SMU2BCS

[Dutch]

did it.

[RyanSMU98]

Tried sending a note to Speaker Straus from my email account and it still bounced due to his spam rule. Below is the link to the email feature from his webpage in the State Legislature:

http://www.house.state.tx.us/members/me ... session=82

You can cut and paste into it to send him a note if you have issues like I have been. I'm sure each rep has a similar page, so keep doing this to your own reps and anyone else you can get the message to.

[thirdcoastfisher]

Coming from someone with experience working on legislative staff here is a bit of my mini-guide to dealing with your Representative:

You (the legislative staffer) always answer a letter without a direct answer to the status of something so a constituent can't later call you a liar and get you in trouble with your boss. If you try and be honest, tell them the process, explain what is going on, etc... many constituents will turn whatever you give them around and try to screw you. Sad fact, I got bit a couple times and it put my job at risk so I wrote some very carefully worded form letters, ran them past my boss, and used those whenever someone e-mailed on an issue.

Also, they get 100s of emails a day and most of the time the big boss doesn't read them. Our office read every one and we provided our boss a summary of what was going on and provided a generic response to the constituent. If we knew where the boss stood, we told you. If we didn't, or the boss didn't agree with you, you got a form letter like you got.

Also, your best bet is to e-mail a staffer and not the Representative directly. Establish a relationship with a staffer and get their e-mail, or use the directory at http://www.texastribune.org/directory/ to find a Legislative Assistant/Aide/Director or Chief of Staff.

I answered most e-mails as fast as I could type a response. Legislative staff bust their rear (out of session I averaged 60 hours a week, in session it could be 100+) and get paid very very little to do so (You can look up any state employee's salary at texastribune.org). Give them time, or give them a call, and you will get a much more thorough answer.

Friendliness is key. Political staff are vain, and wield a lot of power, so show them that you know they are important and you will get rewarded. Unless you know the boss personally (and I mean more than meeting them at a townhall) or are a major donor don't expect to talk to them. Staff does all the grunt work (which constituent work is), the boss busts his or her rear on everything else. High maintenance, or rude, constituents always went on the bottom of my stack. I dreaded having to call someone I knew was going to yell at me and be unreasonable.

Also, use http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/ to find who your representative is. There were several reps in my boss's district and I hated having to deal with someone who we didn't even represent (unless they were nice, in which case I would still go out of my way to help them).

If I thought someone sent me a form letter, or I got more than one of the same letter, they got a form response. Write something personal or call their office. 1 phone call is worth hundreds of emails. Then again, one of my biggest pet peeves would be 100s of form phone calls. (My personal favorite was all the rednecks calling in favor of rooster fighting)

Below is a list of the names and emails of all legislators with ties to SMU. I know the speaker had an alum working in his office during session (may still be there), he may even post on here, as well as a few other members. The Chairmen are bolded. If you want brownie points, call them "Chairman LASTNAME" instead of "Representative LASTNAME."

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected] (wields a ton of influence on this situation as Chairman of Higher Education, in the Speaker's inner circle, and represents Highland Park)

[email protected]

[email protected] (very influential post, in the Speaker's inner circle, decides what budgets are, who gets what office, etc. Behind the scenes, but a good friend to have)

[email protected] (Chairman of one of the most important committees, decides which bills go to the floor when. Basically the only person besides the Governor with a veto)

[email protected]

[email protected] (Arguably the second or third most powerful person aside from the Speaker (only other person who contends with him for the #2 spot is Hunter, another SMU alum) had kids that went to SMU as well)

[email protected]

[email protected] (Another member of the Speaker's inner circle and one of my favorite legislators to see at the back mic ready to toss bombs)

Other important people to e-mail, whose direct addresses I don't know off the top of my head.

Judith Zaffirini (Chair of Senate High Education)
John Carona (Senator who represents SMU)
Pete Sessions (represents SMU in the U.S. House)

U.S. Congressmen in the Texas Delegation that are SMU Alums:

John Culberson
Lamar Smith (the most powerful Texan in the House)
Sam Johnson
Ralph Hall

If anybody is involved with the SMU2BCS movement and wants to talk about lobbying legislators shoot me a PM.

[Junior]

done

[RednBlue11]

now THIS is what I was talking about needing weeks ago, im glad they finally got this done