Writing a letter to government officials - etiquitte?

Factual Questions
1

I am writing a letter to a couple of government officials and I would like it to follow etiquitte as properly as possible. Do you greet the more senior/important official first in the salutation?

IE -
Dear Mr. Important and Mr. Not-Quite-So-Important? Or do you go alphabetical or something?

2

Seperate letters work best if you are trying to cover more ground with the same issue. Looks less like a form letter.

But you can try starting of the letter :

From: You

To: Name
Name

CC: Name
Name

Subject: I hate/like what you’re doing

Or in some form of that.
Listing names in order of importance is always the norm.

3

Seperate letters work best if you are trying to cover more ground with the same issue. Looks less like a form letter.

But you can try starting of the letter :

From: You

To: Name
Name

CC: Name
Name

Subject: I hate/like what you’re doing

Or in some form of that.
Listing names in order of importance is always the norm.

4

Sorry for the double posting

:smack:

5

I agree with frixxx – use two letters or a cc:. (The letter should be addressed to the more senior person and cc:'d to the other.) Typically in business correspondence the cc: line is at the bottom, under the signature block.

–Cliffy

6

I agree with Cliffy - write a letter, not a memo.

Somthing like:

Your address

Date

The Honorable John Smith
Address

Dear Mayor Smith:

[text of letter]

Sincerely,
Bernse

cc: The Honorable Jane Doe
The Honorable Jack Jones
The Honorable Mary Brown

And then switch the names around as appropriate if you expect a response from each of the officals - generally officials would only respond if the letter is written to them, but not if they were only cc’ed on a letter.

You can look up forms of address (ie, whether to use “Mayor Jones” or “Mr. Jones” in the back of a dictionary.)

7

Thanks for the input!

8

FYI - If your letter is going to government officials in Washington, DC, do not expect a quick answer.

No, not politics. :slight_smile:

Mail going to government offices in DC is scanned for anthrax, etc, before delivery. We’re told at work eight to twelve weeks from posting to delivery.