Archives West Finding Aid

Management files for the congressional office of Ron Marlenee include organizational guides and rules for congressional office management including lists of bills sponsored and their filing categories; lease agreements for offices and equipment; procedures for communications, computer services, telephone and correspondence; staff hired and payroll summaries; allowance statements and accounting preparation guidelines; applications for internships; franking decisions, records and requests; mail service work orders and bulk mail information; work papers on response letter generation; assorted staff research; office memos between Ron Marlenee, legislative assistants, and other staff; and phone call sheets containing messages from constituents to his two Montana offices in Billings and Great Falls, and sign-in sheets of constituents into a mobile office.

Voting records of Ron Marlenee during his career as a Representative for Montana from 1977 to 1992 are incomplete. Member's individual records of votes and bill summary statements were provided by the Records Office of the Congress. Not included are the 95th Congress, 2nd Session of 1977-78 and the 100th -102nd Congresses of 1987 to 1992. The records include an office generated file of 1986-1992 sponsored/cosponsored bills and Summaries of Bills Sponsored/Cosponsored complied by the Records Office of the Congress between 1979-80 and 1991-92 with some missing. Also present are files for bills recommended but not sponsored and thank you letters for his support or votes from colleagues.

Primarily constituent mail sent to Marlenee to influence his action on pending legislation or requests for information and services. Incoming correspondence was tracked and answered by Marlenee's staff using an automated service. A complete mail directory was provided to the congressional office and virtually all incoming and outgoing mail was assigned a sequential identification number. Additionally the date received, handling aide's initials, and subjects were coded. Responses were created using standard boilerplate text that was easily personalized for the particular situation. A standard legislative codes list can be found in Box 8, folder 1, and a specialized list of specific issues in Marlenee's home district is included with the office organization guidelines in Box 1, folder 1. The original correspondence files from Marlenee's office exceeded eighty cubic feet, and the files placed in the first three subdivisions of this series represent random samples taken from the containers in subseries 4, Boxes 27-96B. The sampling was done by means of a random number generator during processing and consist of over 3,000 selections from a total exceeding 156,000 items.

Public relations files including radio/TV appearances; surveys and ideas for news articles; press secretary files including internal memos, surveys and correspondence; collections of regular and special news releases, photocopied and original copies of newspaper clippings collected by county, individual newspaper and special interest publications; handwritten speeches, drafts with editorial margin notes, and final versions typed and; videocassette tapes of appearances at functions, on news shows, at Congressional hearings and on the floor of the House; and audio cassettes of meetings with constituents. Campaign files include position papers, talking points, listed accomplishments in Congress, correspondence with assorted Republican organizations, fund-raising and contact lists, special issues, unfavorable publicity, and debate preparation.

Files from the collection include working papers related to many issues presented on the floor of the House of Representatives. They may include draft and final versions of bills; government and private industry research and reports; Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports and Issue Briefs; hearing remarks and testimony; correspondence; clippings from newspapers and other publications; internal office memos; committee schedules and memos; and sundry related documents. Marlenee gave special attention to legislation affecting agriculture; support for rural businesses and communities; crime, justice and gun control; government facilities (especially Malmstrom AFB in Great Falls, MT and the Miles City MT Veteran's Hospital); education, health and housing; energy development and delivery systems with an emphasis on coal, hydroelectric, and oil; the environment and pollution; the administration and uses of public lands; transportation; and Indian affairs. These files have been arranged alphabetically by subject and have bill numbers and/or names and dates listed where present.

Files from work on the Committee on Agriculture including the Sub-Committee on Forests, Family Farms and Energy and the Sub-Committee on Wheat, Soybeans and Feed Grains. Files may include draft and final versions of bills; committee markups (revisions to newly introduced bills), government and private industry research and reports; Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports and Issue Briefs; hearing remarks and testimony; correspondence; clippings from newspapers and other publications; internal office memos; committee schedules and memos; and sundry related documents. These files are arranged by office titles, Agriculture Department titles, and then alphabetically by subject. Bill numbers and/or names and dates are listed for reference where present.

Files from work on the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs and the Sub-Committees on Public Lands and National Parks; Energy and the Environment; Mining and Natural Resources; Water, Power and Offshore Energy Resources; and Oversight and Investigations. They may include draft and final versions of bills; committee markups (revisions to newly introduced bills), government and private industry research and reports; Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports and Issue Briefs; hearing remarks and testimony; correspondence; clippings from newspapers and other publications; internal office memos; committee schedules and memos; and sundry related documents. Included are Interior Department files and alphabetical subject files with bill numbers and/or names and dates listed where present.