Describing a typical day at my internship and introducing Kristine Michalson

As a clerical assistant, my daily responsibilities were very constant. Each morning I would come in and begin listening and logging voice messages from constituents who called after hours. We averaged anywhere between seven to seventeen calls each evening. Next, I would log all the faxes that were sent by political groups, private companies, political advocates, and constituents. This duty could be tedious as we received between 150-200 faxes each day. Following these two tasks, I would sort and distribute the newspaper to everyone in the office. After a couple of weeks I began to recognize who wanted what and by mid-summer, I never needed to ask who wanted certain newspapers. 

Once the above tasks were accomplished, the time reached 10am and I would either prepare for a morning tour of the Capitol or I would take on a research assignment from someone in the back office.  Often time this meant receiving, sorting, and filing correspondence mail, scan contacts into MS Office, perform research on upcoming votes, work on legislative House bills and resolutions in conjunction with the Chief of Staff, perform constituent case work, answer phones, and perform data entry on excel.

While doing all of this, I would also stop on a moment’s notice to answer the phones. In doing so, I would provide assistance in communicating with the public and members of the media and consistently and clearly explaining the Congressman's policies to constituents who call in. My days were busy and I very rarely looked at the clock. Before I could grab lunch, I looked at the clock and saw that it was almost time to go home.

I want to conclude this blog by introducing Kristine Michalson. Kristine is the communications director who handles all media inquiries and this often means it is her job to protect the Congressman from aggressive and often times deceiving media personnel who want nothing more than to smear the Congressman with embarrassment. She was amazing and I probably appreciated her the most as she was one who gradually increased my responsibilities throughout the summer. Whether it was trust or sheer bravery, Kristine allowed me the opportunities to excel in the area of the media.