CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Louisa real estate broker Melanie Lucero said she entered the Congressional race for the 5th District to primary fellow Republican John McGuire, in large part, because she said McGuire was not responsive to his constituents. Lucero even pointed to inquiries she and her husband submitted that went unanswered.
But Friday, McGuire’s office told Cvill Right now they were unable to find those inquiries.
“My staff work hard to help constituents across the 5th District. We had many wins for the people in my first year in office, including getting over $6.5 million back to constituents,” McGuire wrote in a statement. “We work tirelessly to respond to every inquiry, and we have not identified any record of this specific inquiry in our database.”
McGuire’s office said it has five or six people in their office at a given time working exclusively on constituent inquires and have various records of those who contact them.
Lucero told Cville Right Now that she found McGuire to be unresponsive to her concerns, both in person and when she contacted his office “multiple times.”
Lucero and her husband met McGuire at an Advance Auto Parts in Louisa, and that as business owners, they wanted to speak with him about “helping local entrepreneurs navigate excessive red tape and burdensome regulations.” Lucero added that as a veteran of the Marines, she wanted to offer support in “helping fellow veterans work through the VA bureaucracy.”
“Right there, in person, we offered our volunteer time and professional expertise at no cost,” she wrote in an email to Cville Right Now. “We simply wanted to serve and support Republican leadership in our district. He did not give us much time to explain. He was ready to shake hands and move on. He handed us his card and told us to contact him. We did. We called multiple times. There was no response.”
Lucero said she later submitted a formal request through McGuire’s website, once again offering to discuss solutions and volunteer her and her husband’s assistance. Her husband submitted a similar request, but neither received a response.
Later, in the midst of criticism directed toward President Trump over his addition of a ballroom to the White House, the couple emailed McGuire directly.
“We felt strongly about standing up in support of the President and the incredible work he has accomplished with the White House addition,” Lucero wrote. “As real estate experts, this was extremely important to us. We emailed our Congressman directly. There was no response. Not even an automated acknowledgment. We have no idea if President Trump’s team ever received our letter in support of the White House Addition or knew he had people ready, willing and able to fight for him.”
Lucero also wrote that she personally met with an area fire chief, who she said had been attempting to contact McGuire about “serious issues affecting local fire stations and burdensome federal regulations.”
Lucero said his attempts, too, were met with no response.
Lucero said the fire chief approached McGuire face-to-face while he was standing on the side of the road holding his own self-promotional signage.
“He was told plainly that the Congressman’s staff did not like him and that he should not expect a response,” Lucero said.
Lucero also attacked McGuire for not including regular business hours on his website, instead having constituents call or email to make an appointment to speak with his staff and “hope someone will return your request.”
“This has been my experience over the last year and a half of him being our congressman,” Lucero said.
