Some people Lester Wolff’s age may be using the internet, but few are streaming their own political affairs program.
Wolff, a 96-year-old former Congressman who lived in Great Neck for more than 50 years, said he was merely keeping up with the times when he decided to stream his program “Ask Congress” on the internet.
“Four years ago, I decided that the new medium for editing, especially things in the public interest, was the internet,” Wolff said. “I just felt that it had greater opportunity.”
“Ask Congress,” he said, was intended to give the public access to speak directly with Congressmen and other elected officials.
Wolff served 16 years in Congress, winning election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1964 as a Democrat when he narrowly defeated Republican Steven Derounian.
“No one expected me, including me, to get elected because this man held the seat for seven terms,” he said.
Wolff went on to win re-election seven times and spend 16 years serving representing the 3rd district, which represented much of Nassau County’s North Shore, and, after redistricting in 1973, the 6th district.
Prior to serving in Congress, he worked as a promotions manager for the Long Island Press and the Bronx Home News before opening an advertising and public relations agency called Coordinated Marketing Agency from 1950 until 1964.
While running Coordinated Marketing, Wolff began hosting “Between the Lines,” a political affairs program on NBC which was twice nominated for an Emmy award.
He continued hosting “Between the Lines,” which interviewed various political figures, until the show was cancelled early in his Congressional career.
Wolff said he wanted to continue the program in some form, and developed the idea for “Ask Congress,” a show to allow people to call in and speak with Congressmen rather than just send in letters asking questions.
The director of DuMont Television Network, which rivaled NBC and CBS at the time, and Wolff came together to get “Ask Congress” on the air.
“It was the first time people could call in to speak with congressmen,” he said.
The program was well-received, Wolff said, not just from the audience but from political figures who felt comfortable being interviewed by him.
“The members, both Democrat and Republican, feel comfortable with me. They feel that I’m not there to get that ‘a-ha’ moment from them,” he said. “The result is the informal type of talk one will have with one of their peers or colleagues giving the questioning rather than some newscaster whose job is to make or break a story.”
Over the years, Wolff said, he has had many memorable moments on the program, including when a Congressman with narcolepsy fell asleep during an interview.
Even after losing his seat in 1980 to John LeBoutillier during Ronald Reagan’s landslide victory over President Jimmy Carter, he continued broadcasting the program on various local television networks.
Askcongress.net and askcongress.org were created in 2011 to stream past and new episodes of “Ask Congress” online.
Wolff said making the switch to streaming on the internet opened up doors for more information to the public.
“If you go to the links we have on the websites with world parliaments, you will find that every country in the world with a parliament we have a link to,” he said. “As well as a link to individual members of those parliaments.”
“That part of it, I think, is quite unique in the fact that in this whole question we have now about Muslims in the U.S., people can contact various Congresses throughout the world and find out what the reaction is from them,” Wolff added.
Now living in Muttontown, Wolff continues conducting interviews for “Ask Congress” at the U.S. Congress House Recording studio in Washington D.C., where he still has an office.
He said he is proud of all of his achievements, including receiving the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor last December for his service in the Civil Air Patrol during World War II.
“I’m writing a book right now, or at least trying to write it, for six months about a wide variety of elements. When you get to be 97, it’s a long story,” said Wolff, who turns 97 this month. “I’ve had a number of different careers. It becomes not a difficult job but it really tests your memory at 97. I hope I don’t sound boastful, but I’m proud of my achievements.”
