Don Roach

Don,

Great work, found you through your comments in the ProJo. Please drop me a line if you get a moment?

Regards,

John
rep-john@cox.net

You are probably wasting your time.
I had the unfortunate experience of having Sheldon Whitehouse as the US Attorney during my last two years as a federal agent.He completely mismanaged the office in terms of manpower allocation,meaning he had the wrong people in positions of authority and the best people pigeonholed.It is hard to know this for a fact-it has to be a subjective evaluation based on working with that office for a period of years.Therefore it is my educated opinion.
Sheldon’s tenure as Attorney General was similarly an exercise in empty suit management.
None of the Assistant AG’s I knew there,like the career prosecutors I had worked with and hed respect for in the Federal counterpart,had anything good to say about him.These weren’t political hacks,but professional who prosecuted criminals for years on end.many still do so today.Due to the nature of my assignments I had more cases in State than Federal courts.
I have worked with US Attorneys offices in Boston,RI,Miami,Chicago,Peoria,Fort Worth,and both the Eastern District and Southern Districts of NY.I have never see as poor an example as Sheldon.
Sheldon’s inability to grasp the dangerous nature of the crew that Jennifer Rivera was testifying against was negligent to the point of malfeasance.Coming from his sheltered ,rarified world of the polo set,he had no idea that these people wouldn’t think twice before doing something that even the Patriarca crime family wouldn’t do.
Sheldon’s pretend game of “one pot meals” with the “groundlings” is a smokescreen for his elitist attitude.The man in person reeks of arrogance and privilege from birth.Coming from a blue collar background in Brooklyn,I find him to be a dandified fop,and a dullard in the process.
Not everyone born wealthy is like that by any means,so I’m not generalizing-this is about Sheldon.
I don’t know if you ever saw “Stripes” with Bill Murray,but Sheldon reminds me a great deal of the character(Capt.Stillman)played by John Laroquette.
If you want to have an example of a good US Attorney,just think of Linc Almond or Margaret Curran-both were true public servants with excellent judgement and as down to earth as one could ever hope for.
Sheldon in the Senate is like a turd in the punchbowl at a family reunion.
joe

Joe,

I can see that you really love Sheldon…LOL.

I’ve never had any experience with him at all just from afar so I can’t speak to interacting with him on any level with sincerity. What I have found is that people either love or hate him. I’ve not met anyone who was neutral in their estimation of him.

I do expect an answer as a constituent if nothing else and will continue pounding his doors until he provides one. We’ll see how long it takes but I am hopeful that my Senator will see fit to answer a constituent’s questions.

My dad had the “pleasure” of working with Mr. Whitehouse, so I guess that is the impression he made on him!

I think it will be very interesting to find out if you actually get a response written by Whitehouse himself. It is quite likely that there is a form letter to be sent out to anyone who questions him about his refusal to vote in favor of defunding ACORN.

However, kudos on taking a public official to task. We should take it upon ourselves to remind the elected officials that we are constantly evaluating their performance and that they do, in fact, work for us. If they tick off enough of their constituents, they must face losing their jobs. Thus it is in the best interest of all in elected positions to listen to the voice of the people.

Nothing from Whitehouse and I don’t expect much either. But, I will poke his office on a weekly basis.

We’ll see what happens.

Actually, Tabetha I worked with the prosecutors in his office.Unlike Linc Almond,who was up to speed on every case,Sheldon was largely considered a nincompoop and spent most of his time posturing-he couldn’t actually try a case,that’s for sure.Of course,THE US Attorney normally wouldn’t.
After experiencing the enormous professional competence of US Attorneys like Dan Webb and Terry Harn in Illinois,Wayne Budd in Boston,and Almond here,Sheldon is a bad joke.

[...] from Whitehouse Posted by donroach on October 02, 2009 Uncategorized About two weeks ago, I contacted Sheldon Whitehouse regarding his vote against stripping ACORN from federal funding. Two weeks later, no response. I [...]

Senator Whitehouse met with constituents at the Butcher Block Deli last week and answered a question about ACORN. I wrote about it here

http://kmareka.com/2009/10/16/senator-whitehouse-meets-constituents/

To this day, I have never heard from the Whitehouse team.

Nancy, certainly understand that he met with folks and addressed the issue at a forum I was unable to attend, but I find it troubling that I didn’t get a response linking at least to your article or referencing the same event.

That’s just very troubling.