My Day At the Cannon

Cannon Office Building, that is. Right next to the Capitol. Patrick McHenry is on the 2nd floor, Heath Shuler on the 5th. My mission: ask McHenry’s staff for a list of the questions he didn’t answer Monday night.

There was no one at McHenry’s office who would speak to me except the intern greeter dude who told me to email the spokesman, so I have. Once on Capitol Hill, however, of course I had to visit Heath. After all that blogging and phone-calling to get him elected, surely I would rate some kind of perk, right?

And I do. A cup of much-needed water, a cheery hello and hug from the actual Congressman. I honestly didn’t even think to ask him about the tobacco v. children’s health bill. First of all, I was hot and thirsty (see below). And second of all, does anyone think a Congressmen from a contested (i.e. leaning conservative) North Carolina district would ever vote to raise the tobacco tax? I mean, kids could be bleeding in the streets, but this is politics, too. He’s got to get reelected to do them any good, right?

After I’d left, much rested and refreshed, I realized I never got a photo for y’all. So, I went back. And to the left, enjoy the only picture they allowed.

I’d started framing something in his office . . . perhaps all those cute family photos behind his desk . . . but they came in and stopped me because someone, who shall remain nameless, thought that perhaps his desk was “too messy.” It had, like, 10 papers on it! To me, it looked real. But blame me if you wanted to see his digs. They offered to clean it up. But I said, “no, no, no” and settled for the reception area. Anyway, it’s a nice oil painting (on loan) and you get to see the intern greeter dude Peter from Hendersonville.

To read about my creepy visit to McHenry’s quiet and funereal office, click here:

Why was I so parched after visiting my own (recently former) Congressman, you might ask? It was very sad. His intern/greeter dude could only give me an inch of water; that’s all they had. Maybe I should make it into a postcard that says: “I visited my Congressman and all I got was an inch of water in a plastic cup.” I really was amazingly hot and thirsty when I got there and you can’t drink the water from the bathrooms. Other weird McHenry thing: his intern was from Charlotte and Clemson. I guess he couldn’t get anyone from the district.

Then I saw this poster over a door.

To me, he doesn’t seem like a person who thinks anything is enchanted.

And I know it’s just a poster but somehow, for him to be in any way associated with showing children anything (especially with the word “enchantment”) . . . well, it gives me the creeps.