CMF is pleased to offer House and Senate staff a new resource on congressional casework. Written by a District Chief of Staff with more than three decades of experience, the title for this how-to guide for casework explains it all: "The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly: What Works, What Doesn't, And Everything In Between: Process, Procedures, Common Sense, Advice, Conundrums, And Best Practices."

Casework: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

by Tom Tillett (with apologies to Sergio Leone, Grandfather of the Spaghetti Western and "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly")

Did you know that congressional caseworkers are required by the Constitution? It's true -- the First Amendment to the United States Constitution requires Congress to perform casework, right there where it talks about redress of grievances. Furthermore, President John Adams was one of the first caseworkers. And while the Founding Fathers wouldn't recognize them today, caseworkers are the hearty souls who help constituents cut through the (often intimidating) bureaucracy.

If a document as important as the U.S. Constitution established casework, doesn't it deserve to be done well? Unfortunately, several challenges make it difficult for quality casework to be done consistently. First, there isn't a single casework system that offices use to produce consistent results. Instead, each Member has wide discretion over their approach.

The risk is that if there was a "hostile takeover," and therefore, no staff transition, the first call on Day One would be a crisis. "You didn't get your tax refund yet? What do you expect us to do about it?"

If casework is so darn important and Members usually want it done well, why aren't there reference materials, guides, and manuals to assist new constituent service staffers? When the nascent casework team looks for help, right now there are the House Ethics Manual's chapter on casework, two old Member casework manuals, and a Congressional Research Service (CRS) Guide to Casework.

Each one of these offers advice and guidance, but they do not explain how to actually do casework – the workflow starting with the constituent interaction; development of the inquiry; contact with the agency; follow-up; and closing the case in a satisfactory manner. Casework is enormously complicated, and it takes years to become a really great congressional caseworker.

I'm in the extreme twilight of my career and have been doing casework and supervising it for a very long time. Yet I vividly recall my trials and tribulations as a young, naïve caseworker. That's why I developed, with Sergio Leone's help, "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (730 KB)." Written in a candid and hopefully humorous way, this resource is intended to help guide the next generation of caseworkers to provide quality service.

I hope you find it helpful. If nothing else, it should make you laugh.

In closing, remember that you can always re-take the LSAT to get a higher score!

• Download this how-to guide for casework: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (Congressional Casework Guide) (730 KB)

Tom Tillett joined Congressman Bob Walker (PA-16, retired 1996) as a caseworker in 1985, after an illustrious start as a public school teacher. When Congressman Joe Pitts took over the seat, Tom became his District Director. He has served as District Chief of Staff for the Congressman from 2002 until the present. He's helped more of the good people of the 16th District of Pennsylvania than he cares to recount. He remembers that as a new caseworker, having a comprehensive and practical guide to casework would have been very much appreciated.