Why alienate Legislators and their staffs?
I sent an email to Anderson Cooper urging him to ask about campaign financing in the debate. It's an important issue, and should be addressed.
But I was presented with canned text with much verbiage, not only about the issue, but mostly tooting Common Cause's own horn! This sort of self-serving flackery does nothing but get in the way of the essential message the email should be hammering home: "Please asks the participants about their stands on campaign financing."
What's worse, there is abundant evidence that this sort of posturing actively alienates the legislator and, particularly, his or her staff. They will present their counts of pro and con messages, plus a sampling of interesting comments received. They will NOT give an ounce of extra weight -- and will often actually discount the weight -- of messages loaded with this kind of excess verbiage, particularly as part of a stream of identical messages.
The most effective messages are usually short and clear. You, of all people, should be aware of what goes on in legislators offices, and realize that what you are (or rather the way you are doing it) is totally counter-productive.
Provide folks who want to add their voice to your position with a brief, clear statement urging support for a particular position. There is absolutely no need for loads of details about the legislation if it's a major issue, nor is there any point in repeating arguments the legislator and his/her staff have heard ad nauseum. Don't go on and on about who from Common Causing is doing and saying what.
Do encourage folks to add a few words of their own, if they feel the need, to express their particular position or strong feelings. Urge them to keep whatever they say brief and clear.
That's it!
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