[BCNnet] FYI: Letters to public officials
Rbdoeker@aol.com
Rbdoeker@aol.com
Sat, 10 Jan 2004 11:54:02 EST
-------------------------------1073753642
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Just FYI (on a cold Saturday morning)
Jill Anderson's comments in her recent post about when to contact officials
about an issue (too early vs too late) prompts me to offer some experienced
advice --
Often I find that I am the only person around who has worked for an elected
officials (both state house and Congress) -- the only person who has been on
the receiving end of constituent and activist letters.
You may not be aware of this but there are kooks and crazies in the United
States -- people whose lives appear to revolve around writing letters,
telephoning and otherwise haunting the offices of public officials.
Ok - so I know you know there are kooks and crazies. Perhaps you have seen
them in action. (There's a regular who attends all of the FPDCC meetings.)
Dealing with these people is one of the unifying forces across party lines.
(Another is parking problems - but that's a different story.)
What you may not appreciate is how easy it is to appear to be one of them. I
have seen letters from BCNers that have crossed the line into kookdom - at
least from the perspective of the public official's staff. It's easy to let
one's enthusiasm and emotions lead you astray.
Here are tips on how to appear to be a sane person:
1. Keep your letter very short and very focused.
Unless you are one of the first 5-10 people to write, they already know the
issues. All you are doing is 'voting'. At the Federal level your letter is
read by a mail clerk (probably an intern or grad student); all they really
want to know is whether you are pro or con.
2. Ditto re phone calls: Just state your position. Unless they are unaware
of your topic, don't ask to have a conversation with someone.
3. Don't lecture the official. Even the clueless dolts don't like being
treated as such, and their staffers like it even less.
4. If you think there may be points that the officials doesn't know, put it
in an attachment. But keep your letter short.
5. Don't make any threats, or at least phrase them in calm words. Not: If
you don't do what we want, we will ....yada yada. Instead: If this
legislation goes forward our organization will be expanding our efforts to oppose it.
6. There is a limit to how many times you can contact an official before you
appear to have no real life. The shorter your letters; the more you can
send. Which gets back to Jill's concern. Send a short letter early to state your
case. If the decision-time is months later, follow-up then with a short
reminder that says "I still [support / oppose ] the proposal to ............"
I'm a big advocate of sending letters (versus telephone calls and emails).
Having to deal with a huge stack of letters makes an official's staff very
aware of an issue. (Obviously email and phone calls are necessary for last
minute input - I don' t mean to discourage those contacts. But if you've already
written a letter or two, calling at the last minute to repeat yourself tends to
appear to be harrassment....sending your closer to the kooks category.)
Do not use form letters. And do not use 'suggested text'. The person
opening the letters can spot that instantly. A hand-written note on flowery paper
gets more respect. The staffer/mail clerks may just be tallying opinions as
they go through the mail but they will also characterize the results in their
reports. There is a big difference between citizens who cared enough to send a
personal comment versus people who just copy what someone else gave them.
Hope this helps.
Randi Doeker
Chicago
-------------------------------1073753642
Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
<HTML><HEAD>
<META charset=3DUTF-8 http-equiv=3DContent-Type content=3D"text/html; charse=
t=3Dutf-8">
<META content=3D"MSHTML 6.00.2800.1276" name=3DGENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #fffff=
f">
<DIV>Just FYI (on a cold Saturday morning) </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Jill Anderson's comments in her recent post about when to contact offic=
ials about an issue (too early vs too late) prompts me to offer some ex=
perienced advice --</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Often I find that I am the only person around who has worked for a=
n elected officials (both state house and Congress) -- the only person who h=
as been on the <U>receiving end</U> of constituent and activist letters.</DI=
V>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>You may not be aware of this but there are kooks and crazies in the Uni=
ted States -- people whose lives appear to revolve around writing letters, t=
elephoning and otherwise haunting the offices of public officials. </D=
IV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Ok - so I know you know there are kooks and crazies. Perhaps you=20=
have seen them in action. (There's a regular who attends all of the FP=
DCC meetings.) Dealing with these people is one of the unifying=20=
forces across party lines. (Another is parking problems - but that's a=20=
different story.)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>What you may not appreciate is how easy it is to appear to be one of th=
em. I have seen letters from BCNers that have crossed the li=
ne into kookdom - at least from the perspective of the public official's sta=
ff. It's easy to let one's enthusiasm and emotions lead you astr=
ay.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Here are tips on how to appear to be a sane person:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>1. Keep your letter very short and very focused. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Unless you are one of the first 5-10 people to write, they already know=
the issues. All you are doing is 'voting'. At the Federal=
level your letter is read by a mail clerk (probably an intern or grad stude=
nt); all they really want to know is whether you are pro or con.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>2. Ditto re phone calls: Just state your position. Unless t=
hey are unaware of your topic, don't ask to have a conversation with someone=
.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>3. Don't lecture the official. Even the clueless dolts don'=
t like being treated as such, and their staffers like it even less.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>4. If you think there may be points that the officials doesn't know, pu=
t it in an attachment. But keep your letter short. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>5. Don't make any threats, or at least phrase them in calm words. =
<EM>Not</EM>: If you don't do what we want, we will ....yada yada.&nb=
sp; <EM>Instead</EM>: If this legislation goes forward our organ=
ization will be expanding our efforts to oppose it. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>6. There is a limit to how many times you can contact an official=
before you appear to have no real life. The shorter your letters; the=
more you can send. Which gets back to Jill's concern. Send a short le=
tter early to state your case. If the decision-time is months later, f=
ollow-up then with a short reminder that says "I still [support / oppos=
e ] the proposal to ............"</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I'm a big advocate of sending letters (versus telephone calls and email=
s). Having to deal with a huge stack of letters makes an official's st=
aff very aware of an issue. (Obviously email and phone call=
s are necessary for last minute input - I don' t mean to discourage those co=
ntacts. But if you've already written a letter or two, calling at the=20=
last minute to repeat yourself tends to appear to be harrassment....sen=
ding your closer to the kooks category.)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><U>Do not use form letters.</U> And do not use 'suggested text'.&=
nbsp; The person opening the letters can spot that instantly. A h=
and-written note on flowery paper gets more respect. The staffer/mail=20=
clerks may just be tallying opinions as they go through the mail but they wi=
ll also characterize the results in their reports. There is a big diff=
erence between citizens who cared enough to send a personal comment versus p=
eople who just copy what someone else gave them.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Hope this helps.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Randi Doeker</DIV>
<DIV>Chicago</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></BODY></HTML>
-------------------------------1073753642--