Advocacy & our Legislators

[Guest guest]

Now this is an area that I do have some expertise that I could possibly

share.

In my professional life...we often needed to advocate for federal and

international legislative efforts and laws. At times it may seem almost

impossible

to get the attention of the legislators, but here are some helpful hints:

1. There is power in numbers. Develop a clear, concise message which can be

spread en mass. Listservs and groups such as this are a tremendous tools in

organizing mass delivery of a single message to the legislators in every state

and possibly organizing a team to follow up on responses.

2. The message: While it is natural to want to provide as much information

as possible, avoid doing so in the initial letter of approach. Bullet points

are preferred, typically no longer than 1-2 pages in length. Begin the letter

with a paragraph describing the critical nature of the problem and get to the

point early - exactly what do you want this legislator to do to help (i.e.

write a letter, support a bill, write a bill, meet with you, etc.). Use bullet

points to outline the need and why they should become involved in the issue.

Include some critical supporting information as an attachment - but do not

overload with information yet. Explain that you can provide them with extensive

information if they would be interested in receiving more information.

** It is also helpful to add a closing paragraph which outlines a course of

action that you plan of taking (i.e. will also be submitting same information

to Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Times, Dateline, Primetime,

etc.) and ask the legislator if they would be willing to be contacted by media

representatives regarding this issue.

3. Sometimes the best way to get national attention and get it picked up by

the " big " media - is to make it a " campaign " of political nature. By

distributing material to the legislators in each state at the same time - it

provides

opportunity to concurrently distribute the same materials to the big media

resources notifying them that " legislators around the country " have recently

received this information. This often brings almost immediate response and

often

concurrent response from several of the top media resources as they think they

are getting a leg up on the next " legislative issue " .

4. I have the direct contact information for the Editors of most of the big

media resources nationwide including Wall Street Journal (put a financial spin

to the story and they will pick it up), New York Times, Washington Post, LA

Times, CNN, Primetime, Dateline, Oprah, and far more than I will list here -

but these are the big ones to hit.

5. I can also provide a link which will give a you list of the direct

contacts for the Congressman and Senators for each state. Who are the experts

on

the list who could write a good summary which we could use for

distribution...would that be Sharon??? If we can get the summary put together -

then let's

take that one summary along with any " supporting documentation " that we agree

upon is the most important to present - and distribute this among fellow

listmates. Would you all agree to ask any family members, freinds, etc. -

basically

anyone that we can get to agree to simply forward this letter and supporting

documentation to the link we provide to them (for the legislators in their

state). By doing this, it is usually pretty easy to get enough of a " mass

response " to start getting some attention. Believe me...I have used the same

techniques in the past and it works!!!

6. ative and friendly legislators: We need to start putting together

a list of legislators who have been cooperative and helpful to this issue.

Since I am fairly new to the mold issue - I do not have familiarity with that

particular issue. However, I can say that almost any issue I have ever had to

deal with her on, Senator Landrieu has truly been a remarkable advocate

for the people and I would definitely add her to the list of " helpful "

legislators. Can you all make recommendations of helpful legislators that you

may have

encountered? I will volunteer to start putting together a list and keeping

track of that part of it - which will be useful later to have a comprehensive

list handy at all times when we need action.

7. We need to start thinking about a plan of action. WHAT DO WE WANT???

What do we want our government to do (i.e. national media campaign discussing

mold in the home and workplace, establish national hotline, establish national

insurance program similar to FEMA, etc.).

I have written numerous legislative proposals and have worked with numerous

congressional members on revising others. If WE can give them a strong plan

that they can take and run with that makes sense - THEY WANT TO BE OUR

HERO...America's Hero! They are looking for legislation that they can write or

sign

onto - that heroes a cause, that is sound and most importantly - may solve a

problem of national importance!!

9. What bills or legislative proposals may already be in the works. Again,

I am pretty new here, but I think I have heard reference to some action being

taken. Can you all share what you may know, and I will start a list, Again,

this is an important step and may help us pool legislative supporters for this

cause, as well as possibly helping to further action on the existing

proposals that may need more public attention, We need to start joining forces

with

ANYONE who is supportive of fixing this problem.

10. Has anyone ever thought about contacting entities for possible

government funding? There are enormous amounts of government resources

available. Any

good researchers willing to put together a team here to do some work and

write some letters?

I have been really, really sick and can not take on a project like this alone

- but if we can put together a couple of teams who could work on certain

things - I think we could certainly get a lot accomplished and it is really

pretty

easy to do.

Jeannene

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