Suggestions and Tips for Your Calls
You might know your legislators a lot better than I do and not need any suggestions from me. This is for those who want some helpful hints. These are based on years working for legislators and getting calls like this. Trust me, polite persistence can pay off.
This might look like a lot of work, and it might or might not really be. If you don’t have the time or energy to do all this, please do what you can.
- If you don’t know who your legislators are, they probably don’t know who you are, either, and it’s time for them to find out. Go to http://findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov.
- If you’ve met the legislator personally, call and ask to talk to him or her. They might actually return your call, and if not, a staffer almost certainly will.
- If don’t know the legislator but you’ve met or talked to someone on their staff, either in their Capitol office or their local office, good! You have a relationship with that person. Call them. If you don’t know anybody there, don’t worry, you will soon; start with the legislator’s Capitol office and ask to talk to a staff person about the developmental services budget.
- If there’s no one available to talk to you when you call, get the name of the person you need to talk to, leave your number, and ask them to call you back. If they don’t call, you call them back. (Like I said, polite persistence can pay off.)
- Don’t think you’re taking them away from their work. This is their work.
- If you’re talking to a staffer, give him or her your name and address, whether they ask for it or not, so they know you live in the district their boss represents. You don’t need to mention that you’re a registered voter; if they care, they’ll look you up.
- Tell them you’re calling about the developmental services budget and why you care about it. This is your chance to tell your story. If you want more specific talking points, go to www.lantermancoalition.org/action.html. Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes.
- Ask that the senator or assemblymember sign the support letter that Senator Jim Beall (pronounced “Bell”) is circulating. They don’t know about it? No problem. Offer to email them the link to it: http://www.arcanet.org/docs/Beall-19-Feb-10-Letter.pdf.
- If the legislator says he or she will check it out, or the staffer says they’ll talk to their boss about it, great! Ask them when you can call back to find out if the legislator will sign. Call them back when you say you will. If they still don’t know, say you understand how busy they are, and ask when you can call back again to find out. If they say you can email them, tell them you’d rather call if you can, and ask them if that’s ok. One way or another, keep on them till you get a yes or no. (After a couple of calls, they’ll remember you for sure. Did I mention that polite persistence pays off?)
- If they say yes, thank them sincerely. Then email Senator Beall’s chief of staff, Sunshine Borelli, sunshine.borelli@sen.ca.gov, to let her know you got a commitment. She’ll make sure the letter gets in from of the legislator for their signature. Say hi to Sunshine for me.
- If they say no, they’ll probably offer you what might be a good reason. Tell them you understand (if you do), and ask whether the legislator instead can agree to speak up for the disability community in their party’s caucus when they discuss their budget priorities. Ask when you can call back to get an answer to that. (Polite persistence, remember?)
- If they’ve already signed (scroll down some more for the most recent list), ask them the same thing as in #11 – can the legislator agree to speak up in the Democratic or Republican caucus when they discuss their budget priorities? (Don’t hang up without making an ask for something that will help. We haven’t won yet.)
- Whatever you do, if you’ve been talking with a staffer, save his or her name and number. You have a relationship with them now. This campaign has three months to go. And matter whether we win or lose this year, we’re going to be back fighting next year. Trust me, you’re going to be talking to them again.
Thanks!
Andrea Erickson
OPARC President/CEO