Background

Colorado Freshman Representative Jared Polis of Colorado works very hard to stay in touch with his constituents. He has starred in CNN’s “Freshman Year,” filming his day-to-day life and work on and off the Hill.  Congressman Polis went to the Middle East in the spring of 2009 and like all Congressional Members, has been working long hours and long weeks this summer and fall on the Health Care bill and vote.

The Need

Representative Polis wants to keep in touch with his Constituents no matter where he is and where he works. When he is away from Colorado, he still needs to be in conversation with the people he represents.  Polis never stops. As a Member of the House of Representatives, he is often working days on end in Washington, DC and is unable to meet with large numbers Constituents in person. Additionally, Polis is also occasionally called to work in the Middle East and travels overseas for days at a time.

The Solution

While working overseas, Congressman Polis used his cell phone to call into a live, hour long telephone town hall, taking questions from many callers back in Colorado’s 2^nd Congressional district.  It was important to reassure them that the Congressman had them in mind, even when he was on the other side of the globe.

Additionally, when the Congressman was working on health reform in DC, he held a telephone town hall with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Both the Congressman and the Secretary were working in DC, but they called hundreds of constituents in Colorado to discuss health reform when Polis could not be in the district to discuss the bill in person.

The Results

For both live telephone town halls, about 50% of the people we reached live stayed on the line to listen to the town hall. In talking with Congressman Polis and Secretary Sebelius, we were about to take 12 questions in the hour, having both the Congressman and the Secretary respond. Any callers who wanted to ask a question but were unable to in the hour that we were talking were allowed to leave voicemails after the call and the Congressman’s office works hard to follow up with these callers.