Excellent CaliforniaPeggy

Thank you.

Bookmarking.

Just signed up for the newsletter.

I'd already planned on calling both of my senators tomorrow, but your post will help me to target my calls more effectively.

Thanks again for this!

Ty for sharing, Peggy!

My numbers (since I call many more than just my three at all their district offices) are listed under asshole, idiot, and traitor, for the most part.

QUOTE
A Democratic friend of mine sent me this essay on what we should be doing right now.

It's not copyrighted, so I'm posting the whole thing. It's great advice!

Debi Jackson

FOR THOSE OF YOU LOOKING TO TURN YOUR despair INTO ACTION, here's some advice from a high-level staffer for a Senator.

There are two things that we should be doing all the time right now. (In addition to online petitions or emailing.)

1) The best thing you can do to be heard and get your congressperson to pay attention is to have face-to-face time — if they have town halls, go to them. Go to their local offices. If you're in DC, try to find a way to go to an event of theirs. Go to the "mobile offices" that their staff hold periodically (all these times are located on each congressperson's website). When you go, ask questions. A lot of them. And push for answers. The louder and more vocal and present you can be at those the better.

2) But those in-person events don't happen every day. So, the absolute most important thing that people should be doing every day is calling.

YOU SHOULD MAKE 6 CALLS A DAY:
2 each (DC office and your local office) to your 2 Senators & your 1 Representative.

The staffer was very clear that any sort of online contact basically gets immediately ignored, and letters pretty much get thrown in the trash (unless you have a particularly strong emotional story — but even then it's not worth the time it took you to craft that letter).

Calls are what all the congresspeople pay attention to. Every single day, the Senior Staff and the Senator get a report of the 3 most-called-about topics for that day at each of their offices (in DC and local offices), and exactly how many people said what about each of those topics. They're also sorted by zip code and area code. She said that Republican callers generally outnumber Democrat callers 4-1, and when it's a particular issue that single-issue-voters pay attention to (like gun control, or planned parenthood funding, etc...), it's often closer to 11-1, and that's recently pushed Republican congressmen on the fence to vote with the Republicans. In the last 8 years, Republicans have called, and Democrats haven't.

So, when you call:

A: When calling the DC office, ask for the Staff member in charge of whatever you're calling about ("Hi, I'd like to speak with the staffer in charge of Healthcare, please&quot — local offices won't always have specific ones, but they might. If you get transferred to that person, awesome. If you don't, that's ok — ask for that person's name, and then just keep talking to whoever answered the phone. Don't leave a message (unless the office doesn't pick up at all — then you can — but it's better to talk to the staffer who first answered than leave a message for the specific staffer in charge of your topic).

B: Give them your zip code. They won't always ask for it, but make sure you give it to them, so they can mark it down. Extra points if you live in a zip code that traditionally votes for them, since they'll want to make sure they get/keep your vote.

C: If you can make it personal, make it personal. "I voted for you in the last election and I'm worried/happy/whatever" or "I'm a teacher, and I am appalled by ——-," or "as a single mother" or "as a white, middle class woman," or whatever.

D: Pick 1-2 specific things per day to focus on. Don't rattle off everything you're concerned about — they're figuring out what 1-2 topics to mark you down for on their lists. So, focus on 1-2 per day. Ideally something that will be voted on/taken up in the next few days, but it doesn't really matter — even if there's not a vote coming up in the next week, call anyway. It's important that they just keep getting calls.

E: Be clear on what you want — "I'm disappointed that the Senator..." or "I want to thank the Senator for their vote on... " or "I want the Senator to know that voting in _____ way is the wrong decision for our state because... " Don't leave any ambiguity.

F: They may get to know your voice/get sick of you — it doesn't matter. The people answering the phones generally turn over every 6 weeks anyway, so even if they're really sick of you, they'll be gone in 6 weeks.

From experience since the election: If you hate being on the phone & feel awkward (which is a lot of people) don't worry about it — there are a bunch of scripts (Indivisible has some, there are lots of others floating around these day). After a few days of calling, it starts to feel a lot more natural.

Put the 6 numbers in your phone (all under P – Politician.) An example is Hawley MO, Politician; Hawley DC, Politician; Schmitt MO, Politician; etc., which makes it really easy to click down the list each day.

Some great scripts posted daily — https://chopwoodcarrywaterdailyactions.substack.com/
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/ruth.mendum/posts/pfbid0tgT2DJcDLhSxj2ENZvZnNQiXtPxMGha5fTB97UaQRFfduBYwDu1goSYVBZdbQ3HZl

K&R

For 33 years I've lived in a trailer which is now 56 years old and reaching the end of its life. I only have $1400/month in income, SS and a $200 annuity that ends this year. I have a 33 year old daughter who is mentally ill with schizoaffective disorder (schizophrenia and bipolar) who I have not seen in 2 years, haven't even been able to contact in over 6 months (she is in a mental healthcare facility). And hoping for a better 2025 I was betrayed by half of American voters who prefer a demented man as their president.

I am healthy though.

You don’t want their staff to get annoyed with your calls - they might ignore you altogether. How about 1 time a week.

Maybe they should watch the news...