[Nfbf-l] Fwd: Legislative update on FL delegation

Sun Aug 29 16:22:12 UTC 2010

 I am sorry for the delay in getting this out.  I have been away from email access and had some computer issues.

-----Original Message-----
From: valkemadenise at aol.com
Sent: Fri, Aug 27, 2010 10:40 am
Subject: Fwd: Legislative update on FL delegation 

              NFBF leaders and members;
   Now is a good time to meet with your congressman and/or their staff in their districts and develop relationships with them locally.  Below is an email from Lauren McLarney explaining all the above attachments to let us know how Florida is doing on each of the issues.  Those of you that have gone to Washington Seminar can take another chapter member with you.  Those that have gone to Tallahassee understand how to meet with legislators too.

   National needs us to follow-up in our districts.  Congressman and their staff mention that we can be more effective meeting with them during this time rather than waiting to meet with them in Washington or Tallahassee.  Thanks for all you do to help promote legislation and showing that Florida is interested in these issues.

   The legislative committee will have a teleconference in the Fall.

   Please contact me at any time with questions or concerns.

   Sincerely,
   Denise Valkema
   NFBF Legislative Chair
 305-972-8529

   -----Original Message-----
                                    To explain the format in more detail – first I have listed the FL members who have already cosponsored, followed by the members who have not cosponsors but who I have actively targeted to do so.  After their name is the appropriate staffer’s email address.  You can easily get their name from their email address, as it is always firstname.lastname at mail.house.gov.  After the staffer’s email is the reason they are a target (i.e. on the appropriate committee, a cosponsor of all other bills…) and then their rank from Washington Seminar.  1 means the person is highly unlikely to support, 5 meaning they will come on the bill.  Anybody ranked 4 or higher is automatically a target.  Beneath the targets are all the remaining members of the delegation, followed by the staffer that handles that issue and their rank from Washington Seminar.  Please do not hesitate to call me to explain this in more detail.

        I have also attached two sample letters that your members can use as a template for contacting their Members of the House of Representatives.  They can either use this directly (substituting the correct information) as an email to the staffer, or they can tweak it to make it personal.  They can also use this as a guide for leaving a voicemail.  Phone numbers for Members of Congress are found easily by Googleing their name, or they can shoot me an email.  Please keep in mind, these letters will need to be edited if being sent to either of your Senators.  You will need to replace the word Congressman with Senator, the bill number with S. 2962, Jan Schakowsky with Chris Dodd, and the staff contact from Megan Michaud to Rebecca Davidson.  

        Finally, attached is the fact sheet for each bill which should accompany each email.  

        We have a very good relationship with Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, as we gave her award at Washington Seminar.  However, she has yet to come on the Technology Bill of Rights, meaning that no member of the Florida delegation has come on all three pieces of legislation.  I hope that we can work together to up those numbers!  

        Sorry again for the delay, and please keep in touch with me with this.  Because August is coming up, it would be the PERFECT opportunity for members of the Florida Affiliate to reach out to all of these members and ask for meetings, or ask the members to attend a Chapter meeting, because they will likely be in the district for recess.  This involves talking to the scheduler (not the staffer listed), and drafting an official meeting request.  I will be happy to do this for you, but did not include that information today because it may be a little detail overload.  Talk to you soon, and let me know your thoughts and if you need more!

        Lauren McLarney
        Government Programs Specialist
        NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
        200 East Wells St.
        Baltimore, MD 21230
        (410) 659 9314 ext. 2207
        lmclarney at nfb.org

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