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Representatives from United States Congressman Michael Arcuri's staff held office hours in the Lansing Town Hall Tuesday where constituents were encouraged to bring problems that might be solved or helped by the Congressman's office.  J. Robert Messenger from Arcuri's Cortland office and Patrick Smith of the Utica office met one on one with people from the district who needed help or just wanted to sound off on an issue.  "A lot of what we do is help people through the red tape of the government," Smith explains.  "We get them from the bottom of the pile to the top of the pile to make sure it's getting done.  We really do resolve problems for people."

Only three months into his first term, Arcuri has made a visible effort of reach out to his constituents.  With a main office in Utica, he also maintains two satellite offices in Cortland and Auburn.  Access to his office is available over the Internet and via a toll free telephone line, and he has held 'Congress On Your Corner' town-hall style meetings as well as topic-based symposiums such as the alternative energy forum held in Lansing in February, or an agriculture forum planned for Herkimer this weekend.  "There are a lot of ways to reach out," Smith says.  "We're just trying to make ourselves more accessible."

The 'office hours' are geared toward solving constituent problems.  "It's a range of things," Messenger explains.  "Certain people come in with opinions that they want to express to the Congressman, and there are others with specific issues.  For example, we've got a lady coming in with an immigration issue.  We've had VA issues, Social Security issues, Medicare issues, that type of thing."

Messenger says that if the response is good the plan is to hold local office hours on a regular basis, possibly monthly.  But it will depend on whether people in the area want to take advantage of the service.  He predicted that if they are held regularly people will use them more.  "They are intended so that a local person  -- and many people may have a social security issue or veteran's issue, who tend to be older, or maybe injured -- don't have to get in a car and drive to Cortland or to Utica," he says.  In the first hour on Tuesday it already looked like people want the service.  "The turnout has been pretty good," Messenger said.  "We've been surprisingly busy."


Both men say they like to work on helping people solve problems right away.  Their offices are in daily contact with Arcuri's Washington office.  "We take it back and start working on it right away," Smith says.  "It's important that we let the people know that it's being worked on right now.  You always want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem, so you want to make sure that as it comes in it goes out, and you keep things working."

Messenger says that he hopes to continue holding office hours in Lansing.  "This is a good place," he says.  "It's pretty well positioned, it has plenty of parking.  It's a beautiful building.  The Supervisor has been great for us.  We're planning on staying here if at all possible."

"Most people don't pay attention to how people are going to vote on legislation unless it's very near and dear to their heart," Smith notes.  "But they'll never forget that you helped Mom and Dad get their Medicare problems resolved, got their Social Security fixed, of helped Uncle Joe get his VA benefits or his medals.  Those are things that stick with people for a long time."

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