According to the Senator, there are a few things you can do that will make your phone call or letter most effective.

If you choose to call on the phone, state your name and let your legislator know where you live, especially if you live in their district.  If you have to leave a message, always let them know why you are calling.  Elected officials receive hundreds of calls each day, so if they have an idea of what you need, it will help them help you in a more timely manner.  Simple enough.

The same applies to an email.  Include your name and address and the reason you are contacting them.  Personalized emails receive much more attention than form emails.  If you are a part of a massive group effort to influence the legislature, take the form email and craft a more personalized version.  The same applies to form letters, just remember to include your name and address.   Old fashioned, hand written or typed letters on some sort of stationary or note cards work best.   It is that personal touch that we so often take for granted that could make the difference,  At the very least, the legislator is assured this comes from a real person and was not mass produced.  They are smart down there I tell ya.

Here are the Senator’s children checking out his desk. It is full of correspondence and phone messages, and copies of proposed legislation, enough to make your head spend. And in this particualar photo the Legislature was not even in session. We’ll do a before and after comparison soon. It’s not pretty people.

The Senator did add that they have a lot to read each day, so it is best to be brief and to the point.   And don’t worry if you do not receive an immediate reply.   They only have one assistant and typically receive hundred of calls and letters each day – but your voice is being heard and eventually you will hear back, (at least in his office and most certainly if you are his constituent). Often, if there is a delay in response time, it is because no action has been taken with that particular issue.  But, just imagine if you received hundreds of letters and calls each day how long it would take you to respond back to each one…. and contrary to popular belief, they really only have one very over worked and under paid assistant. Promise.

Love, the Senator’s wife

 

At the Capitol, this would be the last week for Bills to be heard in Committee.  Let me attempt to explain this….If a particular Bill survives committee without amendments and is passed on the floor of its House of origin, it then goes to the opposite House of origin for a vote on the floor.  If a Bill receives enough votes at this point, and has not been amended, it will then go to the Governor for his signature to become a law.   I am told that most Bills have already been amended at some point and the title and enacting clause removed.  (This is a safety mechanism to have another reason to review the Bill) Is this confusing enough for you because the Senator had to explain it to me at least three times and I still don’t think I have it right.)  Anyway, this week is a deadline for committee work.  They have a lot of deadlines.

The next deadline is the final round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament with the Final Four being held this weekend in Michigan.  How convenient for Michigan State.  No love for that team because they defeated my USC Trojans earlier in the series.  Does this make USC look a little better?  I really don’t know the answer to that question.  Still don’t like ’em!

And, just to update you on this and because I know you care, the Senator is OUT of the family competition.  So long…farewell…None of his teams, NONE, that he was so proud in selecting, seemed to have survived the madness of March.  Bummer.  Too bad, and I am so sorry you wanted to go on record with that Senator… your picks were admirable though.

Meanwhile, the Senator’s wife (me) has UNC and Villanova playing in the Final Four and the Senator’s son has UNC and UCONN remaining. Not too shabby if I do say so myself.  The Senator’s daughter…well, remember she did not select a winner.  Left the final game wide open.  This will be helpful to her now as all of her teams have officially been sent home!  I am sure a winning team will magically appear in the title game very soon.  Gotta watch that girl.  She’s sneaky.

Word of advice to the Senator when we fill out our brackets next year, be sure to ask your son for his picks.  The dude knows his stuff.  

Have a nice week at the Capitol dear, hope to see you soon!

Love, your wife

Most of these calls are from his constituents.   They use a very friendly and professional voice on the phone…for the most part, and they usually have a question or want a call back.  Even when they are expressing discontent with the Senator’s position on an issue, they are pretty nice about it…MOST of the time.