In-Depth First Call to Your Representative

Ring Ring!

Aide: Congress(wo)man ________’s Office, how may I help you?

Powerful YOU: Hello! My name is ______ ________ and I am a constituent of the Congress(wo)man. I have a few requests for Congress(wo)man _______ – would you mind writing them down and seeing that he/she gets them?

Aide: Certainly (or perhaps silence, or questions about you name or address...in any case, give them the information they're asking for and continue).

Powerful YOU: Firstly, I would like to thank the Congress(wo)man for (voting against the Iraq War Resolution/the Defense Appropriations bill/the Military Commissions Act of 2006/cosponsoring impeachment resolutions (see a list of impeachment resolutions and their cosponsors here: http://impeachpac.org/resolutions-list - thank them for whatever your specific congressperson’s case may be). I want him/her to know that his/her constituents truly appreciate him/her standing up for what’s right.

On that note, I would like for the Congress(wo)man to take more leadership on this and related issues. My requests for him/her are: (and it's a good idea to say "one" and "two" etc out loud so they know you have more than one request)

1) on the issue of the war in Iraq, for the Congress(wo)man to author and put forward legislation to bring all the troops home from Iraq; stop funding the war; and create a peace plan for Iraq that does not involve Coalition troops but that does involve US financing for peacekeeping missions via an outside agency like the UN and for reconstruction;

2) on the issue of civil rights, for the Congress(wo)man to put forward legislation to repeal the Military Commissions Act of 2006; and

3) on the issue of the rule of law and accountability for our leaders, impeach Bush and Cheney by vocally supporting and cosponsoring impeachment resolutions in the House introduced to Kucinich and Wexler.

I would like him/her to act on these requests as soon as possible. I will be faxing a letter reiterating these requests later on, and I will also be following up to see if he/she will do what I’ve asked.

Aide: Alright. I’ll make sure he/she gets these requests.

Powerful YOU: Thank you so much!