Today is the day of the Holder confirmation hearings, so I thought I’d share the message I sent to Senator Specter:
Dear Senator Specter,
I wanted to take a moment to thank you for being one of the few senators willing to raise serious questions on the nomination of Eric Holder for Attorney General of the United States. As a competitive shooter and gun owner, I am very concerned about Mr. Holders stance on the Second Amendment, and I would urge you to vote “no” on his confirmation. In addition, I hope that you will stand up for our Second Amendment rights in the 111th Congress by opposing bills that infringe on Second Amendment rights, particularly bills that ban certain classes of firearms.
Sincerely,
[Sebastian]
I never believed contacting your Senators was a waste of time. It does help the politicians to know we’re out here. Even Specter is softning his language on Holder a bit, as I suspect he sees the writing on the walls. By the end of the day, Eric Holder will likely be confirmed as Attorney General. God help us.
I hope that you printed out and mailed your letter in. From the people that I’ve talked to in the past, mailed in letters “count for” more than just an e-mail.
I contacted Specter as well, but I also included other issues that I have with Holder. I don’t know if that’s the best apporach.
It was an e-mailed letter… from what I’ve heard, post 9/11, the mail rooms for the congressional office buildings are so security conscious, it takes a while for physical letters to reach members’ offices. So that conventional wisdom is changing.
Plus, my understanding is staff pretty much take all correspondence, and summarize it for the Critter. Your actual letter gets read and responded to by staff. The Critter likely never sees it.
Yes, mailed letters do carry more weight. However, it is also true that you’re lucky if your mailed letter gets through because of all of the security. A group I was with sent out an invite, and something in the process ended up mangling almost all of them. And, of course, they took a couple of weeks to get there even though they were sent within DC (from Capitol Hill at that).
For time sensitive issues, phone calls are best, emails aren’t bad, and faxes also work. (Though it might be a bit odd and risks getting thrown out as junk.)
Agreed on phone calls working very well.
I’ve heard – I forget where – that correspondence sent to the local offices (ex. Specter’s Philly office) is the better option. A staffer is still going to read the letter so it doesn’t matter that Senator is in D.C.
As you said Bitter, e-mails aren’t bad either. If a higher percentage of gun owners regular contacted their representatives, it would be harder for them to work against our interests.
Don’t spit into the wind. Sen. Specter is only a friend to Sen. Specter, everyone else can go screw.
True story from a couple thanksgivings ago; Specter came up and my mother (a registered Republican) said “he’s the only Republican I would never vote for” and her brother (a registered Democrat) said “He’s the only Republican I’ve ever voted for.”
It can’t hurt to send him letters but Specter has more RINO blood than even McCain. And none of the honor.