If you missed the Alliance for a Clean Texas lobby day last week, you missed out on a great opportunity for some face time with your representatives and their staff members. But that doesn’t mean that your chance to catch your legislator’s attention has passed. Here’s some advice from our lobby day training session for next time:
If you’re meeting your representative in person, dress nicely. It may be square and an outdated standard, but your rep is more likely to take you seriously in a collared shirt than that old Metallica tee. Stinks, but hey – that’s politics. Niceties go far.
Speaking of niceties, Be Respectful. Is it that surprising that you’re more likely to get a positive response from your rep if you are polite than if you enter the room in attack mode? Regardless of your legislator’s stance on the issues, they were, in fact, democratically elected and for that at least deserve some respect (at the very least, try not to cuss them out). Plus, you know the phrase… you catch more bees with honey.
It is also a good idea to research your rep a bit before you make an appointment or call. How have they voted on your issues in the past? If they helped pass a good bill last session, take the opportunity to thank them for it. (more…)
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