fwd: From the Office of Senator Evan Bayh

Approximately two weeks ago I sent a respectful letter to both United States Senators from Indiana -- Democrat Evan Bayh and Republican Richard Lugar -- voicing my desire that they simply support a fair up-or-down confirmation vote of Chief Justice nominee John Roberts. I didn't suggest how they should vote, I merely asked them to support a fair vote.Senator Lugar's office responded quite quickly by mail with an open declaration of support for Judge Roberts. Here is the non-committal response I received from Senator Bayh's office:

-----Original Message-----

From: noreply@bayh.senate.gov
Sent: Fri, 16 Sep 2005 15:03:00 -0500
Subject: From the Office of Senator Evan Bayh

September 16, 2005

DearJoe:

Thank you for contacting me regarding President Bush's recent nomination of John Roberts as Chief Justice to the United States Supreme Court. I appreciate your thoughts and concerns on this issue. Please be assured that I take my duty to give advice and consent on Presidential appointments very seriously, and will carefully review this nominee. I look forward to learning more about Judge Roberts during his confirmation hearings which begin September 12, 2005.

Again, thank you for contacting me. I hope the information I have provided is helpful. My website, http://bayh.senate.gov, can provide additional details about legislation and state projects, and you can also sign up to receive my monthly e-newsletter, The Bayh Bulletin, by clicking on the link at the top of my homepage. I value your input and hope you will continue to keep me informed of the issues important to you.

Best wishes,

Evan Bayh
United States Senator

-----End of Message-----

Am I the only one that considers that a lame excuse for a response? It sounds like he's more concerned with driving hits to his website than addressing my concerns. He didn't even address the issue of an up-or-down vote, only that he would "carefully review this nominee." And did you notice that the FROM address is a NO REPLY address. In fact, if you email Mr. Bayh at his Senate email address, you receive an auto-reply that your comments have not been received because you didn't use the webform on his website to submit.

Senator Bayh, I too can "carefully review" before supporting a candidate with my vote. I take my responsibility to send my representatives to Washington very seriously, as well, and I will vote accordingly.

Fellow Voter, I encourage you to do the same.

Joe

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Sent from my Palm Zire 72.