No Comment Congressman

Congressman Robert Latta

(R) 5th District.  

When it comes to climate change, Congressman Robert Latta’s office would not provide a comment.

Our Computer-Assisted Reporting class asked Ohio’s congressmen and senators to provide a statement about climate change.

For this project, I contacted Congressman Latta’s office to find out his position.

Over the course of three weeks, I called the Washington D.C. office eight times and sent two emails. I received no response.

The local offices in Bowling Green, Ohio and Defiance, Ohio were reached out to for comment. The secretary at each office told me to direct all communication questions to the Washington D.C. office.

I called ­­­the CBS affiliate station in Toledo, WTOL, to see if any reports interviewed Congressman Latta about climate change. Frank Seely, Assignment Manager, said reporters don’t interview Congressman Latta about climate change.

“He doesn’t believe in such a thing as climate change,” Seely said.

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This project taught me to ask questions and be persistent.

When I started this project, I was shuffled around to different people to find an answer.

I kept calling and asking for the congressman’s position.

I learned that a journalist lives in a fearless profession.

As a journalist, you can’t be afraid to ask questions.

Thea Emroll

                           

No response from Congressman on climate change

Congressman James Renacci

The Congressional Climate Change Project attempted to contact Congressman James Renacci over a three-week period to get his stance on climate change and was unable to get a response.

The Project first contacted Congressman James Renacci’s office by phone.  A re-direction by an intern moved the focus to contacting the Congressman’s Communications Director Elizabeth Litzow.  After being unable to reach Elizabeth Litzow, the Project sent the first of three emails over the course of the three weeks the Project went on, none of which received a response. 

The Project attempted to call Elizabeth Litzow five times during the duration of the project. In the second phone call, we were able to talk to Elizabeth Litzow.  In that conversation, we were rushed off the phone as Elizabeth Litzow said, “I have to run to a meeting”.  Elizabeth Litzow did say, before the one interaction ended, that she would send an email with the information we are looking for.  The Project received nothing.  In the following three phone calls, the intern answering the phone told us that Elizabeth Litzow was not available or in a meeting at the time of the call.

As a result, after three-weeks of phone calls and emails, the Congressional Climate Change Project was unable to get Congressman James Renacci’s stance on climate change.

Author: Chris Yamnitsky 

As a student journalist, I found it very frustrating that our members of Congress do not have enough time to give us only five minutes to talk about a very hot button topic in politics today.  From this assignment, I learned that many times in journalism, you have to be as persistent as possible to get the answers you seek.  But sometimes, even with a high amount of persistence, you still may not find what you are looking for.  This can be very frustrating and makes it more difficult to get the correct answers from the people you want to talk to. Another lesson I learned is that people do not take student journalists seriously.  I think contacting a Congressman should not be as difficult as this assignment made it out to be.  As students, and as voters, we should be able to talk to our Congressman, or at least someone who can give us the answer, to any questions we have. Especially with a hot button topic like climate change.

Congressman Jim Jordan's WITH NO Position on Climate Change

Republican Congressman Jim Jordan 

The Congressional Climate Change Reporting Project Congressmen Jim Jordan of the 14th district, could not give us a stance on climate change.

The project was to contact a congressman, ask for his position on climate change and request 3-5 minute Skype interview on this controversial topic. 

Darin Miller, Communications Director at Jordan's office denied a Skype interview after several attempts to contact him. 

         

"Unfortunately I don't think we can make this work at this time," Miller said.

After about 2 weeks, we did receive statement from Miller.

"Everyone agrees we need to prioritize economic growth while also promoting a clean environment," said Miller. 

Yet, still no comment on Jordan's position on Climate Change. 

According to Jordan's website, his opinion on energy and natural resources is, America is far too dependent on Mille East Oil.

The website goes on to say that America needs to use more of the oil and energy that we have here at home. However, still no statement on preventing climate change. 

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Francis Anthony Dworning, Reporter at Kent State University

This project was extremely difficult for me to understand why elected official would be so negligent to respond to student journalist about this important topic. I learned that just because you act nice over the phone doesn't always get you as far as you need to go. I did however learn how to make a professional phone call and send a professional letter. 

Senator Sherrod Brown says climate change is undeniable!

Senior United States Senator from Ohio,
Senator Sherrod Brown

Climate change is a rising issue. It is talked about by many environmentalist's like Tom Steyer, who spent $74 million in 2014 on supporting Democratic candidates who made climate change a critical issue in their campaign. Climate change continues to be brought up in the 2016 presidential debates. Both democratic candidates, Hilary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have released proposals on what they plan to do about climate change. It is no secret that something needs to be done to help the environment, and Senator Sherrod Brown, who is also a member of the democratic party, agrees.

In an effort to speak with Senator Brown about his views on climate change, seven phone calls were made to his Columbus office by a student journalist, Nadia Assim. Four of the phone calls were sent to a voice message, and only three were answered. Out of those three phone calls, there were three different answers: The first was that there was nothing they could do, the second was that I had to go online and fill out a request form in order to even be considered to get a response and the third led to one of his staff assistant's, Rachel Petri. Petri confirmed that she was speaking for Senator Brown by saying him nor anyone to represent him were available for a five minute Skype interview to talk about climate change.

Petri later provided a video, in which Senator Brown talked about climate change in a previous interview. In that interview, Senator Brown said climate change is undeniable and he used Lake Erie's algae bloom crisis as an example.

By: Nadia Assim

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While doing this project I realized how difficult it is to get a hold of people in the Senate and Congress. I talked to many of my colleges, who had the same assignment and they were faced with this same issue. Going in to this project I didn't anticipate it to be terribly hard for me to get in contact with someone in Senator Sherrod Brown's office, but I was wrong. Considering these officials are working for the people of this country (which includes me), it is absurd that I cannot even get an answer from them or at least someone working for them regarding what they are doing about this serious issue. 

Nadia Assim

No Opinion on Climate Change Becomes an Opinion

Congressman Brad Wenstrup (R)- 2nd District

The office of Congressman Brad Wenstrup said he does not have an opinion on Climate Change.

It is currently an election year where Climate Change is frequently discussed among the presidential candidates. The topic has been brought up at more than one presidential debate and for both political parties. All presidential candidates who were asked about Climate Change had something to say about it, but not Congressman Wenstrup.

"We don't have anything to do with the Presidential debates," the Congressman's press aide Greg Brooks said.

Brooks refused to participate in a 3-5 minute video skype interview with a student journalist concerning the Congressman's position. As explained to Brooks, the interview could have been at any time that was convenient for him over a two-week period in order to discuss the topic. He still refused. 

           "Unlike many presidential campaigns, it is rare for press secretaries on Capitol Hill to do on camera interviews on behalf of Members of Congress, and as I mentioned previously, the Congressman does not use Skype for media interviews," Brooks said in an e-mail.

           Brooks' "previously" is referring to what he said in a phone conversation in which he originally declined to partake in a video skype interview. 

           At the end of the e-mail, sent on January 27th, Brooks said he would send a statement to answer the questions that were previously posed, however, the statement has never been sent.

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Megan Deierling- Reporter

This project taught me how to handle certain situations, and how the tone of your voice can change an interview completely.