Messages to City officials in another area of the country? An informal survey...

[The Dingo]

If you see a call to action, asking you to send an email (or call) some elected or appointed officials about a proposed e-cigarette ban, and it's in another area of the country, do you bother to send a message (or call)?

If so, what has been your experience with doing that?
Have you gotten a reply?

I know that whole thing about "First they came for the (insert group name here), and I didn't stand up because I wasn't a (insert group name here)..." and I've tried to live up to those ideals, but it seems to me that if you're not one of their constituents, your message will fall on deaf ears.

Just curious.

 

[AgentAnia]

Absolutely I shoot off emails in response to calls to action wherever they may be. If it's local, I include my address. If it's not local, I don't.

 

[Fiamma]

Absolutely I shoot off emails in response to calls to action wherever they may be. If it's local, I include my address. If it's not local, I don't.

Same here. If there is twitter info I hit them with a tweet as well.

 

[DC2]

Absolutely I shoot off emails in response to calls to action wherever they may be. If it's local, I include my address. If it's not local, I don't.

What she said.

If so, what has been your experience with doing that?
Have you gotten a reply?

If I send emails I usually get a canned responses in reply.
That's okay though, all they are really doing is adding up FOR and AGAINST votes.

If I have time, or can make time, I will often call instead of email though.
I want to talk to someone, explain, answer questions if necessary, and hope to actually talk to the legislator personally.

For really important things I may even take the time to write letters as well.

 

[Berylanna]

I don't send to not-mine cities or even states unless either the call to action does NOT say "residents" or I can credibly say I travel or shop there.

For cities near me, I say exactly that. The only state I emailed was one in the Western half of the U.S., one that I do travel to and through.

Cities, especially, UNLIKE national and big-state gov'ts, are QUITE clear in their own minds that it is their city's citizens they report to and are responsible for, and their own citizens often don't want to see them bow to "outside pressures." Unless those outside pressures spend money in the city.

 

[Zee2006]

I tweet and send emails... to all calls to action

I have a letter, saved on my pc, explaining (in brief) my experience with e-cigs and flavoring (since that seems to be the 2 things these people are always trying to ban) that I send out to anyone I feel needs to hear about the e-cig. I use it for all calls to action that require sending an e-mail. Mine has my name, address and phone number on it.

Hey they are more then welcome to give me a call or drop on by .....

 

[Berylanna]

I tweet and send emails... to all calls to action

I have a letter, saved on my pc, explaining (in brief) my experience with e-cigs and flavoring (since that seems to be the 2 things these people are always trying to ban) that I send out to anyone I feel needs to hear about the e-cig. I use it for all calls to action that require sending an e-mail. Mine has my name, address and phone number on it.

Hey they are more then welcome to give me a call or drop on by .....

I do see a big difference between "here's my experience with ecigs" like you do, vs "you are making the wrong choice, do it my way" -- especially with cities. One is offering information, one is asserting citizenship, which is not appropriate for 'the wrong' city or county. States I'm a little more agnostic about, I think they vary.

 

[AgentAnia]

I do see a big difference between "here's my experience with ecigs" like you do, vs "you are making the wrong choice, do it my way" -- especially with cities. One is offering information, one is asserting citizenship, which is not appropriate for 'the wrong' city or county. States I'm a little more agnostic about, I think they vary.

I agree, especially with the smaller municipalities and with counties. I don't have a one-size-fits-all message; it depends on what issue is being addressed, but if I'm not a resident, I will do the "please consider the chance you have to improve the health and well-being of your citizens" thing or the "think about the revenue the exploding e-cigarette market can bring to [insert city name]" thing. My philosophy is it's always more effective to appeal to someone's self-interest...