Why Are Members Of The US Congress Not Reachable By Direct E-mail?

The Issue

It appears that a number of members of the US Congress cannot be e-mailed directly by using an e-mail address to reach their office. What these antiquated Members still offer is a phone no, a fax no, a postal address, but you will not find an e-mail address.

What these elected Representatives offer is a cumbersome web based e-mail contact form. Not only that, you also come across following peculiar statements like:

“Regrettably, I am unable to reply to any email from constituents outside of the district. Please enter your zip code to verify residency and go to the next step”

How stupid is that? The reason why I tried to reach a particular member of the US Congress was that this person is also a member of the House Judiciary Committee. Of course, you can get around by just entering the Zip code of this Member’s district, but it is another nonsensical hassle.

What Is The Rationale Or Excuse?

I don’t know. May I venture to guess, to prevent spam or negative e-mail campaigns directed at them or …

Are they just not able or overwhelmed to handle large amounts of e-mail?

Unfortunately, in the 21^st century, there is no good excuse anymore! There is software or services available to handle unwanted e-mail.

Perhaps only lobbyists and journalists are privy to our Representatives’ e-mail address?

Or are these Representatives just so aloof!

Case In Point: The House Judiciary Committee

Several days ago, I spend the time to fill out this above mentioned webform to contact the chairman of this committee, i.e. Mr. Goodlatte (by the way, an excellent last name) to ask why the Articles of Impeachment against President Nixon are nowhere to be found on the committee’s website. I never got a response.

What About Senators?

Well, I recently thought it necessary to contact one of the two Senators representing the state I live in. My experience was similar to those Members of the House.