Arkansas Resident: Cottons Office Sent Cease And Desist When I Said Bullsh*t

After Sen. Tom Cotton’s (R-AR) office confirmed this month that it occasionally sends constituents cease and desist letters, one Arkansas resident shared his attempts to learn the Senator’s position on two issues close to his family, which he said ended in Cotton’s staff sending the him a cease and desist letter.

Don Ernst, a resident of Little Rock, shared his story at length with “The Sexy Pundits” podcast in an episode that aired Monday. He said that he called Cotton’s office in February 2017 to ask about the senator’s position on the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and to ask about Cotton’s plans for addressing the opioid epidemic in the event that Obamacare was repealed.

Ernst said he has a son battling opioid addiction, making Cotton’s stance on how to address the opioid crisis particularly important to his family.

The Arkansas resident told the podcast that he called Cotton’s office 18 times between February and June 2017 to ask for the senator’s position on the two issues, but staffers told him that the senator’s stance was not readily available and indicated they would look into his questions.

“It’s excruciating not to get an answer to questions that impact people you care about and you love,” Ernst said on the podcast.

Ernst confirmed to TPM that he called Cotton’s for months without getting an answer from the senator’s staff. He told TPM that he suspects that at times he raised his voice.

“Certainly, as each call happened, I think I began to get more emotional,” he told TPM.

But it was the 18th call that got him banned from phoning into the senator’s office again, according to Ernst.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/arkansas-constituent-cotton-cease-desist