During the primary election season just past, we were inundated with talk on the radio, advertising on the internet, and fliers in the mail urging us to vote for this candidate or that. They tried to persuade us that Mr. XYZ is really going to change things and make them better. With the November midterms looming ahead, we can expect more of the same.
Yet, to many of us, the city, state and federal governments are very far away from our day-to-day lives. Our community leaders tell us that it is very important to vote. But does it really matter who is in charge? Do our elected officials or the people who work for them actually care about the problems of a random person in his or her district?
To my great surprise, I found out that they do.
I interviewed community member Jacqueline Greenfield, the Director of Constituent Services for Delegate Sandy Rosenberg, one of our representatives in Annapolis. Jackie’s job is to take care of his constituents’ problems. Jackie explained that there are two major reasons why the directors of agencies talk to her and why she is successful so often. One is that she represents Delegate Rosenberg, and the other is, baruch Hashem, siyata d’Shamaya.
How can she help when the task seems impossible? If a person has a problem with social services, for example, he usually cannot get past the clerk who answers the phone or mans the desk. The clerk is not authorized to make decisions or allow exceptions. So the person will simply be stuck with his problem. Sometimes, however, if the supervisor or director is contacted, and the problem is explained, the review of the issue will be expedited, and s/he has the authority to resolve the problem.
Jackie has 19 years of experience in this field. Before working for Delegate Sandy Rosenberg, she held a similar position for Senator Barbara Hoffman and, later, with Senator Lisa Gladden. Over the course of time, she has become acquainted with the people who are in charge of the various government departments – the ones who have the authority to get things done! She has their phone numbers in her computer. And she knows how government works and has the skills to negotiate.
In order to explain what she does, Jackie gave me many examples, changing certain details to maintain confidentiality.
Not without her Caregiver
Once a woman in her 90s was traveling to Baltimore from Israel for the wedding of her granddaughter. She had an aide who was not an American citizen. They had applied for a visa for the aide but had been refused for some technicality. The wedding was in a week. Visas are really a federal issue, but because time was of the essence, Jackie was able to contact U. S. Senator Cardin’s office. The aide was granted a visa, and the grandmother was able to make it in time for the wedding.
An Expensive Ride
Another time, Jackie got a phone call from a Baltimore man whose child had a serious accident while in the Catskills. He had to be transported via air ambulance helicopter from the Catskills to a hospital in New York. The father received a huge bill for the cost of the helicopter, and the insurance company said that it covered only 10% of the bill because it was out of Maryland. The provider was charging the family the remaining amount of the bill. Jackie called the assistant state’s attorney, who is an expert in insurance law. He found that, earlier that year, the air ambulance company that airlifted the child had signed an agreement with certain states, including Maryland and New York, that they would accept “no balance billing.” That meant that they were not permitted to bill the father for the balance of the bill that was not paid by the insurance.
An Up-and-Down Case
Sometimes Jackie can help a situation by helping the parties negotiate even if the problem is not a state issue but could become a legislative one. Once, a number of senior citizen residents of an apartment building who were Shabbos-observant had a problem. They wanted one of the several elevators to be a Shabbos elevator (an elevator that stops automatically at each floor), but others in the building did not. Instead of letting it escalate into a legislative issue regarding the First Amendment, Jackie suggested that they negotiate a compromise. The residents followed her advice, and Delegate Rosenberg withdrew the legislation that he had introduced to assist the seniors. The Shabbos elevator was instituted, but it only functioned at certain times of the day: for instance, in the morning when it was time to go and come back from shul. Both parties were satisfied without having to go the legislative route.
Losing Electricity, Losing Money, Losing Documentation
Once there was a storm, and many buildings lost electricity. Due to major outages, BG&E was responding in the order of who notified BG&E first. A shul had also lost electricity but was far down on the list of places to be repaired. Jackie made a call to the right person and was able to have the shul’s electricity fixed more quickly – and before Yom Tov began.
Another time, a yeshiva with non-profit status applied for a property tax exemption. The application was taking a long time to be approved, and the yeshiva was required to pay the large tax bill while the application was pending. Jackie called her contact, the application request was expedited, the yeshiva was given the tax waiver, and the money they had paid was refunded.
The social services office told a family to reapply for food stamps because the office had not received the proper documentation. This family had the receipt proving that the documentation had been sent. Jackie was able to get through to the right person to cut the red tape, and food stamps were reinstated without having to reapply, which can take months!
Not Written in Stone
Sometimes, it is even possible to change a law to help someone. Completion of government documents to finalize used car sales had recently been computerized. Sher Auto Sales suddenly found that they could no longer sell used cars on Sunday. Although, they had been selling cars on Sunday for many years, it was not a problem when they wrote the final documentation by hand. With the change, the government computer did not allow them to file their transactions on Sunday because of the “blue laws,” old laws that forbid some business activities on Sunday.
It wasn’t simple to change the law, because other used car dealerships, which were open on Saturday, did not want the law to be changed. They liked having a day of rest on Sunday, since it was their Sabbath, and because Saturday was so busy for them. A compromise was worked out that satisfied everyone. Delegate Rosenberg sponsored and passed legislation to change the law in Baltimore City to read that every used car dealership had to be closed one day a week but could choose the day that worked for them.
Insurance Company Woes
A person who had been in a bad car accident was being treated in Washington D.C. Once she was a little better, the insurance company insisted that she be transported to Maryland for rehabilitation. The family preferred that she stay in Washington so she could have continuous care from the same doctor. The insurance company would not budge and determined that if the rehab took place in Washington, they would not pay. Jackie knew with whom to speak and was able to convince the insurance company that, for the good of the patient, it should cover the rehab and doctors in Washington.
It was fascinating to speak to Jackie and hear the wide variety of issues she deals with and the situations she is able to resolve. It is wonderful that those of us who live in Baltimore City have access to a real human being who actually cares about individuals!
