I have a question about calling my congressional officials...

[progressiveandproud]

I have ADD, I don't like being boxed in by time... so my question is the following: if I called my Senators and Congresspeople, say, right now -- that would be at 12:39 A.M.! -- and left a message on their voice-mail, would I get heard?

Or am I more likely to be effective calling during normal business hours, speaking to a staffer, and saying whatever I have to say then?

In case you're wondering what on earth someone would call Congress about after midnight, I'm outraged about the passage of H.R. 418, the "Real ID bill", and I don't want the Senate to touch it with a ten-foot pole. I succeeded in relaying my message to 30 or so Senators before 5 o'clock this afternoon -- I was targetting Democrats and, if there is such a thing (which there isn't anymore), "moderate Republicans" -- but I ran out of time.

Also: is there any difference, in terms of whether/how much my message is listened to, between leaving a message on their voice-mail during business hours and after business hours?

Yes, I'm prob'ly splitting hairs. But if anyone has some expertise on this subject, I'd be all ears: I want to maximize what little influence I have! And if I should wait 'til Monday at 9 to give my say about that darned "immigration bill" -- a.k.a. the give-potentially-unlimited-powers-to-the-Secretary-of-Homeland-Security bill, cough, cough -- I'll wait.

Thanks,

Jonathan

[calimary]

1. Coupla thoughts...

Well, maybe more than a couple...

Figure this much, immediately: doing SOMETHING is infinitely preferable to doing NOTHING AT ALL.

If you're that motivated, even at an odd hour, maybe you should just go ahead and try calling and leaving a message. The only way it would be problematic is if their message machine or whatever is full. Which might happen by the END of the weekend, but perhaps not early-on in the weekend.

Sometimes us up-at-odd-hours types resort to the email method. You certainly can do that at ANY time of ANY day. You can find all the contact information you need, locally, regionally, and in DC at www.congress.org - their directories cover literally EVERYBODY on Capitol Hill. This, by the way, features not just phone numbers but fax numbers, email addresses of various kinds, and snail mail addresses, plus committee and staffers' contacts, too. The one other advantage to doing it NOW is that - you'll actually do it NOW. By Monday morning, you may forget.

But it IS helpful, if you remember, to call in also. I'm on the West Coast, so I've found it most helpful if I want to call all the way to Washington - to do so after I've taken the kids to school. It's still early in my time zone, but midmorning on the East Coast, and I've found they're a) likely to be in, in the first place; and b) I've found it easier to get through, earlier in the morning. And the advantage to calling and talking to a staffer in that Congressmember's or Senator's office is that sometimes you can throw in a second issue, or even a third. You can lobby a little. You can do a little fact-finding - like - "are you getting any other calls about this? What's the interest like out there?" Sometimes these brief encounters can be MOST illuminating, AND encouraging also. In addition, that staffer might offer some other info about what his/her boss is doing on that issue, whether he/she has authored or cosponsored any bills, whether he/she is going to be in the local area in the near future - maybe you can go press the flesh? And sometimes it simply helps to give your perspective. Sometimes you just might offer another argument that perhaps they haven't thought of yet - which might make a difference, change their mind in your favor, get them thinking, or add to their arsenal when THEY lobby for or against whatever it is.

Look, mainly, just do SOMETHING. If you don't, NOBODY will EVER know what you thought about it. ALWAYS weigh in if you get the chance. I mean, why else do you suppose people send messages in bottles? Because maybe, just maybe, SOMEBODY will see it.

BTW, for whatever it's worth, I humbly submit another thread to help encourage you further...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=1587721

Cheers! Glad you're motivated. That's half the battle.

[progressiveandproud]

2. Thanks, calimary. Your words are heeded. n/t

[calimary]

3. Glad to help. WE ALL need a kick. Not just the threads.

And Welcome to DU, by the way! GLAD you're here. WE NEED YOU.

Just keep in mind: If they think we don't care, they won't, either.

[Broca]

4. The live approach is best

versus a message on an answering machine in general. A hand-written post card or letter is better than a preprinted one and either is better than an email. But Calimary is right, doing anything is better than nothing. Mostly it is futile to contact U.S. legislators other than your own but their are exceptions (I'm from Wisconsin but Sen. Olympia Snow from Maine sends an acknowledgement when I write about threats to the Appalachian Trail in Maine).

In the longer term if your legislator has a field office in a city near you, call for a time to come in and speak to a constituent representative. Take up submitting letters to the editor in the paper for that area. After a while they will know you. Good Luck.

[progressiveandproud]

5. Thanks! And now for bed. n/t/

[calimary]

6. ShaZZAMMMM! Broca! Welcome to DU - WHAT a debut!

These are World-Class suggestions.

Well worth a kick! Thanks for contributing this. It's good as gold! BTW, the pecking order you described of what's first among equals in contact methods/vehicles is SPOT-ON. NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING beats the personal touch. The face-to-face contact. It leads directly to relationship-building, and you're more than halfway home at that point. Face-to-face, person-to-person. After that, a phone call to a live human in one of your reps' offices, voice-to-voice. After that, a paper letter. In the link I posted above, there's a quote in the original post from DUer grasswire, referencing an observation Paul Begala once made about the power of a paper letter. The link at the bottom of that original post is also the story of another DUer who complained to a local station about a Michael Moore trash-job it had aired. Evidently, something in that complaint sparked the interest of the station's general manager. The general manager actually CALLED this complainer, PERSONALLY, and they then got into MORE THAN AN HOUR'S WORTH of conversation and debate about the original complaint AND A WHOLE LOT MORE. Because of the nature of this hour-plus conversation, the general manager gave the complainer his personal contact information and invited him to keep in touch. Left the door wide open with the welcome mat out. In sum, this was one DUer who hit one straight out of the ballpark.

You. Never. Know. (So what can it hurt to at least try?)

Again, WELCOME to DU. Glad you're here, too! We need you. AND your great suggestions.

ONWARD!

[SharonAnn]

7. What about sending a written meessage via FAX?

I've used that several times. I usually hand write it so they know it's now a "cut and paste" job, use my own words, and this way they have it in "black and white". I think that written things make the biggest impression, especially if they are not some kind of "mass protest" with identical postcards and such. The idea is, if someone takes the time to write, they feel very strongly about the issue.

Of course, I have a Fax machine at home but a friend of mine uses some kind of software where she scans the message on her digital scanner and sends it via Fax across the modem. Not sure what SW that is.

[calimary]

8. You know something, SharonAnn, EVERYTHING helps.

If it's easiest at that particular moment to do a fax, then ABSOLUTELY! SEIZE THE MOMENT!!! DO SOMETHING WITH IT!!!

I like faxing, too, sometimes. The only complication comes when the line's busy.

Just figure it this way: "sooooooooo... maybe you'd rather sit back and do nothing?"

Besides, rest assured somebody else out there from the enemy camp DID do something to weigh in. You want that voice hogging the mike or center stage? HELL NO!! BUTT IN on 'em. And think of this - what if it's THEM who are taking the day off, and maybe because you threw in your two cents, YOU'RE the one hogging the spotlight... How bad could that be?