? In putting together my more complete profile, be sure to address the following questions. 1) Where do you live? What are the demographic characteristics of the U.S. Congressional district; racial/ethnic composition, Income, renters / homeowners, years of education, rate of unemployment. Rate of crime etc. in the district that you live in and are profiling? 2) Who are the key employers in the district? What’s going on by way of real estate development, re-development and gentrification? 3) What are the issues that people in the district are concerned with? Is the district predominantly liberal or conservative? What are the civic groups and community organizations that are active in the district? 4) Pick 2 votes made by your representative in 3 key areas of legislation of concern to constituents in the district. Describe the legislation and how they voted on it. How do these votes reflect (or not reflect) the wishes of their constituents? 5) Who are the 10 top contributors to your U.S Representative? What is the breakdown of contributions by economic sector? What percentage of campaign funding comes from small individual contributions? 6) Is there any controversy about your representative? This includes strong statements, unorthodox positions and / or allegations of impropriety or corruption. Look up articles in the New York Times with your representative’s name as a search term. 7) Overall, do you think your representative does a good job of representing your district? What’s one thing about them that you don’t like? Would you vote to re-elect them in the next election? Sources: 1) Openscrets.org (Information on sources of campaign funding for elected officials) 2) Vote_ Smart.org (information on voting records and interest group ratings for U.S. and state representatives 3) House.gov (use the “find my representative” feature to find your representative to the U.S. Congress); portal for the individual web sites of all members of the U.S. House of Representatives. 4) Census.gov / My Congressional District (for demographic information pertaining to your Congressional District) 5) New York’s Congressional Districts / Wikipedia (for information about your Congressional District) 6) New York Congressional District Maps / Gov Trackers (to get a sense of how your district is shaped and which neighborhoods, or portions of neighborhoods, it includes) 7) Congressional Districts in the 2000’s: Portrait of America (available as an electronic resource through John Jay College Library; Profiles of Congressional Districts and the constituent groups that comprise them) 8) New York Times Index: to access articles about activities and controversies involving your U.S. representatives.
