As far as contacting my local legislator or policymaker with regards to my policy priority issue, which is continued access to mental health care coverage for all Americans, my approach would be multipronged. First, I would send emails to the legislator’s office about my concerns. Secondly, I would also write a hard copy letter detailing my proposed policy, in order to emphasize the seriousness of the situation, and of my intent.
Finally, I would follow up with personal phone calls to the legislator’s office. Most importantly, however, I would recruit the emailing, letter writing, and phoning efforts of other constituents. I would ensure that I included individuals who themselves benefit from mental health care coverage in these efforts, as well as the family members of these individuals. In order to send the message to the legislator that this policy is extremely important, it is necessary to contact them using all available methods, and to ensure that multiple parties contact the legislator (Grose et al, 2015).
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When one contacts a legislator or policymaker via email, this message is rarely read or considered by any human being. Rather, the sender will more than likely receive a canned response from the legislator’s secretary thanking them for the contact, and one can expect to receive no follow up whatsoever from this point. The same goes with hard copy letters or phone calls; one is highly unlikely to reach the legislator him or herself, and will simply receive a polite “brush-off” from one of their staff secretaries. However, when multiple parties contact the legislator’s office expressing their concern about the same issue, this will be more than likely to get the attention of the legislator or policymaker (Harden, 2013). After all, their primary concern is to please their constituents, so that they can secure re-election.
- Grose, C. R., Malhotra, N., & Parks Van Houweling, R. (2015). Explaining explanations: How legislators explain their policy positions and how citizens react. American Journal of Political Science, 59(3), 724-743.
- Harden, J. J. (2013). Multidimensional responsiveness: the determinants of legislators’ representational priorities. Legislative Studies Quarterly, 38(2), 155-184.
