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Meet with Your
Members of Congress
If feasible, you may want to request a meeting with your member of Congress:
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Find your Congressional District and
contact information.
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Send a fax or e-mail to the scheduler
requesting a meeting:
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Include the date and time of day you will
be available to meet
with the member, but be flexible about scheduling your visit
because members of Congress have busy calendars
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Offer to meet with a staff
member if the member of Congress is
not available (i.e., a Legislative Assistant)
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Include the issue you would
like to discuss (Freedom of Information Act reform, for
example)
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Provide a phone number and/or e-mail address where the
scheduler can reach you.
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Follow up with a phone call in one week's
time
if you have not heard back from the congressional office.
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When the meeting is scheduled, find accurate
information as to the physical location for your legislator's
office.
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Be on time for the
meeting. Staff in most Capitol Hill
and district offices are busy and work on tight schedules.
Remember that their time is valuable.
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Establish a rapport. After introductions
and handshakes, talk about things or relationships you might
have in common. A little bit of research can pay off, so find
out all you can about your members of Congress. For instance, maybe you have a mutual friend,
or perhaps you both went to the same elementary school. Thank
your senator or representative for all that he or she does on
Capitol Hill to represent your state or district.
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If several people
will attend the meeting, select a spokesperson. If everyone
there will have a role, select one person to move the meeting
along in a timely manner.
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State your purpose. For example, you
might say, "Congressman Lee, we are here to talk with you
about hearings on the long-term effects of COINTELPRO.
Specifically, we would like to have your support for hearings
on the 'Reign of Terror' on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
in the early 1970s."
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Make the issue real.
Legislators are people; they are sympathetic to stories about
real people. For example, humanize Leonard Peltier by telling
the member a little bit about Peltier, the man. If not
speaking from personal experience, personalize the
events on the Pine Ridge Reservation during the 1970s by sharing published stories. Offer
the member a copy of "Incident at Oglala"
for viewing or a copy of Peter Matthiessen's book,
In the
Spirit of Crazy Horse.
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Paint the little picture,
but also the big
picture. After you discuss how the issue has affected
you, talk about the millions of Peltier supporters worldwide.
Include names of congresspersons who currently support or have
supported Leonard Peltier in the past, as well as mentioning
specific celebrities, dignitaries, and luminaries
who also support Peltier. You should also mention the
legislative bodies around the world who have passed
resolutions in support of Peltier (e.g., the European
Parliament, Belgium Parliament, and
more).
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Make a clear request. Tell your member of
Congress exactly what you would like him or her to do, and do
not leave without learning the legislator’s position on your
issue. For example, you might say that you would like your
legislator to sign a letter in support of Peltier's parole. Then, ask the member or their staff to
outline the legislator’s current position.
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Very soon after
the meeting, write a thank you letter to your member for
taking the time to visit with you.
It's common for
some congressional members to view the Peltier case as history
and unimportant to today's world. Don't be dissuaded by this.
Instead, use some creativity to make the Peltier case current
and important in light of the issues of the day, as well as the
political landscape in Washington, DC. Monitor congressional
actions, debates, proposed Bills, etc. Pay attention to
current events. Use the opportunities presented to you to
couch your comments and concerns about the Peltier case in
such a way that they compliment your member's legislative
priorities. You can identify those priorities by visiting your
representative's or senators' Web pages. (Links to such sites
are included in the output provided by the above House and
Senate directories.)
A
political party's legislative agenda can change quickly. Your
concerns may become forgotten in the fray. Therefore, a
congressional contact—whether by
phone, letter, and/or face-to-face—should
be approached as an ongoing endeavor. Send follow up letters,
place additional calls, and plan more congressional visits so as
to keep your issue of concern before your representative and
senators.
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