I just used the basic e-mail contact forms to voice my opinion on the current shutdown. When I’ve done so in the past I’ve received a form letter and the knowledge that some staffer prepared a report for the Sendator/congressperson that tallied how many pro/con emails they received.
But right now those staffers are not working, and won’t work until the shutdown is over–a little late to have made my point (not mentioned here due to GQ restrictions on politics).
So … now what? Anyone?
Paper mail > email
Try their local office.
Yes, Congresscritters have a local office.
Mine, sadly, is a Tea Party Loony, & trying to convince her into coming down off the ledge is a waste of breath.
Contact her anyway. She certainly isn’t going to change her mind if none of her constituents complain to her. It may be a long shot, but it’s better than giving up.
Too bad not everyone can be as smart and superior as you are, but be forewarned, if you do contact her, she will probably consider you to be at least as loony as you consider her.
And you know this how? Congressional staffers should be working because they are either excepted or exempt.
You can call, too. The staffers just basically prepare a report that says “10 contacts pro stepping on dicks, 6 contacts anti dick-stepping, 2 contacts asking for flags…”
First, do some detailed research re. how to initiate a recall in your specific Congressional District.
A vague “I’m gonna start a recall petition” will get your vote counted. Actually preparing one for that specific loon, at the beginning of the next month (or other specific date), along with the sources of mailing and emailing lists of likely signers might get a bit more notice.
Then (watch for new thread in IMHO) start a crowdsource campaign to fund the drive for the bucks required to mount a professional recall campaign.
If the drive takes off, a simple follow-up “We’re at 30% of the bucks required to sink your ass. Wanna talk?”
Members of Congress cannot be recalled. States can’t add their own qualifications (like term limits and recalls) to the qualifications written in the Constitution.
I’m not sure exactly how true it is, but if you’re planning on writing a letter, I’ve heard tell from people who used to be Texas Legislature staffers that a way to actually get it into the recipient’s hands as opposed to some staffer is to do two things:
Write your letter longhand.
Address it to “Bob” or “Jim” or whatever, instead of “The Honorable Robert Teaparty”.
The idea being, that a lot of staffers are leery of not letting personal correspondence through to their masters, and will pass a handwritten, familiarly addressed letter through as often as not, while a typed, formal one will get the form letter reply.
I hadn’t heard that congressional staffers were excepted or exempt. I have heard a few auto-replies, such as:
The gist of the OP is that there are a few basic actions (pass a CR that defunds Obamacare; don’t allow any Obamacare riders; compromise by letting in some riders; I Know your Rider Gonna Miss me when I’m Gone).
The shutdown is basically a massive game of chicken. As someone who wants his congresspeople to hold out for a certain state of events, I want them to know I will support them while doing so. My actual Representative is a Republican, but moderate enough such that giving him constituent feedback may make a difference. But how to get the comment counted in even the barest of ways?
It appears that each congressional office is making their own determinations on how much, if any, of a shutdown they are undergoing:
I’m annoyed, sorta, because my Congresscritter’s on my side. I’d complain to the ones who aren’t, but one of them is a complete nutbag and would just ignore me since I’m not in her district and unable to vote for her anyway. Wouldn’t she?
What recourse do those of us with saner representatives have? Contact our senators? Both of those are sane too! It’s annoying. (Tho’ I’m super glad that those who represent me are sane. So there is that.)
The thing is, you can be completely sane and yet still ponder the question of whether or not to bargain with terrorists. It’s not a complete no-brainer, and I’d like to shore up/take down their resolve. But really the only way to do that that I know of is to call/write the office so a staffer can compile a summation report.
The other thing is that there are Republicans who would vote the continuing resolution but Boehmer will not permit the vote to take place.
One thing to remember about the house is that it never takes up the next item on its docket since with 435 members there are too many. So it always takes a special rule (that’s why the Rules Committee is so important) to get the house to consider a bill out of order. And I guess the speaker can further delay consideration just by using his own powers. He is apparently afraid he will lose the speakership.
It has been suggested that the Dems make an agreement with him that if he allows a vote on that (and on the debt limit, I suppose) they will support him for speaker so long as his party has a majority. But of course, he might also be afraid of a tea party challenge of his own reelection. At any rate, the Times, where an op-ed writer mentioned this possibility has said nothing further, so I don’t know whether the Dems are interested.
Your voice (in a letter or e-mail) may be counted in a group of folks who believe xyz, and that might inform a congressman or senator of the leanings of those folks who write to him. But it seems pretty obvious that in the past, say, 20 years or so, what has intensified is that the influence on congress comes not from individual voters, but individual contributors. Perhaps a mention of some fund-raising that you’re doing might get someone’s attention, but Joe Voter has very little impact anymore.
Right, but when there aren’t people there to do the counting, now what? I know I don’t have the larger influence of the moneyed interested, but if they’re wavering over whether or not to stick to position X, the feedback from primary and general voters might otherwise have entered their calculations. I’m cynical as hell, but in I still believe that voter feedback does make a difference at some level.