The REAL Deal...

By Stephanie Vance April 14, 2004
Stephanie Vance Recent events have led me to change my perspective on communicating with elected officials. I no longer think you need to be personal, thoughtful or relevant. I’m beginning to think that whining is a really good way to get your message across. Hey, and rather than limiting the amount of materials you leave behind, why don’t you give them an enormous binder with reams of paper?

April Fools!

Don’t worry, the advocacy guru hasn’t lost her mind: just joking with you on this day of general tom-foolery. Read on for today’s effective advocacy tip:

Resources on Congressional Communications: During my usual spiel at a recent event I was making the point (rather emphatically) that constituency is one of the most important factors in influencing elected officials. The most important phrase you'll hear in an elected official's office, I said, is "are they from the district?" As I prattled away, one of the participants asked me "umm, how do you KNOW that's true?" And I thought to myself "gee, how DO I know that's true?" On the one hand, I certainly have experiences working for and lobbying at members of Congress. On the other hand, those are just my experiences: are they truly universal?

This exchange inspired me to devote this edition of the newsletter to the range of evidence/information/materials that exist out there in cyber-space offering further insights into effective communication with Congress. Following are some of my favorite resources in the areas of (1) general information on incoming communications to Congress, (2) understanding the Congressional context and how to approach members of Congress, and (3) online tools for sending e-mails and other communications to Congress

General information on Congressional Communications: Did you know that House and Senate offices received about 117 million e-mails in 2001? In fact, on an average day, the House receives over 200,000 e-mails. Understanding the enormity of the amount of e-mail coming into these offices is essential to your success as an advocate. The Congress Online Project (which is where I got these numbers) monitors how (and how often) people communicate with members of Congress. One of their most useful reports is on the e-mail influx in Congressional offices and can be found at: http://www.congressonlineproject.org/email.html. An update can be found at http://www.congressonlineproject.org/pf080702.html They also have a wonderful set of statistics at: http://www.congressonlineproject.org/statistics.html

Congressional Context: Clearly, ever since people learned how to send carrier pigeons to Congress with little notes tied to their legs, Congressional offices have been inundated with communications from constituents. With the hundreds of millions of e-mails going to Capitol Hill every year, how do members and staff filter out those that need attention? Following are a few resources on that question.

  • After leaving the U.S. Congress, former House Representative Lee Hamilton landed at Indiana University and founded the Center on Congress at www.congress.indiana.edu. The Center offers a wide range of useful resources, including an outstanding series of e-learning tutorials on how Congress works. The section titled "About Members of Congress" at http://congress.indiana.edu/learn_about/about.htm offers a very helpful context for understanding how members of Congress make decisions. For those looking for further details on contacting members of Congress, check out the tips at http://congress.indiana.edu/congress_today/communicating.htm.

  • I would be remiss if I didn't mention the survey that we did at AdVanced Consulting in 2003. We asked Congressional staff to tell us how best to communicate with their offices. You can find the results of the survey at: http://www.advocacyguru.com/staffsurvey.htm In general, respondents to the survey indicated that personal communications from the members own district are the most effective.

  • Another resource that provides a framework for understanding how members of Congress think and operate is the Congressional Research Service. Although their reports are generally available only through your Congressional office, there are a few websites where some of these useful publications can be found, including: (1) a tremendous report on accessing federal grants and loans at http://www.house.gov/israel/grants/crs-rs20514-092203.pdf, (2) a range of reports on Congressional process and procedure at: http://www.house.gov/rules/crs_reports.htm, and (3) a very comprehensive compilation at: http://www.pennyhill.com/congress.html

    • Sending Communications: Now that you have some ideas on how to approach Congress successfully, take a look at some of the sites that allow you to e-mail members of Congress directly. And speaking of e-mail, I know there's a perception out there that members of Congress ignore e-mails. Actually, what they ignore are communications that are irrelevant, and impersonal -- much like you ignore communications that have no relevance to your life or that are clearly "form" letters (aka junk mail). So, go ahead and use e-mail -- just use it wisely. That means no form letters, no forwarding of random petitions, and be sure to include your snail mail address. Great resources for this include: www.congress.org , Mr. Smith E-mails Washington at www.mrsmith.com and the U.S. House's "Write Your Rep" site at http://www.house.gov/writerep/

    And finally, for you conspiracy theorists out there that want to send secured messages to Congress, check out www.Politrix.org. I promise I won’t tell anyone you visited the site.

    Category: Government, Politics
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