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My mom has been recovering from surgery and spending mornings at home for the past several weeks. She has been reading her email daily, and looking at all of her email from MoveOn.org. One of the emails she read prompted her to call her U.S. House of Representative Devin Nuñes’ office in Washington, D.C. She called regarding the SCHIP bill that funds millions of kids’ healthcare.

Apparently the funding is set to expire over the weekend unless the new reauthorization bill passes. Democrats have increased the coverage under the new bill so that more kids will get health insurance. Republicans are upset and Bush has threatened to veto the bill. The reason my mom called is that my niece is covered under SCHIP because my sister doesn’t qualify for medicare but doesn’t make enough to have her own health insurance (and her employer doesn’t cover her).

The amazing thing is what Nuñes’ aide said to my mom. The Washington office aide, named Andrew, told my mom that:

- She was a liberal activist, so of course she wouldn’t understand the issue at hand
- That he wouldn’t expect her to understand the complex “legalese” on their web site about the SCHIP bill (my mom went to Nuñes’ site and the information was *not* in legal speak)
- That he should and could spend hours trying to convince her that she was wrong
- That the Democrats are using this as spin and pulling on American’s heartstrings to promote excessive spending, that the Democrats always use this “spin” tactic to distract from the real issues (my mom politely reminded him that the Republicans did the same thing in ‘04 with gay marriage, helping reelect Bush)
- After my mom told him she was college educated and a high school teacher, Andrew said that too much education messes up people’s understanding of politics and clouds their judgement
- And he said that once Nancy Pelosi pulls her head out of her ass, this whole issue would go away.

So, my mom called me to relate all of this. I quickly encouraged her to call Barbara Boxer’s office, Diane Feinstein’s office, and most importantly Nancy Pelosi’s office. To relay all of what Nuñes’ aide said, especially that he was trying to convince my mom she was wrong, that she wouldn’t understand because she was liberal and well-educated, and the bit about Nancy Pelosi’s head and posterior.

My mom called Nancy Pelosi’s SF office first and related what her experience was with the Nuñes aide. When my mom got to the “pull her head out of her ass” comment, the Pelosi aide said “ma’am this conversation is over, we won’t engage with that sort of language.” My mom quickly tried to tell the Pelosi staffer that my mom’s a Democrat and was calling to support Pelosi and that she thought Pelosi should know what Nuñes’ aide had said. At that point the Pelosi aide hung up on my mom.

So, finally my mom called Senator Feinstein’s Fresno office. The aide who took her call was helpful, listened to everything my mom had to say, thanked my mom for her support, said that the Pelosi aide should not have hung up on her, and was very disappointed to hear that Nuñes aide had acted inappropriately. She said she would bring all of this, including my mom’s support for SCHIP, to Senator Feinstein’s attention immediately. Who knows if that’s just good political handling or was sincere. Whatever the case, my mom finally felt like her opinion had been heard and counted.

A few things still left for me to ponder:
- I’m still not sure if I should call Pelosi’s SF office and tell them I’m very disappointed in the way they treated my mom. I’ve seen Pelosi personally expertly handle a public forum in SF with hordes of protesters. I’m a little ashamed that her aide wasn’t able to handle a call from a single supportive constituent.

- In each of the calls except to Feinstein’s office, my mom mentioned that she’d become alerted to the issue through an email from MoveOn.org. Is that the reason Nuñes’ aide said my mom was an liberal activist and why Pelosi’s aide hung up on her? Has MoveOn become the new black sheep, a burr in the side of Democrats, and an easy brush-off for Republicans? If nothing else, the fact that my mom is reading and reacting to information provided by MoveOn is proof that they reach a vast network of non-activist, non-uberleftie voters. I actually encouraged my mom to leave out the MoveOn reference in her calls to Feinstein and Boxer, at least until she’d communicated the core of her message.

- I’m debating whether to continue to urge my mom to write about her experience with Nuñes in the Fresno Bee. If she’s spent her political activity/interest for the day, week, month, should *I* write a letter to the Fresno paper? This is not how a representative or his aide should treat a constituent.

Update:My mom called while I was at lunch to tell me the staffer at Boxer’s office was also incredibly helpful and mirrored the sentiments of the Feinstein aide. At least half of the calls turned out alright. Although, in school, only getting half right is still a failing grade.

P.S. And finally, an interesting little tidbit of hope. My mom tells me that my dad (who voted for Bill Clinton twice and the George Bush twice) is going to vote for Hillary Clinton if she makes it as the candidate. And let’s be honest, she *is going* to be the Democratic nominee (even if I’d rather have Edwards).