As part of the Democracy in Action series, Neon Tommy reporters visited district
offices of some California legislators. (Creative Commons licensed)

This is the second in a series of surprise visits by Neon Tommy staff writers to the field offices of some of L.A.'s state legislators. Our goal is to see what goes on in a two-hour period on a routine day. Sometimes, as in the case of State Sen. Gloria Romero, unexpected events disrupt a quiet morning.

The power went out twice at the East Los Angeles field office of State Sen. Gloria Romero.

That was good news for me.

It caused the e-mail servers to go down and gave the friendly, talkative staff time to chat with me. Earlier, when I'd arrived unannounced around 9:30 a.m., the district director Anela Freeman was running out the door to a ribbon-cutting and said I'd need to make an appointment with her to talk about the office's day-to-day operations.

"We go out to events, and some days are very unpredictable," Freeman said as an explanation of why appointments are necessary.

I took her card and asked if I could just hang out for a while -- I figured if I just sat there they'd feel obligated to talk to me. I was right.

"It's probably going to be pretty quiet," said Sarah Figueroa, a district representative and education specialist in the office.

Neon Tommy Visits A Calif. Legislator

Who: Sen. Gloria Romero
What: Democrat, 24th State Senate District
Where: Field office: 149 S. Mednik Ave., Suite 202, Los Angeles
When: 9:30-11:30 a.m., Oct. 5.

There aren't a lot of people who drop by, she explained. Most people call or e-mail.  "We're field employees," said Figueroa. "There's no telling who's going to be in the office."

No problem. I take a seat in the welcoming office with orange and yellow walls and open doors. The office is quiet and I thumb through the guest sign-in ledger. Most of the people visiting the office appear to be there for business, not "constituents" just dropping by with problems. (Although, one person did, in fact, write "constituent" under the organization part of the form.)

Then, the power goes out again for about 30 seconds.

"Mondays," I comment to Hugo Carrillo, the office manager who I chat with about his interest in politics. He's worked in Romero's office for two years and is currently getting his associate's degree. His focus is business management, but his goal is to be a field representative.

When constituents do contact the field office, "Sometimes it's state stuff but most of the time it's asking where to get help for their problem," said Sierra Jenkins, a field representative and former journalist.

Those problems range from potholes to immigration issues -- both of which get referred elsewhere. Problems they do handle in Romero's office include acting as a liaison with the unemployment office, the Department of Motor Vehicles or the California Department of Transportation. (The extension of the 710 Freeway is a big issue, notes Jenkins.)

Since e-mail is still down, Jenkins and I take a walk to the nearby coffee shop. Romero's office is on the second floor of a modern-looking strip mall with a credit union and dentist office below. Inside the office, brochures in English, Spanish and Chinese describe Romero's job this way: "To respond to your questions and concerns, to make decisions fairly and to put the public's interest first."

During our quick coffee break, Jenkins talks about some of her duties -- going to events, updating the Web site, writing letters of support, writing issue briefs -- and some of the main points on Romero's legislative agenda, including the controversial and successful Senate Bill 680 to extend the "District of Choice" law dealing with transfers. (Romero's Web site says she believes education is the civil rights of our time.)

I also ask Jenkins about the ethnic diversity of the 24th district in East L.A., which Romero represents. Of its 850,000 people, said Jenkins, about 60 percent are Latino and 20 percent are of Asian descent. And out of the eight employees in Romero's office, all but one is bilingual. Most speak Spanish, one speaks Japanese and one speaks Chinese.

And Romero's office decor attempts to mirror that population with a large framed poster from 2001 Cesar Chavez Day, as well as ceramic wall decorations with the Chinese characters for believe, success, harmony and hope.

By mid-morning, the office is quiet, as predicted. There have been no visits from constituents and by now the e-mail servers are up and running, so everyone is back to work.