At about noon on February 21, I attended an Ash Wednesday ecumenical prayer service at Federal Plaza calling for forgiveness of our sins regarding the war in Iraq. The service included
each participant putting their thumb in ashes and leaving a thumbprint on a letter to our Senators stating our opposition for the war and its funding. After the service, a group of us went towards the doors of the Federal Building to deliver the letters to the Senators' offices, or at least leave the letters at their doors. However, when we approached one of the main entrances to the building, it was promptly locked by security guards, leaving us outside wondering why the entire Federal Building was off limits to ordinary citizens. A part of our group phoned Senator Obama's office, where somone told them that the entire staff was in a meeting and could not address the issue of constituents being left out in the cold.
I promptly phoned Senator Durbin's office, and a female staff member who said that we should be allowed into the building, but that Senator Durbin's office was off limits since he was not accepting any guests accept for those with an appointment. She also promised to send a representative to speak with us from the office once we werre in the lobby.
Fifteen minutes later, still outside without having talked to a staff member, I called back. This time a male staffer picked up, and I once again explained that we were not allowed in the building at all, and that someone within Durbin's office had told me that a representative would be down to talk with our group. We asked me to wait, and then after a few minutes, he came back to the phone and said that he 'could not find' to person in
the office who had told me this. I stated that I was puzzled that in a very small office, he was unable to 'find' whoever had spoken to me just a few minutes earlier and had even taken my name. He stated in in an extremely hostile and sarcastic tone, "Yes, I'm sure this is some big conspiracy to not let you people into the building," and hung up on me. We were told to leave, and then most of our twenty-five person group left. Just a minute later, however, it seems that at least some of Durbin's staff might have had some regrets about their attitude towards us, and came down and accepted the letter, without saying anything about why we were still outside.
While Durbin's office had closed its own doors on antiwar constituents, this is the first occasion to my knowlege in which no one was even allowed in the Federal Building itself. The situation is becoming extremely alarming, and when citizens cannot even enter their own Federal Building because of their political beliefs, it certainly says a lot about our Senators. I urge you to contact the Senators' offices, especially Durbin's office, and tell the staff that a closed-BUILDING policy is even more offensive than a closed-office one.

The phone number for his office is : 1-312-353-4952