Congressional leaders receive hundreds of calls and mail pieces each day. Now is more important than ever to make sure your voice is heard, and some ways to do that are better than others.
As a former summer congressional intern, I’ve gathered a few tips on how to best reach out to your local and national leaders.
Before calling the phone number for the Washington D.C. office, call a state office. Often times, the D.C. offices are inundated with calls and will not be able to answer, or take a long message. You will save yourself a lot of time by calling the representative or senator’s state office.
The first thing you should do in a call or letter is give your name and identify yourself as a constituent right away – this will give whoever is listening or reading a major cue to pay attention and take detailed notes.
Elizabeth Marshall | Argonaut
It is OK to be upset about issues you may have with a certain member of Congress and communicate that to their staff. You can be honest about your feelings about the member of Congress, their voting record and their party without worrying that the person on the other end of the phone call will argue with you — it is simply not their job. The same can be said about whoever will respond to your mail.
Try to steer clear of using second person pronouns. More often than you would think, people working in these offices do not belong to the same party or have exactly the same views as the public official and take it personally when you automatically assume they do. It puts staffers in a rather awkward situation.
If staffers are not giving you information, it is safe to say that they do not have it or are not legally allowed to share it. These people are there to help you and give as much information as they can, try to give them the benefit of doubt, even if the public official they work for doesn’t necessarily deserve it themselves.
If it is a less well-known issue, feel free to cite a news article to give the person answering the phone a better chance of communicating your message effectively. Otherwise, you will not be asked to cite a specific source so don’t worry too much about it.
If you want a response, ask for an emailed response because mail delays from Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. are horrible. You will still have to give the staffer your mailing address, but you will likely receive your response quicker.
Be as detailed as possible. Give the reasons why or why not you support something. The more detailed you are, the more details you are likely to get in a response. Another tip for receiving more than a form letter is to ask to receive a response to specific questions.
Elizabeth Marshall can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @EJMarshall_.