...K P F T news

LEAD-IN BY HOST: Nationwide, voters contacted their reps opposing the Iraq resolution in record numbers. Kim Stoilis looks at responses to local constituent feedback by area representatives:

STORY: Dubbed the Silenced Majority, a significant number of Americans voiced their opposition to the Iraq resolution that was before Congress this week by sending e-mails and phone calls only to have their Representatives and Senators vote to approve the resolution last night.

Strongly supported by both houses of Congress, the heavily-debated resolution passed two to one in the house and three to one in the senate.

Recent polls, however, reflect a different breakdown of opinion within the general public. According to a Gallop Poll conducted last week, slightly less than 53 percent of Americans favor invading Iraq.

Some voters are left wondering just who their representatives are representing.

Local government employee Gordon Anderson is opposed to the resolution:

"As a voter it makes me realize that my support for the Democrats and or the Republican Party doesn't stand for anything. They are supporting someone else other than the general public. There's no doubt about that."

Local Democratic Representative Sheila Jackson Lee voted against the Iraq resolution. Lee's press Secretary, Mark Battle, says her office received approximately fifty calls a day in opposition to the resolution. He considers the calls instrumental to Lee's decision-making.

"She had her reservations early on mainly on constitutional grounds and grounds that it set a very dangerous precedent. But I think it is very helpful to know that the constituents and people outside of the district support them for the same reason as well as other reasons."

MoveOn.org, a Web site that collects and forwards citizens' comments to their representatives regardless of viewpoint received over 30,000 phone calls on Monday, with over 120,000 calls recorded in the past two weeks. Founding member, Carrie Olson:

"I think for most people across America who are wary of what is happening they feel like no matter what they say, there is a steamroller out there and perhaps no one is paying attention."

In Texas, says Olson, volunteers personally delivering Iraq feedback to Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson's office were refused entry:

"On Aug 28 we simultaneously delivered petitions to all 100 senators offices and that was the only one where people were locked out of the building ... that was pretty shocking."

Yesterday, Senator Hutchinson voted in favor of the Iraq Resolution.

Kim Stoilis, KPFT News, Houston

E-mail Kim Stoilis at slimacek@yahoo.com.