Contacting representatives can yield results

WEST JORDAN — Disabled Vietnam veteran Paul House needed his cancerous prostate removed because of potential exposure to Agent Orange on the battlefields of Southeast Asia.

But the West Jordan man also says his wartime experiences serving as an infantryman in Cuchi Province left him suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, although a claim he filed several years ago relating to PTSD was rejected because his service record contained nothing indicating that he'd been in combat.

House recalled that he and his unit were awarded Combat Infantry Badges after they'd been in the field 90 days, which would support his PTSD claim. Unable to locate the citation, he launched a letter- and e-mail-writing campaign to Utah's three members of the House of Representatives, seeking their assistance. House said he heard back from Jim Matheson and Rob Bishop, both who encouraged him to contact then-Congressman Chris Cannon , who represented the 3rd District where House lived.

Cannon was AWOL. Multiple letters and e-mails sent to the congressman went unanswered, House said. Frustrated, he gave up until Jason Chaffetz defeated Cannon in the 2008 Republican primary and went on to capture the 3rd District seat. After that, House decided to try writing one final letter with Chaffetz as the addressee.

House quickly discovered that all congressmen are not created equal. Chaffetz wasted no time forwarding the veteran's request to Deputy District Director Dell Smith who, according to House, "showed great interest" and secured the missing CIB in four months' time. The award was eventually bestowed on its grateful recipient according to military protocal at one of Chaffetz's town hall meetings.

"Chaffetz and his people did a great service for me. It's a good feeling to know that someone cared enough about me to do something," House said, adding that because he now has the award, he's been able to reopen his PTSD case and expects to have a decision within the next two months on what was earlier denied.

Constituent requests like House's are just a part of the huge volume of communications that Utah congressional staffers deal with daily.

Alyson Heyrend, longtime communications director for Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, says her boss has always solicited and received copious constituent feedback. But 2009 generated more back-and-forth with the public than any year since Matheson's arrival on Capitol Hill in 2001.