Contact Government Officials

TIPS FOR FEDERAL ACTION:

Our very own tax dollars have paid for a television ad campaign put on by the coalition for a chilly planet and T. Boone Pickens that makes wind power look like the answer to the uninformed majority. The con artists behind the scheme will be hiding their profits and planning their off shore retirement, timing their exit to avoid the inevitable backlash a few years down the road. But right now, our leaders cannot afford to go against this wave of snake oil publicity. The renewable energy PTC will be renewed in the coming days, unleashing wind project developers far and wide.

The best you can hope for is to call George Voinovich and Jim Jordan and let them know that a five year extension of the PTC would be a really bad thing. Good luck.

TIPS FOR STATE LEVEL ACTION:

Be informed before you communicate.

Choose a specific single issue - or two related issues at most - to discuss.

Don't just write or e-mail our leaders - call them - make an appointment - ask for 15 minutes of their time! Set aside a day to visit the State House (Senate) and the Riffe Center (House of Representatives) and visit four to six leaders in one day!

Don't limit yourself to contacting only officials from your district. If they are involved with renewable energy policy, zoning, real estate, local government, the environment, ways and means, taxation, etc. then they will be happy to hear your thoughts, and should take them into consideration in their votes and initiatives.

Before engaging them, evaluate the committees each legislator serves on. How many of these committees might be sympathetic to your topic?

Stay on topic and get a commitment from each leader that they share your concern and will take a specific step to further your efforts.

Prepare a list of typed bullet points as an outline for your meetings.

Take meeting notes on the original, circling hot buttons for the legislator you are with, and documenting any action items they will commit to.

Be friendly and respectful. Bear only reliable, verifiable facts. Be firm and passionate.

Leave them the original of your notes and ask for a photocopy on the way out.

Thank them for listening to you and leave without prolonging the conversation.

Follow up by e-mail the following day and by telephone a week later (or as agreed in your meeting).

Evaluate the "common ground" from each legislator's interests and comtemplate how to network and leverage your issue.

Here are links to documents that will be helpful in your efforts:

DOCUMENTS:

The Power of Energy by physicist John Droz