Tips for Lobby Day, January 29, 2007

Steps for making an appointment with your Senators and your Representative:

1. Call the Washington, D.C., offices of your two senators and one House member (get their phone numbers here). Ask to speak to the member's scheduler (note their name) and, either in person or on a voice mail, let them know that you will be in Washington, D.C., for the Peace March/Rally on Saturday, Jan. 27, and on Monday, Jan. 29, for lobby day and that you would like to make an appointment with the member.

2. If you get a live person, they will tell you several things:

3. Fax or email a written request to the scheduler, and send copies to any of the member's staff people that you know in both the home and the D.C. offices. The request should be brief and should include:

• Use your organization's or personal letterhead
• Identify yourself as a constituent and note your membership in local/state/national groups. Highlight that you will be a participant in the Peace March/Rally on Saturday, Jan. 27, and that you are staying in D.C. for the Monday lobby day. If you know them, include the names, titles and affiliations of others in your delegation who will accompany you on this congressional visit.
• Ask for a short, 30-minute meeting with the senator/representative.
• Mention that your schedule is flexible on Monday, January 29 but list your preference for morning or afternoon. (Try to get your House meeting in the morning and Senate meeting in the afternoon. Contact UFJP if you have a Senate meeting or want to join others at an already-set-up meeting)
• In one or two sentences, say what you want to discussm, specifically steps the member can take to: immediately bring all the troops home from Iraq, prevent U.S. aggression against Iran, strengthen diplomatic options to war, etc.

Send in this written request as soon as you can, even if you don't know or have the full delegation from your city or state. Follow up with a phone call to the scheduler one day after you send in the written request to make sure that the fax or email was received. They will not have an answer yet, but will at least go looking for your request. Follow up again two to three days later to see if there is a meeting scheduled.

Model letter to your representative (use a similar letter for your senators):