USMCsilver: It is doubtful anyone here could have handled that phone call any better. Many reasons for that, most of which you probably already know.
The senator "ambushed" you to a degree. He had time to compose his thoughts and argument and he called you when it was convenient for him. You were caught totally unexpected. Heck, he may have even had many similar conversations/arguments in the past and has had practice doing well at it. He also was speaking from a "power" position in that he is a mighty senator with power, prestige and probably a certain amount of wealth. He is used to rubbing shoulders with people like himself, plus he could relax and think on his feet, because of what I have already mentioned, PLUS he could relax because he was only talking to "one of the little people".
But you probably can relate to my earllier comment/post in which I state that many government officials seem to think THEY are the employer and YOU are the employee. When you ask for your rights (take your vacation, take sick day off, ask for a raise or bonue, etc) an employer MIGHT be justified in asking you why you need that right at that time, but a government offical working for you has not justification to demand that you explain why you need a right that, except for the liberal interpertation of SLED, you are being denied.
If it was me, and I have done this many times with varying success, I would send a certified letter to the senator. In that letter I would clearly list all my reasons why I was in the right and why he and SLED were in the wrong. And I would request a written response from him. I think he is kinda dumb because if he was a smart politician he would have appeared to be sympathtic to you, made some vague promise to look into it and then just forgot about it. Better that for his political career than to reveal his true self and anger one or more voters.
If the procedure of SLED takes root and spreads to other government agencies and states, I will have a quiet laugh at some of the people who have absoutely no support for your situation. If this practice becomes the norm, some of those people who have licenses that are also in a fairly small pool of citizens, to where their rights can be trampled without much risk on the part of the government agency doing the trampling, people such as private pilots, heavy equipment operators, gun dealers, etc. will find that because they messed up in another, unrelated area of their life, they will lose their license in that area of their life.
JMHO
The senator "ambushed" you to a degree. He had time to compose his thoughts and argument and he called you when it was convenient for him. You were caught totally unexpected. Heck, he may have even had many similar conversations/arguments in the past and has had practice doing well at it. He also was speaking from a "power" position in that he is a mighty senator with power, prestige and probably a certain amount of wealth. He is used to rubbing shoulders with people like himself, plus he could relax and think on his feet, because of what I have already mentioned, PLUS he could relax because he was only talking to "one of the little people".
But you probably can relate to my earllier comment/post in which I state that many government officials seem to think THEY are the employer and YOU are the employee. When you ask for your rights (take your vacation, take sick day off, ask for a raise or bonue, etc) an employer MIGHT be justified in asking you why you need that right at that time, but a government offical working for you has not justification to demand that you explain why you need a right that, except for the liberal interpertation of SLED, you are being denied.
If it was me, and I have done this many times with varying success, I would send a certified letter to the senator. In that letter I would clearly list all my reasons why I was in the right and why he and SLED were in the wrong. And I would request a written response from him. I think he is kinda dumb because if he was a smart politician he would have appeared to be sympathtic to you, made some vague promise to look into it and then just forgot about it. Better that for his political career than to reveal his true self and anger one or more voters.
If the procedure of SLED takes root and spreads to other government agencies and states, I will have a quiet laugh at some of the people who have absoutely no support for your situation. If this practice becomes the norm, some of those people who have licenses that are also in a fairly small pool of citizens, to where their rights can be trampled without much risk on the part of the government agency doing the trampling, people such as private pilots, heavy equipment operators, gun dealers, etc. will find that because they messed up in another, unrelated area of their life, they will lose their license in that area of their life.
JMHO
