Following up Doug’s post, and Doug’s post, and David’s post, and…you get the idea…
Keep calling, and don’t restrict yourself to your senators’ DC offices. Each and every senator has several in-state offices. They’re populated mostly by actual staffers, not interns. Real people answer the phones — and if the one nearest you doesn’t pick up, you can call on down the line till you find someone at home. They’re often less crazed and more ready to listen, even to opposing views.
My own experience: my wife’s family has a place in the Bath-Boothbay stretch of the Maine coast, and several family members who live up around the Penobscot Bay area. So I used that as the base from which I called Senator Collins’ Portland office, the one she lists as serving the county in which my in-laws hang. I told the nice lady who answered that I was grateful to the senator for coming out in opposition to the bill, that I agreed with her that it was bad for Maine, and that I was calling both to thank her and to emphasize that cosmetic changes to the bill won’t alter its underlying effects, which will still be bad for Maine. We talked about this for five or ten minutes and it was an actual conversation.
How much effect will it have? Not that much. She knew I was only partly attached to Maine, so that’s a discount right there. But at least it lets that office and perhaps the senator know that we’re paying attention, and that we will continue to do so. And the fact that this was a conversation, an actual accumulation of reasons to worry about the bill matters quite a bit, I think.
So the moral of the story: you don’t have to bash down the front door to reach someone who can reach closer to power. There are back doors, listed (with phone numbers) on every senators’ web page.
Use them.
Image: Gerrit Beneker Telephone Operator (A Weaver of Public Thought), 1921.
MomSense
You for a person???? I’ve been calling and calling her offices and I never get a person.
Thank you for calling.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
If I were one of your fancy front-pagers, I could post this picture in a thread. As someone else on twitter said, she was sitting next to trump when it was taken.
ETA: and this one too.
MomSense
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
That expression means this guys half a bubble off in Maine face.
Mnemosyne
If anyone needs some inspiration, apparently there was a spontaneous rally for healthcare on the Capitol’s steps yesterday. I think amygdala originally posted it in one of the threads below.
dr. bloor
@MomSense: The woman presumably has had to deal with LePage. Trump must be a walk in the park for her.
SiubhanDuinne
Love the painting, Tom! Have never seen it before now. Great find!
**********
“A gracious good day. Is this the party to whom I am speaking?” — Ernestine
Raven
there was a rally in Athens last night and we also just had a woman announce she was going to run against the awful Jody Hice who followed the even awfuller Paul Braun.
amygdala
@SiubhanDuinne: “One ringy dingy…” *snort* “Two ring dingies…”
Nelle
I call both senators each day and have talked to staffers and interns. I like to call offices in redder parts of the state…they may have more time to chat.
Paul
I called Richard Burr’s (NC) office this morning and got an answering machine to leave my “message regarding legislation”. Pathetic. I basically said that if he votes for whatever piece of junk Trumpcare ends up becoming, I will spend every effort to fight against his re-election, and I ain’t one of them poors, either!
Aleta
Apology if this has been mentioned already. The NYT describes efforts by governors opposed to the bill that helped delay the vote. I think calls to our governors and state reps and candidates may have some influence going forward.
Some sentences and names from the nyt article:
Aleta
@MomSense: Did you try the Bangor office? ((207) 945-0417). The Caribou one wasn’t accessible when I tried, but Bgr has had people answering.
MomSense
@Aleta:
Yes, I’ve called all the offices. I’ve been able to leave messages about onenout of every 7 calls.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@SiubhanDuinne:
Aleta
@MomSense: I wonder if she’ll be meeting w/ the public during the break.
debbie
Yep. Rob Portman, the continuing face of courage:
Coward.
According to this article, Governor Kasich is urging his friends to start all over. As if Trump would stand for that.
SiubhanDuinne
@amygdala:
“Is this *snort* William Fbuckley?”
zhena gogolia
@SiubhanDuinne:
Yes, isn’t it striking?
eric
@debbie: coward, yes. But it makes it harder for McConnell to bring the bill back because now he has to bribe that many more people to sound extra craven. He only has $200 billion ;)
Aleta
Brave Sir Robins:
Portman and Capito now claim they oppose the bill. Statements:
https://twitter.com/BraddJaffy/status/879790805971603456
SiubhanDuinne
@Aleta:
If I ever get through to a real person rather than a voice mail for my Senators Isakson and Perdue, I intend to ask if either of them plans to hold a town hall in state during the Fourth of July holiday vacation week. (Excuse me very much, I meant Fourth of July District Work Session.)
And yes, in case you’re wondering, GA Senator David Perdue is a cousin of former GA Governor, current Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue.
Mnemosyne
@Aleta:
Our Illinois Juicers should probably start calling their Republican governor.
debbie
I think actual conversations have a real effect. You’re now a person to that office, not just a name on a list. And more power to you if you can remain unfrustrated for the whole call. This is why I stick to emails.
debbie
@eric:
And I’m betting Kasich’s “price” will be the next presidential nomination!
SiubhanDuinne
I am missing Ernestine and Laugh-In so much right now!! (I’m so old, I saw every episode in first run!)
SiubhanDuinne
@Aleta:
Spines of custard.
SiubhanDuinne
O/T, if Alain the Site Fixer is around, I have a complaint!
eric
@debbie: he will have to pry it from Donald Trump’s cold dead little hands first
lamh36
https://twitter.com/maziehirono/status/879469515414929408
?BillinGlendaleCA
@SiubhanDuinne: “We Don’t Care. We Don’t Have to. We’re Word Press.”
debbie
I thought Tim Ryan was bad, but this interview with Seth Moulton was a real disappointment. He can’t name anything Pelosi’s done wrong, but he still thinks she needs to step aside. What a jerk.
SiubhanDuinne
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
LOL!! ?????
Aleta
If I understand it, after the Senate redoes its version, the house has to vote on the changes. If so, if the Senator lines are busy, getting a head start on calls to our House members ?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@debbie: I heard him on Pod Save Ameirca, I think it was. He struck me as someone who watches CNN and “The Shows” and then regurgitates what he heard, thinking it quite insightful. Lot of talk about the camaraderie of the House gym
SiubhanDuinne
@lamh36:
The very best to Mazie Hirono. May she return to the Senate in greatly improved health and undiminished determination to fight for her fellow citizens.
Thank you for sharing this, lamh. I didn’t know she had cancer.
lamh36
Ugh…FRFR how many folks has he already harassed…smh…and can you imagine how many he will…smh
https://twitter.com/CaitrionaPerry/status/879804904696496128
debbie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Come to think of it, he did sound a lot like Ryan.
debbie
@lamh36:
I watched but didn’t listen. She couldn’t get out of there fast enough!
WaterGirl
@?BillinGlendaleCA: In my town – decades ago when it was still Illinois Bell, someone had bumper stickers printed up with the bell logo and the standard blue color they used back then.
Then they
broke intolet themselves into the parking area of Ma Bell and placed one of those bumper stickers on every company vehicle that was parked in the lot.Very gratifying.
SiubhanDuinne
@lamh36:
Yikes! Predatory creep is a creepy predator.
WaterGirl
@Mnemosyne: Would that be Governor I Don’t Give a Fuck What You Want If You’re Not Rich and Republican?
WaterGirl
@debbie: How did your fax go the other night?
zhena gogolia
@lamh36:
CREEP!
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: Would that be an argument or a complaint?
Kathleen
@SiubhanDuinne: When I worked at Giant Telecom Company I performed Ernestine routines I wrote based on what was going on in the company at variety shows, sales meetings, and other management events. I had a blast.
My favorite Ernestine line is when her elbow hits the console and she says, “Ooops! There goes Omaha!” (I was born in Omaha).
WaterGirl
@lamh36: What a fucking pig.
SiubhanDuinne
@WaterGirl:
Well, it’s certainly not contradiction.
YES IT IS!!
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: NO IT ISN’T!
SiubhanDuinne
@Kathleen:
As long as C-level and middle management did too!
That sounds like enormous fun.
SiubhanDuinne
@WaterGirl:
IS TOO IS TOO IS TOO!
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: I may have to go find that on YouTube and watch it again. So much fun.
FlipYrWhig
@debbie: Seth Moulton is a dick, and Tim Ryan is a fool.
debbie
@WaterGirl:
I was wrong. Portman only takes emails, so I pasted it into an email. No response yet, but last time, it took a couple weeks to get a reply email.
Ruckus
Tom
I’ve thought about doing calls to other than my senators and telling them that I contribute to people in other states and will continue to do so. But I am selective about who I support. If that person votes against my issues or health I’m willing to support opposition that I think will not. Even if I can’t vote for them I can still donate money to them or to their opposition.
It may not be much but it is something.
Kathleen
@SiubhanDuinne: Yes, they did! Back then most managers had a pretty good sense of humor.
Corporate Headquarters in NJ did a series of videos featuring “Muldoon”, a fictitious VP of Marketing Strategy, which lampooned pretentious executive jargon. The videos were hysterical and very well done.
Don’t know if any corporations would do that today.
Mnemosyne
@WaterGirl:
That’s why you call and harass him to do his fucking job. It’s surprisingly gratifying.
normal liberal
@Mnemosyne:
We’ve been trying since the SOB took the oath of office and then pretty much asserted that the Illinois General Assembly should understand that he’s in charge and must be obeyed, because billionaire.
I’m starting to believe that my state was cursed way back when, and that’s why we keep electing future felons as governor.