I've had a little contact with my state and federal elected
officials during my career, although much more with Tallahassee than
Washington. But still, it was only a little, so I'm not claiming to
be a know-it-all about how you should contact your elected representatives, but
if you have a beef you want to share with yours, here's some advice you need to
consider. I stumbled across it just recently in a conversational thread by a
sender known as PAW21622. I don't know anything about this person or
where or why it was initiated, but it made sense. So, if you're looking to
contact those important folks who propose to represent you and your life, you
might want to have this in mind.
Sandspur
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I once worked in an office taking emails and phone calls. It
matters. You might not get an adequate response, but your message is being sent
along in a report to the rep/senator. It might be a number in a column, but
it's helpful in making decisions. I witnessed key votes being influenced by
calls/letters/emails even to the member's political expense to do the right
thing. It is always worth it to tell your representatives (not just federal,
but state level too) what you think about issues. A couple key points to help
you be effective:
- Make
clear that whatever issue you are calling about is a state or federal
issue. Your congressperson/senators have no influence over
snowplows, wind farms, your school system, or potholes. If your issue is
local or state, you can bug your representatives in the statehouse, county
council, city council, etc. They work for you!
- Calls/voicemails
are most effective if you can speak directly with a staffer/intern.
They are much more noticeable as they do take staffers' time away from
other work. Letters and emails are also important and do get
read/recorded. It's important to write your own letters and emails. Form
letters from advocacy groups get counted but are rarely read all the way
through. Social media posts/comments are not read by congressional
offices. Social media might be good for organizing/general awareness for
the public about issues, but very few members of Congress actually
interact with social media (which explains our horrible regulatory
situation with regards to tech)
- DO
NOT contact reps/senators that do not represent you. That is a
waste of time and effort. You need to provide your address when you
contact your representatives so they can verify you live in their
district/state. If you do not live in their district/state, they will
ignore you. They should NOT ignore you if you do live in their
district/state.
- You
can drop by their district/state offices in person to share your views!
You can protest outside their office if you want! Lots of groups did this
in my time, including bringing local media outside the office which pissed
off older staffers who were more about the boss than trying to help
people. Personally, I thought it was great my boss was getting protested
over that issue.
- This
is super important: BE NICE to the staffers. It's fine to be
passionate and express anger about an issue, but it is not okay to insult,
degrade, threaten, or belittle the staffers/interns. They are not their
boss (even though, yes, they agreed to work in that office), so they are
not the ones who make policy decisions. They might even disagree with
their boss on a particular issue! Their job is simply to pass along your
message, and they will do that. Also, if you threaten anyone at all, you
get reported to Capitol Police and will get a follow-up call or visit from
the police.
- A few
people mentioned getting help with federal agencies, and yes this is true!
In-state/district staff have people who can help you with Social Security,
VA appointments, USPS problems, passports, visas, IRS
problems.....literally any issue with an agency. They might not be able to
fix everything, but they should be able to definitely point you in the
right direction. The quality of this help will vary office to office,
though. I know some offices past and present in Indiana were pretty bad
about doing anything, but others past and present were great and have/had
good reputations across parties for helping people. Similar to my first
point, but your state reps can help with state agencies, too! Just
be sure that any issue you need help with doesn't have anything to do with
the courts because they can't get involved at that point.
- Threatening
to withhold your vote never gets included as part of your message. It
doesn't matter how you vote whether your message matters. It matters
because they are your congressperson/senator, so I'd recommend not
mentioning anything about voting at all.
- It's
also worth it if you can actually talk to your Congressperson/Senator in
person. If you're in DC, you can schedule meetings with their office
which could be with them or with their policy staff. I once talked to Todd
Young at a coffee meet and greet, and with Trey Hollingsworth in his
office. Those conversations may not have resulted in my preferred
outcomes, but they had to sit and listen to me for even a few minutes. If
your person has a town hall, go! If they are going to any other public
events, go! But once again: Be polite! Be firm, sure, but don't insult or
be an asshole. These people all have massive egos (kinda required for
these jobs) and some are much more petulant than others.
Does this always result in your preferred outcome? No. But
it's worth doing because I have seen it cause change. It's also worth voting,
organizing around elections, running for office yourself, protesting, donating,
etc. ... As long as we still have a democracy (so as long as Trump loses
again) these are all still options for us as citizens.
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Your voice matters. Believe it. Hope this helps.
Sandspur
