Here's what happened when I called Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's office re: Al Franken

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123. You know why I do that?

Because I have a stake in that area, too.

I have good friends, nieces, nephews, cousins, daughter and son-in-law, in other states. My son is here in SoCal but he lives in a different Congressional district than we are. I care about them. Deeply. And when I visit them, on their turf, then I, too, am THERE. Part of it. Hell, I'm in my kid's district all the time! Eating at and ordering takeout from their restaurants, shopping in their stores (and thus supporting and involving myself in the local economy, putting my actual money where my mouth is), paying local sales tax, chatting with locals everywhere I go, dealing with their roads, bridges, water systems, traffic congestion, weather issues, city ordinances, neighborhood routines, dog walking, trash-taking-out, filling the gas tank of my rental car (that I rented locally for out-of-town visits) with gas at local gas stations, sharing with their friends, enjoying their tourist attractions and scenery and social scene, etc.

I would hope that if you had an elderly parent in Florida or Arizona or some nice warm climate for the old bones, you would care about the local area that serves as home to your loved one. And I imagine you would check in with them and be interested in what affects them. I would assume you probably physically went there to visit, as well, whether it's just staying overnight or over several weeks. If you have a loved one or someone else important to you, in another district or state,

I also believe that if I donated to someone's campaign, I own a small piece of that campaign. And if they win, then I own a piece of that action, too, how-ever small. I gave money to help them get that job. So I'm owed. I'm suspect the Koch brothers or the Mercers or Shel Adelson or any of those rich CON-friendly SOBs don't confine their political donations just within the confines of their own state, do they? Well, hell's bells, then why should I?

I've told this story before, too, but I think it bears repeating, especially here:
Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota. I'm a Californian. But I donated generously when she was first running for the Senate - from North Dakota. Okay? So in the first day or two after the Sandy Hook school massacre, she goes on "Good Morning America" and states flatly that "oh, NO. We're not going to do anything about assault rifles (a murder weapon used that day)." I called her office. I said I'm not a North Dakotan, but by Jove, I gave money to her campaign when she was running for this job, and she was VERY happy to get MY CALIFORNIA MONEY to help finance her campaign. So even though I'm not directly a constituent, I am an underwriter and financier of her campaign, and she wouldn't have won this job if it weren't for people like me. So I intend to weigh in here. And the staffer took my call and didn't bark at me that "what does this have to do with the state of North Dakota?"

I actually had a staffer in Susan Collins' office yell at me for that. "And what does this have to do with the state of Maine?" (Oh, maybe because I have a niece who's lived there for years, with whom I've been friends for decades, and dammit, I care about what happens to her, and how the laws affect her and other Mainers.)

Lying? Fine. Color me guilty if you must. I don't regard it as such. And I give a damn. And when something's not going right, I do NOT believe in defaulting on apathy and/or rolling over and going back to sleep.

Besides, I think it's well worth it, even VITAL, for the Kirsten Gillibrands of the world to know JUST HOW PISSED OFF PEOPLE ARE - EVERYWHERE - about what she's done. Because that anger most certainly IS everywhere. Not just in her state, either. She very much needs to know the magnitude of the reaction. Should the people of Minnesota who are outraged that she ran their Senator out of Washington and affected them INTENSELY not let her know, either? Are they supposed to just lay low and grumble to themselves?

Remember, too, if Gillibrand does intend to run for president in 2020, she's not going to be trolling for votes exclusively within the confines of New York State. She would need us all, all over everywhere. So I think she better know how we feel - including us non-New Yorkers.