Calling your congressman. Really? Does this really work?

[DrDeth]

@Chronos

One point on this: If you’re calling/writing to urge your elected officials to vote a particular way on some bill, don’t bother to give a long, impassioned speech or essay extolling all of the reasons they should vote that way. They’ve heard it all before, on both sides, and are just going to skip over that part. Keep it short and simple: “Dear Sir: I am a constituent in your district and have voted in the past five elections, and I urge you to vote yes on Bill XYZ. Sincerely, Joe Taxpayer”.

Maybe a little more, but yes, brevity is key.

I’d add a line about how it would affect his/her district/constituents.

[kenobi_65]

@jsgoddess

But in case you might, don’t think of staffers as the political equivalent of kids working at McDonalds. They are in charge of making major policy recommendations and handling most of the heavy lifting in lawmaking. They do the reading, the writing, the gatekeeping, etc. They are major players (though extremely young) not drones with a phone.

This, absolutely. A Congressperson’s staffers are, as a rule, highly empowered gatekeepers, and part of their job is to help the Congressperson formulate their policy and decisions.

[Iggy]

When my brother was getting nowhere with his Social Security disability claim he contacted Senator Fred Thompson’s office. They took the time to verify his circumstances and helped us move forward in a timely manner. Suddenly Social Security was no longer disputing his claim. They didn’t even ask for a recusal when it landed in front of a judge who made it clear he is a family friend of ours.

And I contacted my Congresscritter about a rather esoteric measure related to government allotment of the broadcast spectrum for emergency services. He hadn’t signed on as a sponsor to the legislation. I did get a seemingly real reply from his office indicating his support for the measure.

[DCnDC]

I called my congressperson once to arrange a White House tour for some relatives. Totally worked.

[rbroome]

from the other end, government offices, say Social Security, have multiple staffers dedicated to responding to inquiries from congressional offices. When the congressional office calls, that call goes to the top of the list for response. So getting your congressional office to call is a great way to get a federal office to respond.

What is interesting to me is that I don’t think the same is true at the state level. At least in Louisiana, the most common complaint I hear from my local representative is that they can’t get any useful response from the state offices. Anyone have experiences in their state?

[aldiboronti]

@md2000

Short tem thinking?

Only a real fan will get that one.

[Chronos]

What is interesting to me is that I don’t think the same is true at the state level. At least in Louisiana, the most common complaint I hear from my local representative is that they can’t get any useful response from the state offices. Anyone have experiences in their state?

I have. I had an issue with Medicaid that had been inexplicably stalled for the better part of a year. I e-mailed my state representative (Ohio), and within a week, the wheels were turning again.

[slash2k]

@rbroome

What is interesting to me is that I don’t think the same is true at the state level. At least in Louisiana, the most common complaint I hear from my local representative is that they can’t get any useful response from the state offices. Anyone have experiences in their state?

I think it depends a lot on local political considerations. If you happen to live in the Senate Majority Leader’s district, you’ll probably get a better response than if you live in the district of a back-bencher of the wrong party who is not on any powerful committees. Also, at the state level the representatives don’t have significant staffs; here in Kansas, e.g., outside of leadership you’ll usually find several representatives sharing a single secretary. That means they can’t follow up as vigorously as can be done at the federal level.

Back when I worked for the state, inquiries from legislators moved to the top of the pile and ALWAYS got a response. However, we were mostly regulated and funded by the feds anyway and didn’t have much leeway within federal rules to make exceptions, so that response might just be that we’d made sure that the corresponding file had not been overlooked.

[Aspenglow]

@watchwolf49

I’ve had great results just e-mailing my Congressman … he answers me when I ask him to … and quickly solves any problem I have if it’s within his power to do so … and this is a common story throughout our district … 17th term in office I believe, the fella knows how to serve us, no easy task when half the district is in the State of Jefferson …

I have a feeling we’re in the same district. If yes, great guy. I don’t know how he does it, but I’m sure grateful that he does. If I’m wrong, then glad there are two who are so worthwhile!!

@md2000

Something I read once about PR from a large corporation (McDonalds or some such) is that they paid attention to letters and phone calls because they estimated one phone call or letter represented ten to a hundred other people who were also annoyed but didn’t bother expressing their dissatisfaction.

I’ve read the same thing. It does seem to be the case.

[ZurBob]

@jsgoddess

…But in case you might, don’t think of staffers as the political equivalent of kids working at McDonalds. They are in charge of making major policy recommendations and handling most of the heavy lifting in lawmaking. They do the reading, the writing, the gatekeeping, etc. They are major players (though extremely young) not drones with a phone.

Spouse of a (ex) Congressional Field Rep here. The staff wasn’t extremely young, probably averaged in age about 45-50 district-wide.

To the OP: Yes and no, maybe, YMMV. It is highly dependent upon the Congressperson in question… Some (and their staff) are highly attuned to their constituents’ problems and opinions…Others, not so much.

[Wesley_Clark]

@Llama_Llogophile

Out of desperation, I once called my local congress person about my cable company. They were continually billing me wrong, charging late fees, and it was impossible to get them on the phone to correct it.

I actually came to suspect they were doing it intentionally to run up customer cost, and said so. The congressional office discounted this suggestion, but a few days later it was all cleared up and I got a special phone number to call if it happened again.

I always thought contacting the state attorney general was the route to take when you had an issue like this.

[pulykamell]

Last month I was working a wedding where the groom was from India, and his mother and close relatives were rejected a visa (or perhaps it was stalled in bureaucratic hell) to visit the US for the wedding. They contacted the local state senators and the reps were able to grease the process along. Apparently, this was not an uncommon request for senators, according to the wedding couple.

[Personal]

I’ve never called, but I used to write a letter or so a year to my senators and representative asking them to support or oppose various legislation. I just did a quick search, and it looks like the last time I did this was in 2012. It was a one-paragraph letter to each of them:

I am writing in opposition to the pending SOPA and PIPA legislation. The proposed restrictions to be placed on Internet traffic are chilling. I ask that you join me in opposing both SOPA and PIPA.

I received a response from my senator. His response was [paraphrasing] “thanks for writing to le me know your opposition… as you may know Senator Reid has postponed consideration indefinitely… I believe that enforcement of our copyright laws must take place in a manner that protects the rights of all parties involved. I will continue to follow this issue…”

Nothing spectacular, but someone at least read my letter.

In all the letters that I wrote I never expected to get a response, but I would every once in awhile, and I always appreciated it when I did, even if it was a bit of a form letter type. I always knew whatever position I was advocating was tallied somehow and taken into consideration, however minimal. And I always counted on my conventionally-mailed letter taken a little more seriously, or counting for a little more perhaps, than an email.

[Chronos]

Quoth Wesley Clark:

I always thought contacting the state attorney general was the route to take when you had an issue like this.

Typically, any elected official will do. Even if they’re not the right person to solve your problem, they’ll know who the right person is, and no elected official wants to tell one of their potential voters “Sorry, I can’t help you, but this other guy (who I may someday be running against) can”.

[Melbourne]

@Frylock

The buzz all over my fb feed for a while has been that we should all be calling our congresspersons’ offices and registering our views on whatever they’re supposed to vote on soon. My fbfriends are leaving posts telling who they called and what they said. Posts are circulating

They aren’t dumb. The more organised it is, the less important individual entries are. Individual requests for help get a response.

(In the old days), identical form letters got counted. Now, it’s easy to get up an internet campaigns – and it’s equally easy to just send an email in response.

[Martini_Enfield]

I’ve had generally good results by making an appointment to go in and see my local MP, but it really depends on the issue.

Sometimes, their mind is already made up (or has been made up for them), but other times they’re more than prepared to listen to me and take my concerns seriously.

Generally, IME phone calls aren’t much use - they get noted but that’s about it. Emails are generally pretty good, but an actual letter is the second-best option after physically going to see them (and being polite and civil).

[ZipperJJ]

Here’s an articlefrom this past November that lays out a long series of Tweets from a former Congressional staffer about the best way to contact your congressperson.

Basically, calling does work. Talking to them in person works even more but calling, especially when it comes to voting topics, is not useless.

[Nars_Glinley]

I was a Congressional intern in college many years ago. One of our duties was to summarize and categorize every phone call and letter that the Congressman received. I assume that they wouldn’t have had us do that if he hadn’t cared.

[D_Anconia]

@pulykamell

Last month I was working a wedding where the groom was from India, and his mother and close relatives were rejected a visa (or perhaps it was stalled in bureaucratic hell) to visit the US for the wedding. They contacted the local state senators and the reps were able to grease the process along. Apparently, this was not an uncommon request for senators, according to the wedding couple.

Here is what I don’t understand. The issuance of visas is strictly a federal matter. Citizens of most countries must apply at a U.S. Embassy or Consulate in their home countries. How would a state Rep or state Senator have any influence over the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi?

[Chronos]

They call up the person at the embassy who can actually make the decision and say “Hi, this is Someone Important, can you please do me a favor?”. Which carries more weight than when someone calls up and says “Hi, this is Some Random Person you’ve Never Heard Of”.