The legendary Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Thomas “Tip” O’Neill, from North Cambridge, famously said “all politics is local.” While lobbying him in Washington, I remember asking the late speaker what he meant by those words. He explained that too often, elected officials fail to regularly communicate and engage with those they were elected to serve. He made the point of saying that elected officials need to be better at constituent outreach on the local level by meeting, listening and sharing information.

Two former members of our Congressional delegation exemplified this; Robert Drinan and Niki Tsongas. Drinan, of Newton, was the first Catholic priest ever elected to Congress. As his communications advisor on human rights, I saw first-hand his high energy approach to constituent outreach. Every weekend, he traveled through his district meeting with constituents to learn what was on their minds and update them on the work he was doing in Congress. He was a disciple of O’Neill’s all politics is local philosophy.

I remember walking into Market Basket in Billerica one Saturday morning and hearing an announcement that Congresswoman Niki Tsongas of Lowell was in the produce section meeting with local residents. She was there with one staff member, standing next to the fruits and vegetables, listening to shoppers express the problems they were having with VA benefits, Medicare and Social Security. She promised that her staff would help resolve their issues. She too was a follower of O’Neill’s wise advice that all politics is local!

Billerica, where I live, has two members of Congress: Representatives Lori Trahan and Seth Moulton. Trahan represents a very small part of  Billerica, while Mouton has the larger share of this 45,000 person community.

Trahan and her communications team have done an excellent job of connecting and communicating with those in her district. In the past few weeks, her constituents received a Memorial Day email message in which she  honored the men and women who lost their lives in service to our country, and recognized the Gold Star families who continue to mourn. Moulton, a Marine combat veteran involved with federal veteran affairs issues, issued no such email message. Trahan sent out another email to her district explaining why she voted to support the bipartisan spending bill that prevented the country from default. No such email explanation from Moulton. Trahan has garnered media coverage for  hosting a roundtable with community leaders on Pride Week,  an event for business leaders and educators on the importance of training students for careers in CHIP manufacturing and technology and her securing $20.7 million in federal funds for her district. No such  local coverage of Moulton.

I voted for Moulton and appreciate and continue to support the many public policy positions he has taken. However, he and his communications team need to understand that communicating directly with his constituents, through frequent email updates and  local news coverage, is far more important and effective on the local level than his desire to appear on national broadcast and cable TV shows, all of which are seriously declining in viewership. This type of national media exposure was appropriate when the Salem resident ran for president of the United States but not effective when you are a local member of Congress.

Representative Trahan has set a high standard for effective constituent  communications and media relations which has garnered  great stakeholder appreciation.  It’s now time for Moulton to follow her playbook. If he does, people in his district when asked what Mouton has done for their community lately, will have a response other than “I have no idea.”

Billerica resident Rick Pozniak is a long time communications and government affairs executive who served on the communications subcommittee of the state Democratic party and now teaches communications at area colleges.