Vet Gets Cease And Desist Letter Barring Him From Calling His Senator

This is a bad look.

We love cease and desist letters at Above the Law. Interesting, sassy, or unique C&Ds are among our favorite stories. But this is… not that.

GOP Senator Ron Johnson sent a cease and desist letter, signed by his ‘staff,’ to a constituent — a Vietnam veteran no less — for calling his office too much. Take a look at the letter below, sent by the recipient of the letter, Earl Good to Citizens Action of Wisconsin:

Cease_desist_letter

Notice there is no law allegedly violated. No statute mentioned, no harassing behavior noted, just “unwarranted” phone calls from a constituent.

To be fair, Good, who is very concerned about the possibility of a privatized veteran’s administration, readily admits he has called the Senator’s office… a lot. As reported by The Intercept:

Good is a Vietnam veteran and attentive constituent who, in an interview with his local CBS station, acknowledged that he has been very persistent in his attempts to get through to the office and talk to the senator’s staff about issues that concern him, including the possible privatization of the Veterans Administration.

He acknowledged that he once called 83 times before someone picked up the phone.

“The day before was 40 to get through. The day before that was eight. The day before that was 29, so they’re very aware of who I am by my cell phone number,” he told CBS 58.

Okay, that might be excessive, but if the Senator’s office isn’t picking up the phone, it’s more akin to persistence.

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Johnson’s office made an additional statement on the matter noting:

“Constituents are always welcome and encouraged to contact our office with their concerns, regardless of political viewpoint. Unfortunately, very infrequently a pattern of inappropriate behavior emerges that crosses the bounds of decency and requires action to ensure the well being of visitors to the office and staff,” a spokesperson for Johnson told CBS 58.

Sure, anyone who’s ever spent a day in retail knows — no one WANTS to spent time with an angry customer, but that’s part of the deal. Absent details of any sort of behavior that might have justified a ban for Good, this just comes across as a bad look overall. But this is a Senator that has been ducking his constituents of late — they even held a mock town hall without him — so this is just Wisconsin’s new normal.

Republican Senator Sends Cease-and-Desist Letter to Constituent for Calling Too Much [The Intercept]


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headshotKathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).