I knew someone who'd worked for a state representative. She said the best way to contact someone in office was to make a missive (or phone call) short and concise, and to be clear about which issue I'm addressing.
This holds whether it's about upcoming vote or a personal matter that I might need help sorting out - people who have problems with the VA, for instance. She said some people ramble on for pages and pages.
This explanation lines up pretty closely with what she described.
https://www.quora.com/Do-people-in-...tuents-direct-communication-with-them?share=1
Thanks! Here is the above post in its entirety by Carter Moore
-worked at U.S. House of Representatives
Do-people-in-Congress-read-their-constituents-direct-communication-with-them?
No, but not because of lack of interest or desire.
A Member of Congress will receive several hundred pieces of correspondence (letters, e-mails, phone calls, faxes, and personal visits) in a week from constituents, lobbyists, the government, other legislators, etc. If there's a particularly controversial issue under consideration by Congress, that could easily swell into the thousands. It's unreasonable for any person, no matter how dedicated, to digest that much mail.
Every Member of Congress hires a staffer, known as a Legislative Correspondent, whose job it is to receive, sort, and respond to every communication. Unless it's a particularly asinine or irrelevant issue, or is too incoherent to understand (which happens a lot), the goal is to respond to every constituent who contacts the office. Most LCs I worked with usually aimed for a communication to be received, filed, and responded to no more than two weeks from the date of receipt - less than one week if they had a form response ready to go for a major topic (eg, immigration reform, health care, the budget, etc.).
When it comes to the Member of Congress, many have their staffers prepare a daily summary of the issues raised by their constituents, and then get a sample of the letters which came in. The Member of Congress can then opt to respond personally, and usually will with a phone call. A lot of Members that I'm aware of also opt to have the staffers prepare a written response, and then will write a quick, personal note to the constituent in the margins or signature block.
Of course, this all varies from office to office. I can think of a couple of Members who were particularly atrocious at providing personal responses to constituents (and off the top of my head, most of them are shockingly no longer in Congress) and others who made dedicated blocks of time on their calendars to respond to constituents, if not for several hours after the end of the day.
If you want to improve your chances at getting a personal response from a Member of Congress, here are a few tips (copied from
another answer): How Do I Get My Congressman (or Senator) to Respond to Me?
- tick to your representatives! Don't blast all of Congress and hope for one of them to get back to you. If you're not their constituent, they aren't obligated to give you any attention.
- Avoid signing petitions†. Members of Congress will usually respond to the organization which sent in the petition, not the signatories; and if they do respond to each person who signed the petition, it will be a form response. If you want to write in on an issue, make it a personal letter.
- Don't rant. Once again, Members of Congress and their staff are incredibly busy, and a 20 page diatribe on [x] with LOTS OF CAPITALIZATION and underlining and accusations in bold that they're not doing their jerb are going to be ignored. My rule of thumb is in three pages or less (or 500 words if an e-mail), you should be able to explain who you are, what your issue is, and then...
- Be very, very clear in explaining what it is you want your Member of Congress to do. Do you want them to support or oppose a bill? Do you want them to introduce legislation‡? Do you want them to contact a Federal entity on your behalf to get a response on [x] issue? Would you like to arrange a meeting to explain the issue in more depth? This will prevent you from receiving a form response.
- After a sufficient amount of time has passed between when you sent your letter/e-mail and when it reasonably ought to have arrived at the office, pick up the phone and call. Ask them if they've received the letter and, if so, when you can expect a response (or be contacted for a meeting, etc.). If they haven't yet received the letter, very quickly summarize the issue and, if needed, ask if someone is available to speak with you. Go from there, and be polite throughout the call.
- If you receive a response from your Member of Congress that you think is insufficient (eg, a form response despite making a specific ask), pick up the phone and call. Explain - calmly - the issue you had raised, what you had asked of the Congressman or Senator, and why you feel the response was insufficient. Ask to speak with a staff member - and if one is not available, ask for their information and request a call back. Keep calling until you're satisfied with their response.
†For more information, feel free to consult
my answer to "Does writing your congressman or senator really do any good, or is it merely a diversionary smokescreen to make the average citizen believe that they have some voice in the legislative process?"
‡ You'll get bonus points if you've drafted sample legislation for them.
