HARKIN URGES IOWANS TO CONTACT HIS OFFICE BY PHONE OR EMAIL
Senator’s office has not seen the vast majority of mail sent to him since the anthrax scare began in October
MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2001
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today announced that most of the mail sent to his Washington office immediately before and after the anthrax attacks of October 15, has still not reached him. With new security procedures to protect all of those who handle the mail, delays will continue indefinitely. Law enforcement has said that mail was damaged or destroyed in the screening and irradiation process, meaning that some mail will never make it to Harkin’s office. Harkin is urging constituents to contact his office by phone or email until mail service returns to a more regular schedule.
"In these trying times, I’m asking the people of Iowa to be patient when it comes to sending and receiving mail from my office. With the indefinite slowdown in the congressional mail service my office has received only a very small amount of mail over the past two months. Until mail service returns to normal I encourage you to contact me by phone or by email," said Harkin.
THE PATH A LETTER MUST TAKE TO GET TO OUR DESKS:
- Sent from an Iowan constituent to Senator Harkin
- Arrives at a processing unit in Virginia (2-4 days)
- On to Lima, Ohio for irradiation (10-14 days)
- Sent to another processing unit where all non-paper contents are removed and tested (7 to 10 days)
- If it clears that 7-10 day waiting period for test results, it then gets sorted into the individual office bins and is then delivered to the Senate.
Harkin’s office can be contacted by email at tom_harkin@harkin.senate.gov, or by phone at any one of his offices at: Des Moines:515-284-4574, Cedar Rapids:319-365-4504, Davenport:563-322-1338, Dubuque:563-582-2130, Sioux City:712-252-1550, Washington D.C.:202-224-3254.
For more information, please check Harkin’s website at http://harkin.senate.gov.
