Twice, in about 1960 and again about 1987 I wrote my US Senator about something specific and quickly got a boilerplate response acknowledging the communication and stating it had been forwarded to the appropriate bureaucrat.
My spouse has written two or three letters this summer to state and federal elected persons and none have been acknowledged.
What has been your experience?
I’ve written two letters to my U.S. Rep with my view on a specific piece of legislation, gotten replies both times. Neither was a boilerplate - they both addressed my question specifically, and both times told me that while the Rep values my opinion, he disagrees with me.
I also once wrote a letter to a state official, and got a reply that told me I was wrong as well (it’s fun being conservative in Massachusetts). I sent back a reply that was fairly snarky, questioning their interpretation of the law and quoting the dictionary definition of the word “advise”. Didn’t get a further reply.
I just wrote an email to my congressman the other night about UHC. I got a boilerplate “we got your message” email, and then the next day a boilerplate “here’s what I have to say about health care reform” email. Probably because on the email form I filled out (which happens to have a VERY small comments box) I chose “health care” from the drop-down list of topics.
Doesn’t mean I will stop emailing my congressman tho.
I wrote some letters to my local Rep and for a long time he would write me back boilerplate stuff about various topics. Eventually I got off his mailing list.
Personal letters from the previous Canadian Prime Minister and personal letters from the present Prime Minister’s Office. Regular personal emails and occasional face to face conversations and dinners with my MP and my neighbouring riding’s MP. Occasional personal emails and occasional boilerplate emails from MPs unrelated to my riding or neighbouring riding in response to email inquiries by me. In short, I find the Members of Parliament and the Prime Minister’s Office to be quite communicative and forthwright. I very much appreciate that, whether or not I share their positions, and I am surprised that they take the time that they do.
I’ve always gotten responses back from my reps, though I haven’t written my current US Rep since he took office in '07. Sen. Lugar has a 24 hour response requirement in his office, and all responses come back via the post office. Whether I agree with him or not, it is a point of pride that someone representing me puts that high a priority on two-way communication. I used to work for a statewide advocacy organization, and there are other US Reps in Indiana that just don’t care, and won’t respond back.
I won’t mention anyone specifically, but I don’t think highly of politicians whose name rhymes with “Urton”.
Recently, my wife and I wrote Carl Levin, a Senator from Michigan. We asked him specifically about his opinion in extending the adoption tax credit.
We got a pretty specific response, which still looked like a form letter. It did, however, tell us that he supports that tax credit and will vote to continue it.
I assume they do have various form letters for different issues. It was nice to hear back, though.
I got an email from Sen. Demint (R-SC) on June 8, 2009. I’m not sure why I got this except I used to live in South Carolina, but I was about the least republican person there. You may remember the Senator. He’s the one who said
He outlined his proposed legislation for annual health insurance vouchers ($2,000 per person or $5,000 per family). I had questions so I emailed him back (from his website - you can’t respond to his email) and asked very specific question about his plan (since it costs some $12,000 per year for a family health policy, plus copays and deductibles, I was unsure how his voucher would enable an unemployed person to actually buy any coverage). I got a boilerplate email in response: “Thank you for your comment. We receive many communications from our constituents and will respond to your as soon as possible.”
I heard back from him on August 27 (“Thank you for your interest in healthcare…” I’d checked the healthcare box), but he didn’t address any of my questions. Instead he again told me all about his proposed plan, only this time it was for income tax credits ($2,000 per person/ $5,000 per family) and malpractice tort reform, which from what I read (S. 1324, Demint’s Freedom from Health Care Plan) would help that unemployed person even less than the vouchers would. :dubious:
So I’m pretty sure he didn’t read my email, or I’d probably just have been taken off the mailing list.
I sent Rep. Mark Kirk an email and got a issue-specific form response. I also got on the list for his email newsletter which asks for my opinion on various matters, and I have replied to some of those. Kirk is a moderate Republican in a district that could go either way, so he may care more than most about the views of individual voters.
I think that accounts for a lot of it. Burton (oops!) has been extremely secure for years, so could care less about what people think. Unfortunately, he’s now even getting competition from his own party because he’s so out of touch.
Lugar, on the other hand, will continue to be reelected each and every year he runs, yet still manages to stay extremely connected to the state. For someone with 10 times as many consituents as Burton, that just makes Danny Boy that much more pathetic.
Here’s the ultimate boilerplate response. Middle Class Joe: Lacy Clay Finally Responds - Sort of
Pence isn’t so bad. I got a personal response to him once when I wrote him about Darfur, and he was polite and we had a 1-2 minute conversation at a town hall a few months ago.
Pence is the only one I have gotten a real reply from. Bayh and Luger give me form letters, if that.
I’m probably on some list somewhere. One of those activists.