Contra Costa Times: "McNerney comes through..."
Congressman Jerry McNerney continues to earn praise from local press for his constituent services in the 11th Congressional District.
Alan Elias of the Contra Costa Times is lauding McNerney's responsiveness to a group of Dublin high school students desperately needing passports before a long-scheduled group trip abroad.
Due to federal changes in passport rules, there have been significant delays in the processing of passport applications -- in some cases, for many months.
Which brings us to Dublin High School foreign language teacher Jennifer Lea and the participants of her European study-abroad program. After planning and saving up for the trip all year, four group members had not received their passports just 11 days before their scheduled June 23 departure.
Understandably panicked, Lea contacted McNerney's office to see whether it would be possible to apply some congressional arm-twisting at the State Department.
One of his Pleasanton staff members heeded the teacher's appeal, got all of the necessary forms signed and sealed (hey, it's the government, after all), and got on the phone to the Charleston, S.C., Passport Office to apply enough pressure to crowbar the passports back to Dublin within a week -- in time for all students to make the flight.
"I know the students had worked hard to raise the money for the trip, and it's wonderful that they were able to enjoy themselves and experience foreign cultures," McNerney said in an e-mail.
This isn't the first time the Congressman has stepped in to help constituents urgently in need of a passport. Just a few weeks ago, the Lodi News-Sentinel told readers about Congressman McNerney's efforts to provide critical assistance to a woman seeking a passport for immediate health care in Canada.
And Lisa Vorderbrueggen, of the Times, wrote about a Lodi woman who was quite impressed with Congressman McNerney's responsiveness to an issue with her social security benefits:
"Oh, I'll vote for Jerry, you betcha," said Lodi Republican Deborah Kafton after McNerney's office helped restore her Social Security disability payments. "The fact that he helped me, a small person in the world, I would back him all the way. My opinion (on other political issues) might be different, but that would be the case with any politician."
Comments