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Rep. Slotkin Opens District Office In Lansing

U.S. Representative Elissa Slotkin (MI-08) talks to constituents at the opening of her district office in Lansing on Saturday.
Abigail Censky, WKAR
U.S. Representative Elissa Slotkin (MI-08) talks to constituents at the opening of her district office in Lansing on Saturday.

Dozens of people gathered in a third floor office suite Saturday to celebrate the opening of U.S. Representative Elissa Slotkin’s district office.

Slotkin, who represents Michigan’s eighth congressional district, said it was important to her and her team that Lansing was the location for her main district office.

She spoke to the crowd standing on a turned over file cabinet with a U.S. House of Representatives seal, “Many of you know that this was a campaign promise that we made very early on. That just as even Mike Rodgers had an office here in Lansing. That, if elected, we would put an office here in Lansing.”

Rodgers, represented the eighth district through 2015 had an office in Lansing. And, while Slotkin’s Republican predecessor Mike Bishop originally had his district office in Lansing, he moved his office to Brighton in March the first year of his term and maintained a liaison for Ingham County.

“So, it was very important to me to do things differently to have a big event like this, so that everyone gets to see everyone who’s here. They feel comfortable coming forward,” said Slotkin.

The congresswoman has had a tumultuous introduction to life as a lawmaker, alongside her fellow freshman members of the 116th congress, who took office during the longest partial government shutdown in U.S. history.

She described her first months in Congress to the crowd as a cross between freshman year of college and a “complete political tornado” before lamenting the shutdown.

“One of the things that I did early on, was say, ‘I cannot in good conscience take a salary while the government is shut down.’ Right? If we’re not doing our job in Washington I should not be paid,” said Slotkin.

During the shutdown she made a pledge to donate her salary for the duration of the shutdown to a local chapter of the Alzheimer's Association.

Before presenting a check to representatives from the association on Saturday, she quipped “In honor of the government not doing its job and me suspending my salary, I am handing over to the Alzheimer's association $10,965.00 in honor of everything the Alzheimer's Association does, the impact that it has on the community and everything it is to be a part of making your community better.”

Slotkin reiterated Saturday that she also has plans to open a satellite office in Rochester, but said she was still looking for something “affordable.”

She also introduced caseworkers who will assist constituents in Livingston, Ingham and Oakland counties.

“Part of being sort of a new generation of representative is just thinking about the community differently. And, you can’t understand what people are going through, and the problems that you need to work on without actually listening. And you can’t do that without a very robust office that has open doors,” said Slotkin.

Follow Abigail on Twitter: @AbigailCensky

Abigail Censky reported on Politics & Government at WKAR from 2018 to 2021. Now, she reports for The Colorado Springs Gazette and edits for The Catalyst Newspaper.
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