Assemblee Nationale by Feuchere, 1855 - Paris, France
this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2012 by senateinsiderthrw from http://redd.it/xmbpf
How to write a constituent letter that will actually make a difference. (self.politics)
I work in the Senate, and I posted this thread a while ago. It got a big response, but a lot of people asked me questions there and in PMs about what representatives DO pay attention to. So I thought I'd outline my suggestions in a new post if anybody's interested, although this was originally intended to be a throwaway account:
A couple points you should understand before writing:
A Senator is not a person: A Senator is, of course, a physical being. But the Senator him/herself is like the consciousness in your brain. It makes the active decisions, but the subroutines of movement, breathing, digestion, etc are handled by subordinates. Similarly, the Senator makes the big decisions on policy questions, but is heavily influenced by his staff and delegates a great deal of work to them. Many smaller issues, especially local ones, are handled by staff more or less entirely. So realize that a lot of what the "Senator" does is automatic functioning by the office.
You aren't going to get movement on an entrenched issue: What I mean is that, say if your Senator has voted for the BUsh tax cuts for the rich every single time they've come up for a vote, you aren't going to change his mind with a letter. The odds of your letter moving the position of the Legislative Correspondent who reads it, L. Assistant who reads it, Legislative Director (who probably won't read it) and Senator are extremely slim. Extremely. This does not mean the system is broken, it means 51% of the people in your state who voted last time around agree with the Senator, or he thinks they do. Start writing them letters instead.
Everyone is pressed for time on the Hill:No, the Senator will probably not actually read your letter. Nor will he read letters from interest groups or companies. He has a lot to do every single day. At the same time, legislative staff will read your letter, but everyone is extremely busy all the time. Working on Capitol Hill is high stress, long hours work. One man and a staff of about a dozen are responsible for keeping track of literally every issue in the entire world even slightly affecting the United States. Keep this in mind anytime you contact your legislator.
Dos and Don'ts of Letter Writing
- Don't bother signing form letters or petitions. They all get thrown away. Even if you add your own thoughts to a form letter, it will probably be thrown away. These are often campaigns organized by interest groups. If you don't have time to write an independent letter, work from a set of talking points. I've seen many letters that came in at the same time from different people and are original writing, but have clearly been drawn up from the same set of points. This is most effective.
- Do be brief. Like I said, everybody's pressed for time. One to two pages maximum, otherwise it'll probably be skimmed. I already stated you aren't going to change minds, so draw attention to the issue in a few paragraphs. Back when I was an intern I saw a general trend: the longer the letter the crazier it is. People will mail us books they wrote, and manifestos of crap. These will not be read. The exception for this is casework, which I will discuss down below.
- Do focus on new issues. These are the most effective letters: ones on totally unknown issues. Second most effective: issues on which nobody has a stance yet. SOPA is a good example, with the exception of a few Senators, most hadn't taken sides when the Blackout Day campaign hit. Another example relates to a minor issue that was affecting veterans when they tried to get medical help after returning home. Some bureaucratic snafu at the Pentagon was preventing them from drawing benefits. Several constituents brought this to our attention and legislation was passed to resolve it.
- Don't talk about multiple issues in the same letter. LAs and LCs have designated issues on which they work, and writing about multiple issues makes your letter hard to sort to the right party and decreases the chance anyone will see it at all. These letters also tend to ramble and get pretty long.
- Do be extremely specific. If you have a specific bill number or numbers related to legislation, include it. This ties into the "don't talk about multiple issues" point.
- Don't be mean: I feel like this should go without saying but people are so rude it's appalling. I'm not a communist, nor do I hate America. I'm not lazy, incompetent, or a jerk. The Senator is a smart man who has to deal with a lot, insulting him is pointless. Think about all the "Worst customer" threads in AskReddit: this is what legislative staff deal with all the time, except the customers can (and do) have the power to directly fire us. So you can vent if you want, and we'll still listen and respond, but on a personal note it would be nice if you were nice.
- Do know that we don't have to pass legislation to make a difference: Sounds weird, but a lot of federal law is made by executive agencies through the rulemaking process. Agencies propose a rule, accept public comment, then publish a final version. If a rule adversely affects you, writing to a legislator can be very effective. Senators and Congressmen sign strongly worded letters to heads of executive agencies all the time, asking them to extend the comment period or reconsider a decision. It only requires a few Senators on Congressmen be onboard. Agencies know which side their bread is buttered on, especially if a Senator sits on a relevant committee.
- Do talk about how issues affect you: I am not a heartless bureaucrat, I do care about humanity. If your letter talks about a specific issue and how is is affecting your life in a negative way, I will probably be moved. Statistics help but politics is still about people. If you're an IT engineer, talk about how CISPA affects your work in the industry, if you have student loans, talk about how that affects your life. Legislative staff do care and if they want to help you and can, they will do so.
- Don't write to people who don't represent you: Write to your congressman and two Senators. Perhaps the other congressmen from your state as well. If you live in Montana and send Harry Reid a letter, he won't read it because you aren't his constituent. Your letter will be tossed.
- Do be patient and don't be discouraged: We receive tons and tons of letters and email, and it can take months to respond. Also, just because you got a form letter (or something that sounds like a form letter) back doesn't mean nobody read your letter. It means we didn't have time to sit down and write a unique response.
- Do know that if you have a problem with an executive agency we can help: Look on your Senator's website for help with resolving issues caused by Federal agencies. Examples would be veterans benefits and social security payments. Just like with rulemaking, a Senator's letterhead packs a lot of weight when it lands on a bureaucrat's desk. Look for info on "Help with a Federal Agency" on your Senator's website, you'll need to fill out a privacy release too.
- On a non-letter note, Do attend public townhalls: Senators travel home to hear from constituents all the time, they're about to leave for August recess. Go to town hall meetings they hold. When they're in session, attend events on the Hill if you happen to be visiting DC (as a tourist or something). Frequently the only people who attend these events are old folks who ask why the local news changed channels lately and by hyperpartisan nutcases. A well formed question or comment from a normal looking citizen can stand out. But the availability of these changes by Senator. Franken and Merkley have weekly events for constituents on the Hill, for example, where they will accept questions.
Feel free to ask me other questions you may have.
TLDR: Write a one-two page, respectful, focused letter about a subject that affects you personally to your representative on an issue where they haven't already taken a public position. Be patient and understand a response takes time. Vote and be involved politically.
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all 9 comments
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[–]not_so_eloquent 2 points 1 year ago
Great read! Thanks for taking the time to write this, much appreciated :)
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[–]deftlydexterous 2 points 1 year ago
If a senator gets a lot of mail/email/calls about a single topic, for and against, do you tally how many people are on each side of the argument? How strongly does that factor into their decision? Are emails (even form letters or emails) included in the tally?
If a senator apposes something, but the overwhelming majority of people do not, or vice versa, how often do they vote against their own views?
If a senator gets a lot of mail/email/calls about a single topic, for and against, do you tally how many people are on each side of the argument?
-Yes, phone calls on an issue are tallied as well. This is why letters have such an impact on new issues.
Are emails (even form letters or emails) included in the tally?
-Yes, emails are probably better. They're more easily categorized and sorted to the correct LC in our office software.
How strongly does that factor into their decision?
-If it's a pristine issue, a lot.
If a senator apposes something, but the overwelming majority of people do not, or vice versa, how often do they vote against their own views?
-I would say this rarely happens simply because on the big issues most Senators have made their positions well known in their campaign, so on that level folks already voted for someone they agree with. An exception would be the PPACA, where many reps voted against their constituents wishes in favor of the bill and paid dearly for it in 2010.
[–]senateinsiderthrw[S] 1 point 1 year ago
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[–]not_so_eloquent 1 point 1 year ago
This is kind of a silly question, but in regards to your statement that we should write about bills that are "new" and haven't been voted on yet, is there a website where we could see bills that are currently awaiting a vote
[–]senateinsiderthrw[S] 2 points 1 year ago
The truth is that most legislation never receives a vote. However, Most issues do, and most legislation is tied to an existing issue. My Senator cosponsored a bill related to nurse staffing levels. Seems nonpartisan right? Well, unionization and business regulation are hated by conservatives. So it's going to be opposed.
Lis.gov tracks legislation and I often use it, but I don't know what shows mos recently introduced bills. I'll have to look into and edit this comment, I'm on my phone ATM.
[–]not_so_eloquent 1 point 1 year ago
Thank you very much!
[–]senateinsiderthrw[S] 2 points 1 year ago
Here you go, most recently introduced legislation:
http://www.govtrack.us/events/introduced-bills
As you can see most of them go nowhere.
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–]BitWise 1 point 1 year ago
Thank you, I'm a firm believer in action rather than just ranting on Reddit and this information certainly helps.
Do know that we don't have to pass legislation to make a difference
I tend to forget this a lot.
Don't write to people who don't represent you
While I mostly agree with this wouldn't the House and Senate majority and minority leaders be an exception to this in some cases? Or possibly even committee leaders?
[–]senateinsiderthrw[S] 1 point 1 year ago
In theory, I agree they should pay attention given their expanded responsibilities. In practice I'm guessing they respond only to constituents. Again, time is a premium and they aren't going to delay responses to constituents when people who dont vote in their state write in.