HELPING CONSTITUENTS ACROSS MAINE

What do you do when the Social Security Administration insists, despite your own equally forceful insistence, that you're dead? How do you find out why the Immigration and Naturalization Service won't let your Canadian girlfriend cross the border into the United States, despite a record that's clean as a constabulary whistle? If there's a hurricane in Honduras and that's where your husband happens to be, how do you find out if he's safe? How do you explain to an immovable Internal Revenue Service that it's impossible to have earned income from a state in which you've never lived, worked, or even visited? How do you explain to the Pentagon, which has lost the deployment orders for an entire National Guard unit, that your unit was indeed deployed from Skowhegan to Germany to Bosnia, and therefore you should be getting travel pay?

It's as simple as the old phrase: you write (or phone, or fax, or e-mail) your Representatives in Congress. All of the cases mentioned above are real. And in each case, Maine citizens were helped by the dedicated staff in one of the six offices I maintain in the various parts of our state. Looking back over the hundreds of cases we've handled in just the last year, I'm very proud of the personal assistance my staff have given to Mainers in need. It can be frustrating for people to try to navigate the often muddy waters of federal regulations. Trying for two years, as one woman did, to convince the Social Security Administration that she was indeed very much alive is a perfect illustration of why some people come to see their government as a faceless, unreasonable monolith.

Over the last year, my state staff has been able to help many Mainers, one person at a time, in their dealings with the various parts of our government. One is example is Ralph Ouellette. A resident of Sinclair, Mr. Ouellette is a veteran and served our country during the Korean War. In 1996, he underwent open heart surgery, and, because of his service to the country, the Veterans Administration (VA) paid for the medicines he needed following the operation. Last year, however, the VA notified Mr. Ouelltte that he would have to start paying for his prescriptions. Because he and his wife rely exclusively on Social Security for their income, this imposed a terrible burden, and he wrote to me asking for help. The very day that we received his letter, my staff faxed an inquiry to the Office of the Director at the Togus VA Center. In the fax, I explained that it takes almost all of the Ouellettes' income to pay their daily living expenses, Medicare co-pays, and supplemental insurance premiums.

A few weeks later, my office received a letter from John Sims, the Director of the VA Center at Togus, explaining that an error had been made in Mr. Ouellette's file and that it had been corrected. Today, the VA continues to pay for Mr. Ouellette's medicines, and he and his wife are able to make ends meet and maintain his health.

I'm proud of my state office staff, which acts as an important liaison between federal agencies and the people of our state. They understand the cares and concerns of the local areas in which they work because that's where they come from, and they have the expertise to investigate and resolve problems.

My website, http://www.collins.senate.gov, has more information on my state offices, on some of the frequently requested help my office provides, as well as details on how to contact me. But you are always welcome just to walk into any of my state offices where my staff will be glad to greet you. Their addresses and phone numbers are:

Aroostook County Office 25 Sweden Street, Caribou 493-7873

Bangor Office Margaret Chase Smith Federal Building 202 Harlow Street, Room 204 945-0417

Augusta Office 168 Capitol Street 622-8414

Lewiston Office 11 Lisbon Street 784-6969

Portland Office One City Center, Suite 100 780-3575

York County Office 160 Main Street, Biddeford 283-1101

I hope you'll contact my staff with your concerns. They're talented, compassionate people who are available to help you. It may seem strange to think of asking one arm of the government to help clear up a problem with another, but it's important to remember why we're here — to serve the people of Maine.