Cornyn Wins Best Constituent Services Award in Senate

Yesterday I received the Congressional Management Foundation’s top award to Congress for outstanding constituent service. The Congressional Management Foundation (CMF) Constituent Service Award recognizes my outstanding practices and achievements acting as an ombudsmen with the federal government and responding to constituent requests for assistance.

As a Senator for Texas, serving nearly 29 million Texans is much more than an office catchphrase – it’s our guiding principle. I’m honored and humbled to be recognized as the winner of this top Constituent Service Award in Congress, but of course, this award belongs equally to my hardworking casework team who have helped countless Texans navigate the inner workings of the federal government.  Casework is a lesser known function of my office, but I encourage any Texan who is having trouble with social security or VA benefits, passports, or the post office, to name just a few, to contact my office to see if we can be of assistance.

Texans can visit cornyn.senate.gov/fortexans or call my Dallas office to get help with a federal agency or learn more about the services my team can provide.

“As a Democracy Award winner, Sen. Cornyn’s office is clearly one of the best in Congress,” said Bradford Fitch, President and CEO of the Congressional Management Foundation. “This designation demonstrates that Sen. Cornyn has made a significant commitment to being the best public servant for his constituents in Texas. Sen. Cornyn and his staff are to be congratulated for not only being a model for his colleagues in Congress, but for helping to restore trust and faith that our democratic institutions can work,” he said.

In assessing and awarding the my office a Democracy Award for Constituent Service, CMF identified the following:

With a full-time staff of eight dedicated caseworkers, all of whom receive a comprehensive 30-day training, the office of Sen. John Cornyn prioritizes their constituent service operation at the highest level. The office has created easy reference sheets, consolidated from their several casework manuals for quick reference by their constituent services team. Each caseworker receives a "tickler" on Monday mornings reminding them which of their cases are due for follow-up each week. Casework staff publish monthly reports highlighting success stories for all of Sen. Cornyn’s team, and the office displays a "Bravo Board" of thank you notes and letters of appreciation from constituents. To accommodate a large Latino population, Sen. Cornyn's website is published in both English and Spanish, and the office has several employees fluent in Spanish. Additionally, Sen. Cornyn has seven offices throughout the state to help be responsive to the state’s sizeable population. The office maintains a high degree of quality control, ensuring that every person who contacts the Senator receives a response. Caseworkers frequently work after-hours to assist with particularly time-sensitive cases when the need arises. Sen. Cornyn holds tele-town halls, Thursday coffees in his DC office for visiting Texans (before the pandemic hit), and regularly visits his constituent services team in Texas.  Sen. Cornyn does all of this in service of the second-largest population in the Senate, with nearly 29 million constituents to serve.

A review committee conducted dozens of interviews to select finalists in April, at which time I was named a finalist for CMF’s Constituent Service Award.  A committee comprised primarily of former Members of Congress and staff selected the winners using the application, interview notes, and supporting materials provided by the office.

Winners and finalists in other award categories were honored at a virtual awards ceremony today. Watch a recording of the ceremony here: https://www.congressfoundation.org/projects/democracy-awards

CMF is a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan nonprofit whose mission is to build trust and effectiveness in Congress. Since 1977, CMF has worked internally with Member, committee, leadership, and institutional offices in the House and Senate to identify and disseminate best practices for management, workplace environment, communications, and constituent services. CMF also is the leading researcher and trainer on citizen engagement, educating thousands of individuals and facilitating better relationships with Congress.