Showing Up for Work
There are expectations for holding a job; namely, that you show up for work when you are supposed to. And if you’re not going to be there, you tell someone in authority.
I’ll get an email or a text from folks here at the radio station if they are working a different shift than normal, coming in late, working from home due to illness, etc. Just common courtesy. And so long as the employer is satisfied, all is well.
However, there are lots of stories floating around right now about candidates on the November ballot and their attendance records in their current jobs; often they are state lawmakers who are looking to move to Congress, and missed votes in Des Moines in order to campaign back in their districts. Obviously, they should be there for the key votes, but I’d be interested in knowing their overall attendance records while in the chamber…not just the few weeks before the primary.
Of greater concern are two Republican members of Congress—New Jersey Rep. Thomas Kean, Jr., and Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell—and their extended absences without information.
Kean missed 100 consecutive votes for what was termed a “personal health matter”…he was out of public view for nearly four months, in fact. He returned to Congress last month and disclosed on the House floor he was being treated for depression. The problem is not the need for health care for the condition…it was the lack of information, even to Congressional leaders.
Now there’s McConnell, who was hospitalized after an apparent cardiac episode some weeks ago; depending on who you talk to, McConnell is either sharp as a tack and spending his days in long phone conversations with people…or literally, in a brain dead comatose condition. Even Kentucky’s Democrat governor has formally inquired as to the Senator’s health—in part because he’d be involved in naming a replacement should McConnell not continue in office.
Given how cynical we are about politics and government…and given the razor-thin margins in each chamber…is it too much for citizens to expect their representatives to actually be on the job—and if not, to tell us why? After all, they sought those public jobs…and they promised to represent us. Hard to do when away from the job site.
