Emily Ellsworth , a Utah - based vane content Jehovah and marketer who in a previous living worked as a Congressional staff member , created a sensation recently with atweet stormoffering her insider purview on the good — and spoiled — ways to work legislators . To people who are delight with online communication , it believably total as a bounderish shock .
What work good ? earphone calls , and — as older - fashioned as it might sound — font - to - side contact . " If you desire to talk to your rep , show up at townspeople hall encounter , " Ellsworth send word . " Get a immense group that they ca n’t disregard . mob that place and ask questions . "
What the expert Say
In Washington , activists involved inlobbyingfor issue on Capitol Hill — and training citizen on how to join in — generally hold with what Ellsworth ’s blunt assessment . But they also counsel that getting your opinion across to your elected functionary is n’t just a matter of using the correct mode of communicating . The effectuality of your substance also depend a lot on what egress you choose to address , and whether you ’ve got the longanimity and dedication to your favorite cause to follow up , repeatedly , over time .
Aaron Scherb , theater director of legislative amour for the government foil and accountability lobbyCommon Cause , make for for three unlike popular Congress member from 2006 to 2010 . He says the first step in getting your opinion across is to check that that you ’re expressing it to the correct legislator — the one in whose dominion you live . " If you ’re from Texas and you ’re contacting a penis from New York , his office could give care less , " Scherb says .
That ’s one ground , accidentally , why societal media is n’t a very in force way to communicate with Congress . Even if a member get 7,000 tweets on the consequence of abortion or defense spending , there ’s no way to tell how many of those citizenry are really component who should be represented . " That makes it easier to push aside them , " Scherb says . And those email that you get from advocacy groups asking you to get off form letter to members of Congress ? Their form nature only makes it harder to rise above the electronic noise storey .
Be Strategic
Scherb counsel a more focussed , deliberate approach . Pick some things that you really give care about — " a niche or specialty of two or three issues , " as he describes it — and develop a retentive - term scheme for lobbying your Congress phallus . That strategy should admit reach out multiple times through multiple musical mode of communication . Instead of signing signifier letters , write a individualised varsity letter with your perspective , and transport it via e-mail or snail ring mail . Then fall out up with regular phone calls to the legislator ’s office .
And eventually , if you really want to sell your point of view , test to get a face - to - face confluence . Scherb mark that surveys of Hill staffers by the Congressional Management Foundation show that in - someone meeting — in Washington , unfortunately — are the most effective way to commune your point , followed by district spot meeting back home .
It ’s not as hard to fix up a confluence as you might guess , says Alicia McBride . She ’s the communications director for theFriends Committee on National Legislation , a Quaker advocacy organisation that teaches citizen how to buttonhole on social justice and other issue . One caveat : Usually , a meeting will be with a staff member , not the legislator himself or herself .
But talking to a staffer actually can be a pretty effective way to wield influence , McBridge say , because meddlesome legislator rely on their Hades for data on issues .
McBride also counsel that whether you ’re talking to a staff member or Congress member , it pays to make it a real conversation . " Listening to a member ’s concerns , as opposed to just yelling at them , is a more efficient scheme , " she says .
Additionally , you desire to ensure that you follow up on the meeting with extra contacts by phone or email . As Scherb explain , Congressional offices routinely compile tallies for appendage of how many cumulative contacts — electronic mail , call , encounter — they receive , and how many they get on each issue .
If that sound tiring , frustrating , and deadening , or like it privilege those with the time , get-up-and-go and resource to achieve out , welcome to democracy . AsWinston Churchill said , " No one act that democracy is perfect or all - knowing . Indeed it has been said that democracy is the sorry bod of government , except for all those other strain that have been tried from time to prison term . "
