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How to contact a legislator to get him or
her to sign up for RHCD
Webmaster's
Note: This piece is from a
September 11, 1999 e-mail sent by Karen Shore, Ph.D., President, National
Coalition of Mental Health Professionals and Consumers, Inc.. It
tells how one man contacted some legislators and got them to sign on to
RHCD.
Dear all,
We now have three members of Congress signed on to RHCD: Ted
Strickland (D-OH), Jim McDermott (D-WA), and Bernie Sanders (D-MA)!
I had asked Rep. Ted Strickland (D-OH) when I saw him at an American
Psychological Association meeting a while back. Ted is a psychologist
and so am I.
A psychologist in Texas, just signed on Jim McDermott (D-WA)
and Bernie Sanders (D-MA). He has shared his approach with us. You can
borrow from what he did and ask one or more of your legislators. We want
any legislator with an interest in health care. We want State and
Federal Legislators, Democrats and Republicans and Independents, those leaning
left, those leaning right, and those in between... Single Payer folk and
Private Pay folk and anyone else.... as RHCD is meant to be a national
dialogue that includes all points of view.
This psychologist, being a Single Payer advocate, targeted
SP members of Congress and made this connection in his cover letter. So
if you have an interest in some particular aspect of health care reform -- be
it single payer, private pay market, universal health care, medical privacy
issues, health care for the disabled, etc. -- you might want to seek out a
legislator with similar leanings and concerns, be they and address this in
your cover letter.
Copies of Rescue Health Care Day materials can be obtained
by contacting our office and giving our Office Coordinator, Michelle, your
name and snail mail address. In your cover letter, ask the legislator to
send back the Response Form and sign on as a Supporter, and to consider being
listed as an available speaker for a Teach-In. If they agree to be
listed as an available speaker, they can check the appropriate box for this,
and let them know that we would then also list them as a Participant.
Below is what the psychologist did to get results from Rep.
McDermott and Rep. Sanders.
<<Karen...I don't have a copy of the letter because
it was handwritten (important point) and I didn't bother to photocopy
it. However, I can share with you the elements of my approach which I
considered important. I handwrote the letter on my letterhead.
McDermott, Wellstone, Sanders and soon to be Gene Green were all
specifically targeted by me because I knew something about their political
leanings and have contributed to each of them once or twice across the years
($25). I got each of their Washington DC phone numbers from my local
League of Women Voters office (note from Karen... your County Election Board
can also provide you with their phones and addresses...some are online,
too).
I called to ask who I would send my inquiry to explaining
what it was about. In the case of McDermott, it was a specific
aide. In the case of Sanders it was he himself. Note that
I reside in Texas and McDermott resides in Washington State. However,
in my letter I noted that I had followed his politically courageous and
visionary activities such as introducing a single payer bill in congress and
was a great admirer and supporter of his. I also indicated that I was
the chapter chairperson for PNHP and a member of the Coalition.
I circled PNHP on the List of Supporters and Participants
and asked if he would consider lending his "endorsement" also for
RHCD in whatever way possible, noting that they had common cause with his
goals, health care reform.
For those who aren't familiar with the health care reform
positions of their various representatives I recommend they do a little
homework and target their most likely to be sympathetic
representative. It may be that their representative is behind
universal healthcare because he/she is a minority, is morally courageous in
general, etc. I think it is a waste of what very little and precious time we
each have to ask for support from those who could care less about these
issues. So make the cover letter short, to the point, personal
and show that you did your homework regarding having knowledge of the
representative's positions on healthcare reform.
Send the RHCD materials and try to highlight any current
supporters with which that representative might be familiar or is also in
their state. Hope this helps...>>
So...go to it, folks! don't be bashful. We need the
legislators involved and we need to let them know we want to replace managed
care with something much better and that we want them to help by supporting
RHCD and the national dialogue on alternatives to corporate managed health
care.
Regards to all,
Karen Shore, Ph.D.,
President,
National Coalition of Mental Health Professionals and
Consumers
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