There is a pretty good LifeHacker article about contacting politicians directly: http://lifehacker.com/5871810/how-to-contact-and-properly-communicate-with-your-government-representatives
But actually the comments below the article are way better:
Thorin Klosowski
12/29/11 6:41am
Don’t bother participating in form letter writing campaigns. The staffers recognize those immediately and ignore them. If anything, they annoy Congressmen.
Your letter will be read by a staffer - usually some kid right out of college being paid spit. The really oddball ones will go on the wall to be laughed at by the rest of the staff. Conciseness and professionalism count.
The amount of work you put into your letter also counts. Snail mail gets considered over FAXes which get considered over emails. Killing trees matter.
Better than all of those is face-to-face interaction. You may be able to snag 3-5 minutes of a Representative’s time at the county fair. Or you could talk to a local staffer at an office in-state. Just like the letter, be focused and concise.
Consider giving positive feedback rather than negative. I think it makes a much greater impact.
Don’t despair at receiving a form letter reply. That means someone read your letter and registered it’s content.
Most Congressmen are pretty cool folks in person, regardless of their politics and their antics on the floor.
nigma.ed
zakany001
12/30/11 1:38pm
This is the best advice I’ve read…Better than the article. Obviously you’ve worked in a Member’s office.
I would add that you can also go to a Member’s local office (or offices) and relay your concerns to case workers. If you do so in a calm, controlled, and friendly manner, there is the chance that the case worker will forward your specific concerns to the Legislative Assistant handling the issue. On some issues (like Veterans Affairs), you’ll get a lot of attention from the local office and the DC office. Be sure to follow-up…and again, do so in a calm, controlled, and friendly manner.
The other trick that I would recommend (which is more difficult) is attempting to fashion your letter in such a way that it examines your issue from an unorthodox perspective. In some offices (read: good offices), letters that don’t fit the standard form response are sent to the LA to fashion a proper, more personalized response…in theory, that ought to prompt the LA to think through the issue a bit more in depth, especially if they want to prepare the Member for a town hall, or another forum. If you can, get a hold of a letter that is a part of an issue campaign and adjust your examination of the issue accordingly. Concise, well-written…and don’t use the kitchen sink approach to arguing your point. If you can cite a study (of a non-partisan group), that may also help.
zakany001
12/30/11 5:45pm
Nope. Never worked in politics. I have, however, spoken with Representatives, Congressmen, and staffers several times. Also took the intro course from the Government Affairs Institute, spending a week on the Hill. All that combined has given me a feel for Washington and how things work.
The author’s advice was really good. Just trying to expand on it a bit from my perspective.
One of the coolest things I did was take my family to DC for a vacation (my daughter was learning about government for the first time in 5th grade). We got to sit down with one of our Senators and spend a half hour chatting over coffee. I wanted my daughter to realize that they’re just people, like you and I.
Daba
12/30/11 7:10pm
Actually, form letters do count - they aren’t read, but rather weighed/measured by volume. If the representative/senator receives A LOT of letters about a particular topic, he/she wants to know how many - pro or con. Getting 18,000 postcards in the same week screaming about a specific topic gets noticed. Sure, getting 18,000 handwritten letters is more impressive than 18,000 postcards or emails, but 18,000 of your constituents contacting you about ANYTHING gets your attention.
If you want your letter read, make it about a topic that no one else is asking about. Then it goes to an intern or maybe an Legislative Assistant. Otherwise it goes into the pile of “pro/con on x topic” letters, and you get a standard form letter response.
I interned at a senator’s office for a year - in the mailroom. We literally weighed piles of postcards to do approximate counts. I also wrote a few letters.
