The 2011 Activist Tool Thread!

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  • Boxcab

    MSI EM
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 22, 2007
    7,909
    AA County
    Well the 427 Maryland General Assembly has begun with our foes working hard against us.

    The General Assembly is made up of 47 Senators and 141 Delegates elected from the 47 districts in Maryland. The Maryland General Assembly meets in Annapolis each year for 90 days to act on an average of more than 2300 bills… most (if not all!) of these bills have a direct impact on your life.

    Now is the time to become proactive in the decision making that will control your way of life. Do not put it off until later. Stopping a bad law from getting through the Maryland General Assembly is easy compared to getting a bad law rescinded or changed.

    A few years ago I started the “The Political Activist Tool: MS Word Mail Merge Thread “ ( http://www.mdshooters.com/showthread.php?t=4278 ). Please refer to that thread for (very) basic information for creating functional mass mailings using your computer and MSWord. This is the same tool that our political enemies use to spread their words of “truth”. We can now use the same tool to counter their misrepresentations of facts and statistics.

    This thread should be the home of mail list data bases, sample letters to be copied and pasted into your own mass mailings, and any other useful tools that can be shared in an effort to keep the pressure ON our elected representatives. This tool is also useful for getting the word out to the Press. I will also work on tools for Letters to the Editor.

    The squeaky wheel does get the grease… start squeaking!

    See the following post from the past couple of years to help describe these tools and how to apply them.

    http://www.mdshooters.com/showthread.php?t=13157

    The 2011 MD Senate and House mail addresses are attached in an Excel form that can be imported into MSWord and others to form mass mailings with minimal work.

    -Boxcab
     

    Attachments

    • 2011 MD House Mail Addys.xls
      59 KB · Views: 150
    • 2011 MD Senate Mail Addys.xls
      30 KB · Views: 125

    Norton

    NRA Endowment Member, Rifleman
    Staff member
    Admin
    Moderator
    May 22, 2005
    122,879
    Thanks for once again giving the membership this powerful tool.

    Remember, snail mail letters are still the best way to communicate, when the time permits it. They are more "real" than are emails and get noticed because they know that it takes time to actually put them together.

    Imagine the sight of hundreds and hundreds of envelopes filling the boxes in the legislative complex.
     

    Norton

    NRA Endowment Member, Rifleman
    Staff member
    Admin
    Moderator
    May 22, 2005
    122,879
    Form letters get thrown in the trash can. Seriously.
     

    hvymax

    Banned
    BANNED!!!
    Apr 19, 2010
    14,011
    Dentsville District 28
    I was talking about composing your own letter so that it is generic enough that you can merely change the name and still look personal. Unless somebody is a personal aquaintance you will not have a lot of personal details to include anyway. Anything after Dear Del/Sen insertnamehere and the HB/SB# so instead of writing 20-30 entire letters you write 1or 2 and simply change the names. I usually throw Mac Middleton an extra sentence or two for moral support but it cuts an entire day (with me typing) down to a few hours.
     

    drwalther

    MSI Executive Member
    Jun 18, 2010
    509
    Berlin
    I have found form letters to be an excellent template. I treat them as such. I peruse the content, adjust/edit/delete/add as I see fit, then print/send/etc. What happens on the receiving end, I have little idea, with the exception of the few form replies I receive. Whether it proves a Howitzer or a pea shooter, I do believe it is better than nothing, and the cumulative effect of enough pea shooters (if that's all we can do) might just meet or exceed that of the Howitzer!

    (start launching the analogy jokes.....NOW!) :party29:
     

    Boxcab

    MSI EM
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 22, 2007
    7,909
    AA County
    The great thing about the mass mailing tool is that it will create personalized letters for each person chosen from the list. Write a letter and then choose the names you want to send it to, MSWord will print out letters with customized salutations and addresses. Then it will generate envelopes for each letter... customized.
    It is a very powerful tool and should be used. Like Norton said, a stack of letters is harder to ignore then a bunch of emails. They get the attention of not only your Representative, but his staff as well.
     

    case XX

    Active Member
    Jun 19, 2008
    117
    AA County
    Thanks for taking the time to put this together and for posting it. I had just started to work on a couple of spreadsheets myself when I thought to check here and found yours saving me some time.
     

    a81lp

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Nov 15, 2008
    2,959
    I also like when you guys post your letters here for various bills. gives me an idea of what to send without it sounding like a rant! thanks
     

    Tootall

    Feelings Hurter
    Oct 3, 2008
    7,587
    AACO
    in trying to find voting records and bills sponsored by various delegates, this site became pretty useful quickly.
    here's vallario's record..
    http://www.votesmart.org/voting_category.php?can_id=6235

    :sad20::sad20:


    eyebleach1hw0.png
     

    Minuteman

    Member
    BANNED!!!
    Thanks Boxcab!

    I like seeing example letters too.

    If anyone needs a little help putting your thoughts and concerns into a letter or email, I'm willing to help anyone as much as I can put a decent letter together. Just PM or email me :)
     

    joppaj

    Sheepdog
    Staff member
    Moderator
    Apr 11, 2008
    46,654
    MD
    Bumpski. This is a good thread. Polish your letter writing by complaining about the proposed tax hikes if you'd like.
     

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