A Huge "Thank You" to Representative Glen Froseth, Kenmare, North Dakota -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

A reader recently sent me the reply he had received from Representative Glen Froseth with regard to a question on activity in the most recent North Dakota legislative session.

For the moment, I won't post it, for various reasons, but mostly because I'm not sure it was meant for wider distribution. There was nothing in that correspondence that couldn't be found in official documents publicly available, except perhaps for some personal opinions, which are neither here nor there, in my mind, for the purpose of this posting.

Are you still with me?

The point of this rambling is to send out a huge "thank you" to Representative Glen Froseth for a most informative note, answering a constituent's question with the clarity I seldom see coming out of government. I was quite impressed.

I have not seen such a well-written letter since 30 years ago or so when I received a letter from the Democratic presidential nominee, US Congressman and Senator, Henry Jackson. He responded to my letter and said he would do what he could to make my military stipend (educational) tax-free. And sure enough, some time later, the stipend was increased to take into account taxes. I ended up with the same amount of money for education, but paid back some of it in taxes, if I remember correctly. Maybe it was not increased, but tax-free. I forget. I just remember the nice letter from Scoop Jackson. RIP.

I had written to all six or seven Democratic presidential nominees. All but one responded. All responses were boiler plate replies except one. Only Scoop Jackson came back with a personal reply. He did not know me; I did not know him. I was a resident of North Dakota, not Washington state.

Yes, folks enjoy clear, honest letters from their representatives.

(Note: I have no idea what party Mr Froseth belongs to and until now had not heard of him.)