From: karl@thuja.gsfc.nasa.gov (Karl A. Anderson)
Newsgroups: dc.general
Subject: Writing your congressperson (was Re: Dulles Toll Road)
Date: 23 Aug 92 17:35:31 GMT
Distribution: dc
Organization: NASA/GSFC Laboratory for Terrestrial Physics

In article <15095@umd5.umd.edu>, walrus@bessel.umd.edu (Grig Larson) writes:
|> 
|> Well, I gotta be honest.  Do you know where those letters go?  It is a small
|> circular file next to their desk called File 13.  I have known a lot of 
|> Senate Pages in my time, and it is pretty appalling about what the image is
|> supposed to be and what it really is.  "Writing a letter to your congressman"
|> could also be phrased "pissing in the wind."
|> 

In the past three years I've written three letters to my MD congresspeople.  I
got letters of reply to all three.  At least a modest amount of thought seemed
to have gone into each reply.  They were presumably written by staffers, and the
congresspeople may never have seen my letters at all, but they evidently didn't
go directly into File 13.  

A friend who is a veteran environmental activist sent me something he got off
the net, from a former congressional aide, on how to lobby congresspeople.  
I've included it below.  If it makes sense, try it.  If it doesn't, drop it in
the bit bucket, the electronic File 13 :^).

----- Begin Included Message -----

"Regarding the discussion of what sort of letters your congresscritters
will or will not read, let me offer an informed response.  I worked as
a congresscritter's assistant, and for an extremely conscientious and
informed congressman, relative to the breed as a whole (or even
absolutely.)  Despite the alleged apathy of most citizens, congress
people get such a high volume of mail, form mail or otherwise, that
individual responses composed just for your inquiry are extremely
rare.  Also, staff members working on legislative projects tend to
focus more on actual work than on clarifying their boss' opinions to
the masses, whereas staff members working directly with the public have
to concentrate on casework (`social security lost my check and claim I
owe them $100,000') since that sort of inquiry requires an individual
repsonse.

"The thing that matters most is whether you're from the particular
district in mind; mail outside the representative's district, form mail
or otherwise, will probably get a form response.  Secondly, mass
mailings and a thoughtfully written, individual letter on a broad
subject area are treated the same way; they are tallied, reported on a
regular basis to the congressperson in question, and responded to with
a general letter stating the representative's position on the subject
and perhaps going into a few specifics about current legislation or
including a Congressional Record reprint.

"The best way to get an individual response (again, in 98% of the cases,
this will still be prepared by a staff member, but by a staff member in
a position to influence the congress person) is to write an inquiry
about a specific, current piece of legislation, asking for a specific
position from the representative, and clearly stating your reasons for
supporting/opposing the bill.  The more thoughtfully-reasoned and the
less flaming in the letter, the more likely it is to be read by the
boss.  Clever analogies and examples, and good one-liners also help
your chances of having your letter read.  Letters of two pages or less
are more likely to be read and responded to individually.  Relating the
issue in question to the livelihood of the district is another good way
of getting attention.  Obvious cases of self-interest should be
acknowledged in the letter and explained, so you are not dismissed as
``of course ~this person supports\ such and such, they're getting
something out of it.''

"Finally, if you truly want to make sure you get to influence the
legislator directly, request an appointment.  The majority of
representatives had have regular office hours in their district, and if
you have a reasonable topic to discuss and any sort of credential in
the area (even ``concerned citizen'') and are not in a position that
could be construed as beholden to a special interest (like, your job is
Public Information Director for a major defense contractor), then more
likely than not you can get a 20 min. - 1 hour appointment within a few
months.  Avoid flaming about other subject matters, and do homework
about your congressman's background and his or her special areas of
interest.  If you can thus separate yourself from the various whackos
and ideologues who haunt a congressperson's public life, it's actually
quite easy to influence public policy in a meaningful way.

"Caveat:  as in all areas, some of these folks are better at listening
than others.  An organized campaign that threatens the loss of votes in
the next election is more likely to be effective for those legislators
who don't care to actually talk to their consituents.  Again, do some
homework first.

"Representatives are more likely to respond personally than Senators;
it's more likely to get a hold of a real person when congress is not in
session; don't bother the four months before election day in an
election year.

"Sorry about the length of this, but I thought a little practical advice
was in order for the potentially politically active after reading
various flames."

Matt Wall 
Brandeis University 
"standard declaimers apply"

----- End Included Message -----

-- 
Karl A. Anderson		| Internet: karl@thuja.gsfc.nasa.gov
NASA/GSFC code 920.2 (HSTX)	| voice: (301) 286-3815
Greenbelt, MD 20771		| #include "std_disclaimer"