[nfbmi-talk] SeekingBest Practices for Communicating With A Legislator Not Elected By One's Current State

[Kane Brolin]

On 2/6/14, Christine Boone <christineboone2 at gmail.com> wrote:
>  ...  I really just wanted to say that I can understand why
> Senator Harkin and others could think that moving VR to Labor could have
> positive results for the bottom line of successful outcomes.  .  ...  This is why I
> think it could be powerful for you to reach out to him, as a former resident of the
> HawkEye state.  Thank him for all that he has done for this population in the past, > and provide some education about what really happened when rehab and labor
> consummated their arranged marriage in 1998.

First of all, Christine, thank you.  I will implement this advice,
largely because those in my former home state of Iowa really have
fallen asleep at the switch.  It's amazing to me that even though the
Federation experienced a high watermark in its history of influence
for two decades while headquartered in Iowa, what is left of the NFBI
hasn't stepped up to the plate and tweeted its senators about striking
Section 511 from the Workforce Investment Act.  So someone should be
interacting with this senator if current Iowans aren't doing their
jobs.  But I have some concern about how to do this without wasting my
time and having my message either scrubbed or circular-filed before
Senator Harkin ever sees it.

It seems to me that postal mail has to be the only way of reaching
Senator Harkin from Indiana at this point.  E-mail forms on
www.senate.gov tend not to let you comment to a senator unless you
indicate that you live in his home state, and I don't want to be
dishonest about my present places of domicile or affiliation.  Phone
calls to his office are uncertain in my mind, because who knows how
much of the content of my message would even be copied down in
writing?

I am rather new at these processes.  Anybody have tips?

-Kane