Contacting your Senators and Representatives

   You may have noticed that as of late I have been pushing for the citizens of the United States to either write, call, or email your respective House Representative or Senator to let them know that you do not approve of the way that this resolution bullshit has been handled, or other things for that matter.

    Many of you may not know how to do this, so I am posting the correct way to contact and to speak to your elected officials. Yes, there are right ways and wrongs ways of doing this and we want the right way.

    Daily Kos  by edgery

Mon Feb 05, 2007 at 11:27:11 PM PST

    Signing onto internet petitions and letters does not send as powerful a message as picking up the phone and calling the offices of these Senators. There are a number of ways the electorate can contact Members of Congress. Here is a list of some common ways with some information about how the communication is often handled in a Congressional office:
*  Sign on to on-line petition or "blast" emails or "blast" faxes -- fact of that petition exists is noted. Exception might be based on who organized the petition and the organization's past effectiveness in politics AND the number of participants. If the numbers are high enough (for Senators, this needs to be at least in the tens of thousands), can be effective particularly if very high percentage of participants are constituents.
*  Filling out contact/comment form on Congressional website -- since most Congressional offices now limit these to use by constituents only, greater attention is paid. Some Congressional offices (usually on the House side) will even respond, though you shouldn't expect it. Note however that if a pattern of same language is found, the attention drops off very quickly since it is presumed that this is another "blast" communication even if the constituents have to copy and paste the language individually. If the office is taking a count such as before a vote, whether it's a cut-&-paste or original message, these are likely to get counted.
*  Sending a fax -- same as the contact form: if it's a copy of something off the web or the same as dozens of other faxes, AND it's from a constituent, it might get counted. If it's an original message (in your own words), it will get counted. You are also more likely to get a written response from one of the constituent correspondence aides -- canned language sent to everyone who has communicated on the issue.
*  Handwritten letter (doesn't have to be literally handwritten but does need to be original) -- guaranteed to get a response though it may come weeks later, guaranteed to be counted if -- and this is a HUGE IF -- it arrives in time to be relevant. Ever since the anthrax scares in Washington, all mail going to a Congressional office is first isolated by the Postal Service and delivered to a special facility on the Hill. There it is irradiated, xrayed, inspected, and generally scrutinized to an extreme degree. Once all this is done, it is put into the Congressional mail sorting services and eventually delivered to the addressee. If it took 2-3 days to get a letter to a Congressional office before anthrax, it now can take as long as 2 or even 3 weeks. So, the mail is not the best approach if you want to have a mass or immediate impact.

There is a feature at Congress.org to have a letter hand-delivered. It costs $8.95 and is wonderful. The recipient knows you've not only spent the time to write the letter yourself but paid extra to get it into his/her hands immediately. For written communications, this or any other hand-delivery method is the most effective.
*  Phone call to the District office -- this can be very effective if you know that the Senator (or Representative) is going to be there. On the other hand, staff at district offices are primarily constituent services staff -- handling many types of problems including dealing with the Veterans Administration or Social Security or other government agencies. They are helpful and friendly, but in many cases, the reason you're calling is not what they focus on or possibly know much about. Call the District office to schedule a meeting with your Member of Congress or his/her Chief of Staff during District work weeks. For issue specific contact, call the Washington office.
*  Phone call to the Washington office -- now we're getting to the nitty-gritty. Now, unless you donated big big bucks to the campaign or are a close personal friend, be realistic and don't expect to get the Senator or Representative on the line. You still have two choices though --
leave a message with whomever answers the phone, or
get to the staffer who works the issue.

The first is fine, particularly if your purpose in calling is to voice an opinion or make a specific request on a particular bill (vote for S.000 or great job on your health care proposal). The second is for relationship-building, to provide relevant information that you think the Senator or Representative doesn't but should have, to offer help, to engage.   More Here

 

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