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Heard on the Hill: Dialing a District

Rep. Timothy Johnson has spent much of his Congressional career walking the Capitol complex’s marbled halls, talking on the phone.

The Illinois Republican makes hundreds of constituent calls a day, seven days a week, except for on Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. 

Last week, however, the Illinois state Legislature debuted the state’s redrawn Congressional district lines.

And much to Johnson’s horror, his district is completely different — and so is his call list.

“This map is a slap in the face to the notion of representative government,” Johnson says in a statement. “It was drawn without consultation or heed to common sense, and as a result, I believe it is constitutionally indefensible.

“There are people, counties, towns and interests that I have long-established relationships with that have senselessly been taken away,” Johnson continues.

HOH calculated Johnson has logged as many as 1 million constituent phone calls since being elected in 2001. And now he has to start all over.

Johnson better get some comfortable shoes and a Bluetooth — it sounds like he has some dialing to do.

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