Elected officials view their constituents as "resources" and want to hear from them. They need input from their constituents to gauge positions on a piece of legislation and determine how it will impact their district. It also assists in how a legislator will vote on an issue.
As a licensed Amateur Radio operator, you can provide a valuable resource to your representatives in the General Assembly. The insight you offer as to why a particular piece of legislation may affect hams could be the difference in whether or not your legislators will support Amateur Radio. Legislators do not have sufficient resources to allow for a full understanding of every issue that comes before them. Although they may ask staff to review a specific issue, such as zoning and telecommunications, each legislative researcher has a varying degree of knowledge of these issue areas and their knowledge of Amateur Radio is limited.
Therefore, your combination of being a constituent and a federally licensed radio operator can help make the difference in ensuring that your legislators receive the balanced information they need to make good decisions on Amateur Radio related legislation.
Before you begin contacting the legislature, you need to understand how the General Assembly is set-up and who exactly your representatives are. The General Assembly is composed of two bodies: the House and the Senate. Each citizen of Connecticut is represented by one member of the House, a Representative, and one Senator.
Each state legislator represents all of the people who reside in a specific area within the state, known as a House or Senate district. There are 151 House districts, each comprising approximately 22,600 citizens, and 36 Senate districts, each comprising approximately 94,700 citizens. On average, there are approximately 50 hams per House district and 220 hams per Senate district.
If you are unsure of whom your elected officials are, the easiest way to find this out is by using the Internet. Go to: http://www.cga.ct.gov/maps/Townlist.asp. This page shows a list of the House and Senatorial districts that cover each city or town. Clicking on the House or Senate column for a town will take you to web page of the Representative and Senator who represents that distinct. For cities and towns that are split between two or more districts, clicking first takes you to a clickable map of your town that shows the district boundaries.
If you have difficulty navigating these maps, go to http://www.vote-smart.org where, by entering your 9-digit zip code, you can display a list of your elected officials that includes your state legislators.
You are welcome and encouraged to contact K1MK (k1mk@arrl.net), the ARRL CT Section State Government Liaison, for assistance.
Initially you should only contact your own Representative and Senator. They are the officials who have been elected to serve you in the General Assembly. If you attempt to contact those legislators who are outside of your district, it is possible that your comments or questions will be disregarded.
Now that you know who your Representative and Senator are, you should take a few minutes to learn a little bit about them. The quickest and easiest way to find out about each member is by reviewing their web page. Use the www.cga.ct.gov site described above to navigate to your legislator's web page, then click on the Biography link near the top of the page that comes up.
Before contacting a member of General Assembly, you should know where he or she stands on an issue. Member's web pages usually provides information on their personal and professional background, issues of significant interest to them, or legislative priorities taking in Hartford at the moment. You will not find any information related to Amateur Radio specifically. However, there are some points to look out for which might be helpful in getting them to focus on your amateur radio related requests and questions.
Read through the Member's bio. Although you will not find that your Representative or Senator is an amateur licensee, you may come across an interesting piece of information that you can tie into amateur radio. For example, if the member is active in public safety issues, he or she might have an interest in amateur radio's role in emergency communications.
Take note as to which joint standing committees your Representative and Senator serve on. Some legislators tend to focus more intently on issues that are pending before committees they serve on. Those committees that relate most directly to amateur radio's concerns are the Planning & Development Committee, the Public Safety Committee and the Energy & Technology Committee.
Now that you know who your members of the General Assembly are, take the next step and make contact with them. Here are ways in which you can effectively communicate your messages and requests with your legislators:
Many people question whether there is a difference between a letter and an e-mail to their legislator. The answer is no and yes. Both are treated equally as they come into the office. State legislators have limited clerical resources. Postal mail addressed to the Legislative Office Building in Hartford is opened by a legislative aide, may scanned to identify an issue and placed in the legislator's correspondence "inbox". E-mails move through a similar manner although it is more likely for the legislator rather than a legislative aide to do the initial scan. One difference comes in timeliness: an e-mail may arrive at its intended recipient and be seen a bit quicker. The other difference is perception: at least with certain legislators, a letter is still perceived to be a more serious and substantial communication than an e-mail.
Remember your address!!! You too E-mailers!: The most important, yet often most overlooked, aspect of a written correspondence to a legislator (especially e-mails!) is including your mailing address. Without this incredibly important piece of information, your legislator may stop reading and file it in the trash bin. With so many contrived and mass mailings these days, legislators only have time to address letters and e-mails that are certain to have come from their district.
Be brief, but not too brief: Try to be brief and organized in your letter or email. You should state the issue you are writing about early in the correspondence. If you are referring to a specific bill, use the correct name and bill number. Remember to address only one issue per correspondence.
Let them know your credentials: Be sure to tell your legislators that you have been licensed by the federal government as an Amateur Radio operator. It will add some additional credibility to any technical aspects you may bring up in your letter. There is no need to provide an extensive resume of all of your Amateur Radio activities, such as your Extra Class license and ARES activities, unless it is directly related to the matter at hand. Remember ? be brief.
Let them know you are a part of a larger group: Be sure to mention if you are a member of the ARRL. It is important for legislators to know that you are part of a larger group that has an interest in the issue.
Be courteous and constructive: Yes, your legislator works for you, but that does not mean he or she has to do everything for you. Do not let a legislator's particular party allegiances influence how you write. Letting the legislator know that you "have been a life-long supporter and contributor to the party" will not likely gain you any extra favors. More importantly, though, telling the legislator you are opposed to their political thinking may lead you to the bottom of their "to do" pile. Express strong support for your position, but do not threaten. If you know the legislator is opposed to your position, suggest a compromise instead.
Be original: Legislators are impressed by large volumes of mail from their constituents on a particular issue. However, they are decidedly not impressed by 10 copies of the identical letter. If you choose to start from a sample letter, be sure to take just a few minutes to personalize it in some way. Legislators recognize the time and energy spent writing thoughtful letters. It sends a signal that the constituent really cares about the issue.
Say thank you: If your legislator has agreed to support your request, feel free to send a thank you to acknowledge this. Too many people forget that this is a relationship; you cannot keep asking legislators to do something for you if you don't make the effort to respond when your legislator commits to supporting Amateur Radio.
QSL cards are a unique aspect of Amateur Radio. They provide a very personal connection to the sender. Since almost all hams have them readily available, they make an attractive choice for sending a correspondence through the mail. Remember though, you need to put more than just "Support SB-92" on the card if you want it considered seriously. Even though they are unique and stand out, you need to convey serious interest in a topic for legislator to listen to you. With that being said, if you have trouble writing small, you may want to consider a letter or an email.
Whenever you make a contact with a legislator, be sure to keep the CT PRB-1 Team informed. As legislative issues begin to move in Hartford, information will be provided to you as to how to best communicate with your contacts. Please send a copy of your correspondence to Section Manager Betsey Doane K1EIC (k1eic@arrl.org) and to State Government Liaison Mike Keane K1MK (k1mk@arrl.net) so we may keep track of your efforts and coordinate them with your fellow hams across the state.
As you can probably imagine in just your own interactions with friends, co-workers and neighbors, trying to describe the intricacies of Amateur Radio can sometimes be a challenge. When you hear "Yagi," you think "antenna." On the other hand, most people probably think of a cartoon bear robbing picnic baskets. Technical equipment and operating issues that are the everyday norm for a ham may never register on the radar screen of a legislator. Remember that whenever you speak with elected officials, you are serving as an ambassador of Amateur Radio. These people will be looking to you for guidance on ham radio issues as much as you will be looking to them for their support.
Be patient in serving as a resource. Every contact a ham makes with a member of the General Assembly increases Amateur Radio's visibility in Hartford and is another step toward in furthering our agenda in the legislative arena.
Adapted from and based in large part on Communicating with Congress which is ©2003 ARRL