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2021 political and history
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SSP 101: Power and Politics
LaGuardia: Fall i 2021
Prof. Andreas Karras
Essay Assignment 2: Profiling your U.S. Representative and your Congressional District
As citizens in a representative democracy, you should have knowledge of who represents you
and of the quality of that representation. The House of Representatives was designed by the
founding fathers to act as the resonator of public passions. It was originally the only elective
office that was chosen directly by the voters. That is why a term in the House is only 2 years in
order to ensure that representatives are frequently accountable to their constituents. It is this
structural aspect of frequent re-election that makes the House a nervous, reactive, institution
and that in turn points to the potential power of you as a constituent. Representatives are
acutely sensitive to informed constituents and, in that sense, knowledge is power.
What do I want you to do?
Write up a profile (at least 4 pages double spaced with 1 inch margins and 12 point font size)
that describes the congressional district in which you reside and the representative who
represents its interests (and your interests) in Washington. The question that should guide your
research is the following: How well does my representative do in representing my interests
(those things that I want from the government) and the interests of my community?
In putting together your more complete profile, be sure to address the following
questions.
1) Where do you live? What are the demographic characteristics of the U.S. Congressional
district; racial/ethnic composition, Income, renters / homeowners, years of education, rate of
unemployment. Rate of crime etc. in the district that you live in and are profiling?
2) Who are the key employers in the district? What’s going on by way of real estate
development, re-development and gentrification?
3) What are the issues that people in the district are concerned with? Is the district
predominantly liberal or conservative? What are the civic groups and community organizations
that are active in the district?
4) Pick 2 votes made by your representative in 3 key areas of legislation of concern to
constituents in the district. Describe the legislation and how they voted on it. How do these
votes reflect (or not reflect) the wishes of their constituents?
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5) Who are the 10 top contributors to your U.S Representative? What is the breakdown of
contributions by economic sector? What percentage of campaign funding comes from small
individual contributions?
6) Is there any controversy about your representative? This includes strong statements,
unorthodox positions and / or allegations of impropriety or corruption. Look up articles in the
New York Times with your representative’s name as a search term.
7) Overall, do you think your representative does a good job of representing your district?
What’s one thing about them that you don’t like? Would you vote to re-elect them in the n
election?
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2021 political and history
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that are active in the district?
4)
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by your representative in 3 key areas of legislation of concern to
rict. Describe the legislation and how they voted on it. How do these
lect) the wishes of their constituents?
VC
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5) Who are the 10 top contributors to your U.S Representative? What is the breakdown of
contributions by economic sector? What percentage of campaign funding comes from small
individual contributions?
6) Is there any controversy about your representative? This includes strong statements,
unorthodox positions and / or allegations of impropriety or corruption. Look up articles in the
New York Times with your representative’s name as a search term.
7) Overall, do you think your representative does a good job of representing your district?
What’s one thing about them that you don’t like? Would you vote to re-elect them in the next
election?
Sources:
1) Openscrets.org (Information on sources of campaign funding for elected officials)
2) Vote_Smart.org (information on voting records and interest group ratings for U.S. and state
representatives
3) House.gov (use the “find my representative” feature to find your representative to the U.S.
Congress); portal for the individual web sites of all members of the U.S. House of
Representatives.
4) Census.gov/ My Congressional District (for demographic information pertaining to your
Congressional District)
5) New York’s Congressional Districts/Wikipedia (for information about your Congressional
District)
6) New York Congressional District Maps / Gov Trackers (to get a sense of how your district
is shaped and which neighborhoods, or portions of neighborhoods, it includes)
7) Congressional Districts in the 2000’s: Portrait of America (available as an electronic
resource through John Jay College Library; Profiles of Congressional Districts and the
constituent groups that comprise them)
8) New York Times Index: to access articles about activities and controversies involving your
U.S. representatives.
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