[arrl-odv:19716] Sample letter for members, H.R. 607
The attached letter is being posted to the web site as a sample for members to use in writing to their Representatives. I will be customizing mine and sending it to my Rep right away, and I hope you will do the same. Letters should be faxed to Chwat's office (703-684-7594) or printed out, signed, scanned, and sent as an e-mail attachment to Chwat's attention (john.chwat@chwatco.com) I have asked Dan Henderson to activate the grass-roots network. I also asked Dave to have the Section Managers brought into the loop on this issue. Because the effect of this bill would be severe on the Field Organization (mainly ARES), club/individual sponsors of 440 repeaters, and weak-signal operations in their Sections, I hope the Section Managers will help stir up letter-writing even though federal legislative affairs are not, strictly speaking, in their area of responsibility. Spectrum protection is in everybody's area of responsibility, if you wear a red badge, no matter what office you hold. The next job is putting together the next issue of Legislative Update. The goal is to get that out in the next few days. 73 - Kay N3KN
Kay -- If not in the works already, I think it'd be crucial to include some thorough explanation as to why every letter need to be sent to Chwat. One reason is so he can hand deliver them, but that may not be enough of an explanation to keep people from mailing theirs to their Representative. The other reason, which will catch people's attention, is due to the security posture, and resulting weeks/months delay of all mail (if I understood the discussion at the Board meeting correctly). This needs to be hammered home as the othe reason for engaging Chwat. 73, Brian N5ZGT On Tue, 22 Feb 2011, Kay Craigie wrote:
The attached letter is being posted to the web site as a sample for members to use in writing to their Representatives. I will be customizing mine and sending it to my Rep right away, and I hope you will do the same. Letters should be faxed to Chwat's office (703-684-7594) or printed out, signed, scanned, and sent as an e-mail attachment to Chwat's attention (john.chwat@chwatco.com)
I have asked Dan Henderson to activate the grass-roots network.
I also asked Dave to have the Section Managers brought into the loop on this issue. Because the effect of this bill would be severe on the Field Organization (mainly ARES), club/individual sponsors of 440 repeaters, and weak-signal operations in their Sections, I hope the Section Managers will help stir up letter-writing even though federal legislative affairs are not, strictly speaking, in their area of responsibility. Spectrum protection is in everybody's area of responsibility, if you wear a red badge, no matter what office you hold.
The next job is putting together the next issue of Legislative Update. The goal is to get that out in the next few days. 73 - Kay N3KN
ARRL Director, Rocky Mountain Division On the web at www.RockyMountainDivision.org
Brian, you're quite right. The short & sweet on why we ask letters to be sent via Chwat appears at http://www.arrl.org/sample-letters. The DLACs are asked to refer members to that URL, among others. The rationale was in the initial issue of Legislative Update and will be repeated early and often in FAQ as time goes on, regarding both this and other legislation as time goes by. For new Board members, there are two reasons we ask members to route letters via Chwat. One is that having a stack of letters hand-delivered to an office on the Hill gets attention and may give Chwat's personnel an opportunity to jawbone the legislator's staffers on the subject du jour. The other reason is that all postal mail to the Hill is subject to security screening that may delay its delivery by 6 to 8 weeks. We can't wait that long to get our position across. We emphasize the latter reason to members. Especially on an issue like H.R. 607, time is of the essence. 73 - Kay N3KN
participants (2)
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Brian Mileshosky -
Kay Craigie