Since @beesmygod has been posting a lot about bothering your local elected representative, I thought I should help a little as someone who understands government work. I live & work outside of the US, but I suspect this is applicable to many local & state/provincial governments.
ALWAYS REQUEST A CALLBACK
- If you want someone to actually look at your issue, to do more than write “Feedback noted” in a complaint system resolution field, ask for a callback. Demand a callback. You can ask for an email too, but I will be blunt: the effort that is put into returning an email is less than half of the effort you force me to put in when I call someone back.
- Pick a phone number you will be reached at during 9-5 hours (b/c that’s when government workers do their callbacks). Calls are what I recommend simply because a call requires that person to put more effort into addressing your complaint even before they pick up the phone. They have to do more than send a pre-written email template to brush you off, and it allows you to actively engage back with them rather than starting from square one when you send a return email and end up in the system at the bottom of the queue again.
- If you go with an email, pick an email address that you check regularly. You can even make a professional looking email address for your complaints, which is guaranteed to get better answers than if you ask someone to email xxbigdaddysephirothxx@gmail.com
- When you make your complaint, ask what the time you can expect to wait is, and if you don’t hear back by that length of time, call back and raise hell over it. If there is a ticket system of some kind for tracking complaints (and there usually is when we’re talking government work and accountability), ask for your ticket number. Keep it on hand. Keep all of your numbers on hand.
- Be prepared for a callback. Have your feedback/goals already written down somewhere you can easily pull up on the fly so you don’t get caught flatfooted. Don’t get sidetracked. Stay on point and have a clear end goal – you want to see your local representative support a specific bill, you want them to issue a statement on a subject.
- Get a name. Get a phone number you can call them back at. Make them accountable for anything they say or promise.
- DO NOT USE ABUSIVE LANGUAGE. DO NOT MAKE THREATS OF VIOLENCE. If you use abusive language, I don’t have to engage with you. In fact, if what you write is vile enough, I can refuse to answer future complaints from you. So be passionate, be angry, be uncompromising, but keep that language clean and keep it clear of threats. I can’t do anything to get rid of someone who is pissed but does not cross the line.
I answer a lot of dumb complaints in my particular field. After a while, it gets easy to start tuning complaints out and assuming that people are just mad for no good reason. Callbacks force me to engage. They force me to look into a problem before I call someone back – to actually investigate instead of assuming. It’s harder to tune someone out when you’re holding me accountable.
a really really great post from a professional who knows how it works
what you can do to prevent a white supremacist from working in the white house
A white supremacist like Steve Bannon should be unacceptable as chief strategist in the White House, whether you supported Trump or not. President-elects have had to back down on appointments before, for comparatively minor reasons. Let’s not assume this is a done deal.
Social media activism can help raise awareness, but concrete action is important. My friend offers these steps you can take to prevent this appointment:
1) If you live in the US, call your Senators and Representatives and tell them this is unacceptable. Note that the Senate must approve Cabinet appointments: http://www.senate.gov/senators/contact. [See script at end of post. Also, I know this isn’t a Cabinet post but it’s still important to register your objection.]
2) Paul Ryan is feigning ignorance again. Call his office at (202) 225-3031 and let him know that this is not ok. Same with Majority Leader McConnell, (202) 224-2541.
3) Call out the media when they report the Bannon appointment as a straight news story or refer to him as a “Breitbart executive” or a “provocateur,” but don’t call him what he is: a white supremacist, anti-Semite, and misogynist. Don’t let them normalize.
4) Where protests are ongoing, make this a focus, with signs, chants, etc. Speak out on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms.
5) Reach out to any groups you know that might join this effort, from religious groups to community organizations.
6) Contact other people of influence—college presidents, high-profile coaches and anyone else who has a public megaphone—and ask them to speak out against Bannon’s appointment.
7) Sign and share this petition from the Southern Poverty Law Center: https://www.splcenter.org/stephen-bannon-has-no-business-white-house
*If you are unsure of what to say when you call your reps, here is a script that worked for someone else:
“Hi! My name is redacted and I am a constituent of Rep. Smith’s. I’m calling to see if and when he’ll be condemning the appointment of Steve Bannon to the White House.”
Them: The Congressman isn’t in yet today and I’m not sure anyone has had a chance to ask him.
“When you do, please also remind the Congressman that he has Jewish constituents in his district, including me, and we are highly concerned about having a white nationalist in the White House.”
Them: Hold please.
Them: Yes, just checked again, and we are not sure his response.
“OK. Well, I’d like a call back, [gives info] and I hope the Congressman is looking carefully at what this man has said and what he believes.”
what you can do to prevent a white supremacist from working in the white house
A white supremacist like Steve Bannon should be unacceptable as chief strategist in the White House, whether you supported Trump or not. President-elects have had to back down on appointments before, for comparatively minor reasons. Let’s not assume this is a done deal.
Social media activism can help raise awareness, but concrete action is important. My friend offers these steps you can take to prevent this appointment:
1) If you live in the US, call your Senators and Representatives and tell them this is unacceptable. Note that the Senate must approve Cabinet appointments: http://www.senate.gov/senators/contact. [See script at end of post. Also, I know this isn’t a Cabinet post but it’s still important to register your objection.]
2) Paul Ryan is feigning ignorance again. Call his office at (202) 225-3031 and let him know that this is not ok. Same with Majority Leader McConnell, (202) 224-2541.
3) Call out the media when they report the Bannon appointment as a straight news story or refer to him as a “Breitbart executive” or a “provocateur,” but don’t call him what he is: a white supremacist, anti-Semite, and misogynist. Don’t let them normalize.
4) Where protests are ongoing, make this a focus, with signs, chants, etc. Speak out on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms.
5) Reach out to any groups you know that might join this effort, from religious groups to community organizations.
6) Contact other people of influence—college presidents, high-profile coaches and anyone else who has a public megaphone—and ask them to speak out against Bannon’s appointment.
7) Sign and share this petition from the Southern Poverty Law Center: https://www.splcenter.org/stephen-bannon-has-no-business-white-house
*If you are unsure of what to say when you call your reps, here is a script that worked for someone else:
“Hi! My name is redacted and I am a constituent of Rep. Smith’s. I’m calling to see if and when he’ll be condemning the appointment of Steve Bannon to the White House.”
Them: The Congressman isn’t in yet today and I’m not sure anyone has had a chance to ask him.
“When you do, please also remind the Congressman that he has Jewish constituents in his district, including me, and we are highly concerned about having a white nationalist in the White House.”
Them: Hold please.
Them: Yes, just checked again, and we are not sure his response.
“OK. Well, I’d like a call back, [gives info] and I hope the Congressman is looking carefully at what this man has said and what he believes.”
a white man taking a job he doesn’t even want from a white woman who’s worked for it her whole life then forcing a black man to defer retirement for the sake of training him for this job he doesn’t want
a white man taking a job he doesn’t even want from a white woman who’s worked for it her whole life then forcing a black man to defer retirement for the sake of training him for this job he doesn’t want
Call Your Dang Reps
I
just stumbled into a prime example of a local action I could take that
matters right this instant. This afternoon @thedeadparrot tweeted a link
to an article about a Boston city councilor who yesterday expressed his
desire to make Boston a “sanctuary city” immigrants, i.e. defy Trump
& co. by barring local law
enforcement from initiating or participating in deportation actions.I
googled the City Council’s phone number, called, and got put through to
an aide right away. Here follows an illuminating conversation:Me:
Hi, my name is [Stulti]; I’m a resident of [neighborhood]. I just read
in the Herald that Tito Jackson wants to make Boston a sanctuary for
immigrants. I’m calling to express my support.
Aide, choking a little: Support??
Me: Yes, I want Boston to do everything possible to protect immigrants, documented or not.
Aide: You’re actually the first person to call in support of that.
Me: Really?
Aide: It’s been a rough day.
Me: Oh, jeez. Well, I hope it improves. I feel very strongly about this issue.
Aide: Thank you for calling.
Me: Thank you. Hang in there. Bye.Moral
of the story: There are legislators out there right now, trying to get
the damage control in motion. They’re being harangued by, at a guess,
right-wing retirees with nothing better to do. Plug their numbers into
your phones and even the score.If
no one on your city council has proposed such a measure, call to
suggest it. I’ve been told phoning is best, but if telephones give you
hives, send an email.
Call Your Dang Reps
I
just stumbled into a prime example of a local action I could take that
matters right this instant. This afternoon @thedeadparrot tweeted a link
to an article about a Boston city councilor who yesterday expressed his
desire to make Boston a “sanctuary city” immigrants, i.e. defy Trump
& co. by barring local law
enforcement from initiating or participating in deportation actions.I
googled the City Council’s phone number, called, and got put through to
an aide right away. Here follows an illuminating conversation:Me:
Hi, my name is [Stulti]; I’m a resident of [neighborhood]. I just read
in the Herald that Tito Jackson wants to make Boston a sanctuary for
immigrants. I’m calling to express my support.
Aide, choking a little: Support??
Me: Yes, I want Boston to do everything possible to protect immigrants, documented or not.
Aide: You’re actually the first person to call in support of that.
Me: Really?
Aide: It’s been a rough day.
Me: Oh, jeez. Well, I hope it improves. I feel very strongly about this issue.
Aide: Thank you for calling.
Me: Thank you. Hang in there. Bye.Moral
of the story: There are legislators out there right now, trying to get
the damage control in motion. They’re being harangued by, at a guess,
right-wing retirees with nothing better to do. Plug their numbers into
your phones and even the score.If
no one on your city council has proposed such a measure, call to
suggest it. I’ve been told phoning is best, but if telephones give you
hives, send an email.
