Those “Call one number and we’ll connect you to key decision makers on this issue” campaigns are convenient, but I wish more of them would…

Show a list of all the people they’re going to connect you to. I’d like to know how many calls I’m making before I start.

Mark which lawmakers are already co-sponsors so we can adjust our message between “thanks for supporting” and “please support.” Sure, I can look it up, but the whole point is to make this easier.

Update the campaign as things change. One wanted me to call my state reps, but copied and pasted the information from a federal bill on the same issue. And it included my senator, even though the bill had already passed the senate and was in the assembly. I took one look at the misdirected talking points and ignored them. I also skipped calling the senator who had already voted for a bill that had already passed that chamber. I wonder how many people cared enough about the issue to call, but relied on the campaign for the specifics, and ended up calling the wrong people about the wrong bill?

Whenever I call more than one senator/representative/etc. office as part of a call-in campaign, it’s interesting to see what the staffers want in order to log the call.

  • Some want my name & full address.
  • Some want my name & zip code.
  • Some just want my zip code.
  • Some don’t ask for anything further.
  • Some interrupt me five words in to say “The senator already supports that bill.”

(You can tell when they’ve gotten a lot of calls on an issue.)