Today I heard a radio commercial that urged me to call my local congressman. My job, according to the commercial, was to urge him to oppose a certain measure up for a vote.
My question is…obviously the congressman himself is not going to get on the phone with everyone who calls, but who answers the phone? What do they say to an angry caller who wants to give the congressman a piece of his or her mind? I am sure if the issue is remotely relevant, hundreds if not thousands of people call this one person’s office. How does the secretary handle the large volume of calls that might be saying the same thing? Do they have a special voice mailbox where they just delete as the mailbox gets full? I would imagine that if a person is fired up, the secretary has to be super polite to avoid bad PR. Does the congressman give the secretary a cheat sheet of things to say? What’s the Straight Dope?
I called my House rep up once. It was in support of the ACA when they were trying to collect enough Democratic House votes to get over the hump.
Some intern or other “not my Congress person” woman answered the phone, I said I was calling about the bill, she asked if I was calling to support or be against it, I said support and I could imagine her ticking off a column. She thanked me for my call and that was that. Oh, she also got my address to confirm that I was actually in her district and not some random crank calling a hundred different representatives to bitch at.
That was, no doubt, a pretty high volume day for them at the office. On a slower day they might be more willing to listen to you ramble but I imagine it mainly comes down to “Constituent is [for/against] [issue/policy]” and your politician gets the tallies. I’d also guess that the phone-answerer is pretty much directed not to really engage with you about it, much less argue, but rather just cheerful promise to pass your thoughts along.
Once (years ago) my Congressman’s office had an “open house” sign in the window. So I went in. A nice chap greeted me. I said I’d like to talk to my Congressman. The nice chap went off into the back office, and then came back out. “I’m your Congressman.”
Nicely played! I smiled hugely, and confessed that, indeed, I didn’t know my Congressman even when looking at him.
I was the only visitor at the moment, so I got about ten minutes of my Representative’s full attention. Kind of fun. I hauled out my personal agenda, and explained it to him, and he listened, entirely politely. It turned out we agreed on most of it, and so we shook hands and I went away pretty happy with the encounter.
One of the things he told me is that he takes every letter, every phone call, and every visit very seriously, and considers them all to be representative of 100 other people who feel the same way. So your letter and phone call aren’t just “one person’s opinion” but carry some additional weight, given that a lot of other people will agree with you, and just not bother to write or phone.
I believe they have some actual bodies of statistics about things like that: Every phone call represents so many people who think similarly; every written letter represents so many; every personal visit represents so many.
It’s not uncommon, at least in smaller communities, to meet your local politicians, up to the State legislature level. Encountering Congresscritters, other than at scheduled times or events, probably less common.
I lived in an area for some years where Andrea Seastrand was our rep in the State legislature. She showed up pretty regularly at miscellaneous public events – parades, festivals, dedication of the new public library, etc. Pretty much everybody knew who she was and could chit-chat with her.
Likewise, even more local politicians and officials tend to be well-known in smaller communities. At any time, you might see the mayor, or any councilman or the police chief about town. This is very unlike in the Big Cities.
Yeah, you shouldn’t bother with the long, detailed arguments or impassioned appeals in communications with your elected officials. They’ve heard all that before, a thousand times. Just tell them what the important issue is, and which side of it you’re on.
The best way to actually deliver your thoughts (not just pro or con) to your elected representative is to call and ask for the staff member who’s working on X issue. The staff member will usually give you at least a couple of minutes and an email address if you want to get really in depth.
They have staff to answer phones. That’s what they do. If there are many calls, they handle them or use voicemail or whatever. They often try to tally the for or against calls, for what that’s worth. Yes, they are experts at being polite to angry callers. They may have talking points to guide them on certain issues.
I sent an email telling my Congressman of my dislike of his votes on a couple of issues. I heard nothing for months before getting what looked like a canned response. I’m not voting to re-elect him, even if he is a Democrat.
Maybe you should consider yourself lucky. I sent an email to my Congressman, asking him to vote for the ACA, even though I knew the chances he would do so were slim.
I got a canned email back right away that said he agreed with me that the ACA was a bad idea. Not only that, but I still get canned emails from the guy, despite that his district no longer includes my neighborhood.
Called my state rep’s office and spoke with a staffer on an issue that I knew the rep was going to vote in opposition to my viewpoint. I calmly and without foul language told the staffer my position and why I felt that way. He said that my comments would be added to the ones already received, BUT he thanked me for being polite and not yelling.
Moral of the story, even if you disagree be nice. Elected officials do listen to constituents, that is how they remain elected. But yelling, raving, and swearing give them a pass to blow you off. Also, do call and write. Other people certainly are, why not you.
I’ve always found that a actual mailed letter will be given the most weight. That cost you some effort and some money. Phone calls and especially emails are the tools of cranks.
I’m going to be sad when Dianne Feinstein retires. I may disagree with a number of her positions, but her constituent service is second-to-none. Nothing gets people off the dime quicker than a phone call that starts “Senator Feinstein calling…”
Interesting … MY congressman always answers my e-mails … and he’s always quite candid about the issues I touch upon … “Yes, yes, that’s a great idea but no fucking way will that pass Congress.”
I’ve never had cause to contact either of my Senators … they’ve been “good boys” as it were.
I had a State Representative some years ago who had an unlisted phone number … she actually had the nerve to come banging people’s doors come election time … I guess I wasn’t the only one who yelled at her. She wound up being mayor of Eugene, somehow that was a good fit … go figure.
I’ve a very close working relationship with my county officials, and that accounts for about 75% of my involvement with government, say 20% with the State … basically the only meaningful requirement from the Federal government is having to maintain a mail box for the Postal Service.
I’ve always wondered why people get so deeply involved in Federal politics … I think you’ll find that 95% of the crimes against humanity committed against you comes from your local government.
Calls do count for more than emails, though. Sending an email takes about 5 seconds, especially if you’re cutting and pasting a form letter. Calls take time.
I’ve called the California senators, my rep, Pelosi and Reid’s offices. Responses vary from the obvious “politely checking a box” to “the Congressperson is/is not in favor of that” to “still studying the issue, no position yet” and occasionally I’m asked for my own opinion. Once I had a staffer argue with me, but that’s rare. I can’t remember what th issue was.
That’s the way it used to be, but today, the universal use of e-mail and the delays in them getting snailmail due to screening for anthrax, etc. makes mailed letters not so useful.
I have no way of knowing, but it’s possible that on matters letter might get more attention. For example, a request for specific constituent service; or something more general about what policies woudl be best for the district. Letters aren’t so good for conveying your opinion on upcoming votes.
Thanks for that link, lance strongarm. Now and then, I get a call from some advocacy group who wants me to call my rep or senator to plead for a vote on a current bill. The 4 times I did that, the voice mail was full. So, the rest of the calls (some viewpoint).com made that day were wasted time and effort.