Clearing up some confusion ... re: HR 669

[Adam_Wysocki]

I just posted this in the NOHR669 blog and I'm posting it here as well ... http://nohr669.com/blog/?p=25

After following a bunch of online fish, bird, small mammal, and reptile communities this morning I’ve noticed that there seems to be a lot of confusion about what the “best” way to take action is. Some say email, some say letters, others say phone calls only. The truth is that the only wrong way is to do nothing. Every little bit helps and we’re happy to have everyone particpate as much as they personally feel comfortable with. But just to be clear, I’ll try and explain how the process works and talk about the two “fronts” that we’re addressing.

The first “front” we’re trying to go after is each and every persons direct Representative in Congress. This is the traditional way Government works here in the US. You have an elected official (whether you voted for them or not) that represents you in the Halls of Congress. You have the right to contact your Representative whenever you want, about whatever issue you want, and to be heard … that’s their job. They have a duty to listen to their constituents and take action based on what the people in their district are telling them. Unfortunately, do to the number of pieces of legislation that they have to deal with and the busy schedules they keep conducting the business of the United States, it’s very rare that you will actually get to communicate with your Rep directly … so they have aides to help them. The aides are there to process incoming communications from constituents and get a feel for where the Representatives district as a whole stands on any given issue. So basically, when you call, or email, or write … the aides have a list of issues and they mark you down as either “for” or “against”. The details about why or how are often lost in the mass of communications that the aides process in a give day, week, or month but the “positions” are all recorded. When it comes time for the Representative to vote on a topic, he or she will consult with his or her aides and see where “the district” stands … your Representative may use that information to help them make a decision or they may not. That’s just how the system works. There are a couple of important things to note in this process. First, if you’re not in the Representatives district, there’s really no incentive for them to listen to what you have to say. You’re really just someone elses constiuent to them and they will most likely pass you off to your correct Rep or just ignore you completely. Also, long drawn out letters, emails, and phone conversations may seem great, but with the volume of correspondance that any given Reps staff has to deal with, a simple “for” or “against” is often the only thing that gets through … so brief and to the point is always better.

Emails - Very few Congressmen/women give out their direct email anymore. The lobbyists and cause heads (like us) would just hammer their inboxes from all over the world if they did. Instead, the US Congress has set up “webform” email sites. The web forms take your name and address and make sure you are in the district of the Representative that you are attempting to email. If not, your email is redirected to the proper Representative. It’s estimated that 85% of all Congreemen/women use this system currently and by the end of the year it will be at about 100%. These webforms make it impossible to effectively send an email blast to all members of a committee or subcommittee. But, even if you could, they wouldn’t pay any attention to you becasue in most cases you’re not from their district. Emails that do get through to the correct Congressman/woman are very much paid attention to. Emails give American Citizens an immediate voice on all issues and are valued by our Representatives.

Letters (aka snail mal) - Letters are absolutely an effective tool for contacting Representatives. A hand written letter is taken very seriously. But, they are still subject to the same filters as email. Many times, Representatives won’t even open letters from people not from the district that they represent and will often forward them to the correct Representative believing that they received the letter in error. If they do open it, your stance on any issue will be given far less weight than the position of the Representatives direct constiuents. Also, due to the anthrax scares in D.C. post 9/11, the process for getting a letter to a Representative takes 6-8 weeks because the letter has to go through chemical and biological screening.

Phone Calls - The phone is an extremely important tool in getting a point across. Again, it is really heavily based on your district and many Representatives offices won’t be willing to talk to you if you’re not from that Reps district. But, if you are from their district, they will listen to what you have to say and take down your position on an issue … either “for” or “against”. Being brief, clear, and direct on the phone is the best way to go. Also, calling often works well too. I call my Representative every day about HR 669.

In person meetings - This by far is THE MOST effective way of influencing your Representative. Real people that they actually represent sitting down and talking face to face have the most impact on any politician. With Congress on spring break this coming week, now is the time to try and arrange that meeting. Even if you only get five minutes with an aide, it still helps associate a real person with the issue. Don’t be afraid to give it a try, Congressmen/women are real people just like you and I and their staff will be happy to have you participate in the legislative process.

The idea behind NOHR669.com is to get EVERYONE we can to contact their districts Representative in Congress. Pet owners, friends, parents, cousins, your mailman … anyone and everyone that you can think of and make “big noise” on Capital Hill. Even if your Representative isn’t a co-sponsor of HR 669 and even if they’re not on the Committee for Natural Resources, if enough people contact their office in opposition to HR 669, they’ll be forced to send an aide to talk to someone that is involved with HR 669. Their aide will probably say something along the lines of “we have a lot of constituents opposed to this bill and we won’t be able to support it as is” … that’s exactly what we want!

The other “front” is to go after the members on the Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans & Wildlife. They are the group that is meeting on April 23rd. It’s an excellent idea and can have a strong and direct impact, but it’s much harder to get them to listen because if you’re lucky maybe one of them might be your Representative. In many cases, none of them are. The United States Association of Reptile Keepers has offered to have their lobbyist in Washington accept letters from concerned pet owners and have him hand deliver those letters to the members of the Subcommittee. That is probably the only effective way to directly get the message to that committee in mass at this time. I’m working on instructions right now for exactly what we need to do for the letter writing campaign and I should have it up by the end of the day. You don’t have to be a reptile owner to send letters to the USARK lobbyist for hand delivery to the subcommittee members . We’re all working together on this, so if you’re a bird person, fish person, small mammal person, or just a concerned citizen, you can do this as well!

In summary, at a bare minimum, use NOHR669.com to email and call your Representative in Washington. If you can, try and arrange an in person meeting sometime between the 13th and 16th while your Representative is on spring break. Finally, follow the instructions for sending letters to the Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans & Wildlife members that will be posted here later today. Don’t forget to tell 5 friends and have each of them tell 5 friends to all do the same!

[BHB]

Heck yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!preach it brother!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow, I know who I'm calling if I ever need a paper written on how the government works.lol Great work on everything. We as a group are going to make an impact! Brian(BHB)

[Adam_Wysocki]

Just wanted to bump this for the afternoon crowd (sorry staff) ... but there's some mis-communication on a lot of the pet boards ... email is certainly an effective way of fighting HR 669 by contacting your representative ... it's less likely to be effective for contacting the committee members from Natural Resources if they don't represent you directly and bulk emails to the USARK lobbyist can really help with that "front". Read my post above about all the ways that you can help and get r done!

Thanks!

-adam

[catawhat75]

Thank you for the information. Most offices are closed today but I did put a call in yesterday to my rep's office here in town and in DC yesterday. Monday I plan on trying to get a meeting.

[rabernet]

Just wanted to bump this for the afternoon crowd (sorry staff) ... but there's some mis-communication on a lot of the pet boards ... email is certainly an effective way of fighting HR 669 by contacting your representative ... it's less likely to be effective for contacting the committee members from Natural Resources if they don't represent you directly and bulk emails to the USARK lobbyist can really help with that "front". Read my post above about all the ways that you can help and get r done!

Thanks!

-adam

Do NOT apologize for bumping this! Bump as often as you wish!

[disabled.101]

do not apologize for bumping this! Bump as often as you wish!

!!!bump!!!

[Sputnik]

I used the link to punch in the zip code to contact my rep.... and I also paid for the sample letter to be hand delivered.... $9 for hand delivered is nothing in the scheme of things considering....

I have already sent my written letter in.... short, to the point and respectful.

[DutchHerp]

***bump***

[771subliminal]

lets go ahead and keep this on top, great post

[DutchHerp]

I've already gotten one of my friends to get all those 22 letters in.