Jason Fossum Want to know more about how to become involved in your government? This presentation will look at ways you can develop lines of communication with your elected officials on issues that are important to you.

1. By Jason Fossum

2.  Identifying your elected officials
◦ District finder
 Laying the ground work
◦ Get to know them
 Open the lines of communication
◦ Do your homework
◦ Focus on the facts
 Engage outside the usual
◦ Moving beyond just email/phone calls

3.  Before you can relate them, you have to
know who they are:
◦ Minnesota makes that pretty easy:
 http://www.gis.leg.mn/OpenLayers/districts/
 Here are my results:
◦ State Rep: Denny McNamara
◦ State Senator: Katie Sieben
◦ US House: John Kline
◦ US Senators: Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken

4.  Once you know who they are, you need
to know more about them:
◦ Key issues
◦ Voting record on issues of importance
◦ Personal background
 Understanding who they are will help
you best decide on an approach for
communication.

5.  Elected officials have great respect for
the opinions of their constituents.
 They WILL read what you send them.
 Keys to successful legislative
communication:
◦ Be respectful
◦ Thank them for their service
◦ State your point (i.e. I support, I oppose)
◦ Tell them how it impacts you
◦ Use facts

6.  State Senator Jason Fossum
◦ Represents senate district 21
 One campus in the district
◦ Has a niece and a nephew attending public
schools.
◦ Attended Winona State University
◦ Sits on the higher education, agriculture/jobs,
and state government/veterans committees.
◦ You’re writing to the senator on why he
should support MnSCU’s budget request.

7.  Hypothetical MnSCU request:
◦ $142 million In new state funding.
◦ $72 million would be used to freeze tuition
for students.
◦ The request also includes internal reallocation
to fund new initiatives.

8.  Things you should NOT do:
◦ Use harsh or threatening language
◦ Ramble on and on and on and on……
◦ Discuss more than one issue (two at the
absolute most).
◦ Lie (especially about where you live)
◦ Forget to provide your address and other
contact information.

9.  Now that you have established your
relationship, you may want to go to the
next level:
◦ Attend town hall meetings
◦ Visit at the capitol
◦ Volunteer on his/her campaign
 All of these will allow you to better
connect with your elected officials.

10.  Town Hall meetings:
◦ Elected officials will often hold these
meetings to provide you constituents with a
chacne to be heard.
◦ They will often provide updates on the
session.
◦ They will have handouts, allow you to sign up
for mailing lists.

11.  What you should do:
◦ Listen
◦ Ask respectful questions
 What you SHOULDN’T DO:
◦ Be “that person” by monopolizing all the time.
◦ Be overly argumentative.
◦ Engage in debate with other audience
members.

12.  Visiting with your elected officials at the
capitol can be effective:
◦ Bring a group, or go alone
◦ Helps connect the issues with “folks back
home.”
◦ Face to face communication (further develops
the relationship).

13.  Volunteering on campaigns is probably the best way to
connect with a legislator.
 This shows your willingness to help them.
 Your own party affiliation shouldn’t stop you from
engaging with elected officials.
 Lots of chances to help:
◦ Parades
◦ Door knocking
◦ Signs
◦ Phone banking
◦ Donation

14. A Decade of Making a Difference