Do not tell me contacting a congressman does not work

As you know, I was quite vocal about the first Sandy relief bill not being timely passed by Congress. I was particularly upset about the Congressman from Biloxi Ms. So I wrote him an email. At first it would not accept my email because they would not accept an email outside the district. I changed the zip code and said my name was....."somebody you do not want to hear from......

I then told him that as I was contacted by a friend in Biloxi who had no where to go with their children.....and they had friends who were homeless because of Katrina. I explained that I had a brand new house which had just got completed, and that I invited everybody who was homeless. For three months my house had between 20-25 people in my home. I got on the phone and raised 14k to get sleeping bags, food and furniture for these folks during this awful time and make sure they were safe. People gave $500 to help these people and never blinked an eye. These people cried when I finally met them and could not stop thanking me because they were not rich people who had options. I told the representative from Biloxi that as a life long Republican I will support any Republican candidate who runs against him in the election, and I will be getting on the phone and calling each of those people who stayed in my house and were cared for by so many generous people that I need their help in making sure that he lost in the primary. I talked about how Navarre had been hit by two hurricanes in two years and that he was hurting all the people of the Gulf Coast by hurting these victims of Sandy.

I could not get a response, because of their damn restrictive email system.....so I thought I was going to be making a bunch of phone calls next spring. Today, I learned that the representative got in a plane and flew to New Jersey......The man walked and saw the suffering. The man became a human being and not a politician. Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-Miss.), now has made me a believer that folks who call or write their congressman can make a difference.........the fact is he may never have read my email.....he may have done this completely by the realization that people are suffering.....but I am encouraged hearing his reversal......I have hope.

Good for you SO, following through on your gut instinct. I have not had such luck with Jeff Miller However.

Good for you SO, following through on your gut instinct. I have not had such luck with Jeff Miller However.

If it is dealing with fee simple on the beach......I do not expect him to act until the good old boyz find it to their advantage......the real problem is folks simply think that their voices will not be heard......I am convinced my email made a difference....and I was dead serious about making my threat become a reality. In the end, I hope people hurt by Sandy now have a path to recovery, and I feel good that I just took one more step to do the right thing....it was painless, and it may have made a difference.

2seaoat wrote:Good for you SO, following through on your gut instinct. I have not had such luck with Jeff Miller However.

If it is dealing with fee simple on the beach......I do not expect him to act until the good old boyz find it to their advantage......the real problem is folks simply think that their voices will not be heard......I am convinced my email made a difference....and I was dead serious about making my threat become a reality. In the end, I hope people hurt by Sandy now have a path to recovery, and I feel good that I just took one more step to do the right thing....it was painless, and it may have made a difference.

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My hat is off to you for your efforts SO. The FL Supremes should be issuing their decision in Ariola v Chris Jones soon. I think the decision was made long ago . . . .

In my experience, emails, phone calls, faxes, etc. do not change a Congressperson's mind unless there is a consensus coming from a large number of people the Congressperson knows reflects his/her district. For instance, you could deluge Jeff Miller's office with letters to expand pro-choice options and he wouldn't care.

My hat is off to you for your efforts SO. The FL Supremes should be issuing their decision in Ariola v Chris Jones soon. I think the decision was made long ago . . . .

So many years arguing that folks should focus on fee simple, so many people being deeply hurt because they chose the wrong battle, and now almost a decade after this started.....we are no closer to a solution, and I believe Mr. Miller as Margin has pointed out is not going to make a decision if he thinks most of the mainlanders oppose fee simple. What a terrible shame. I tried the best I could for eight years to discuss the issues and the insanity of fighting this in court.....I was laughed at and ridiculed, but in the end it was a plea for survival which required a focus by leaseholders.....it did not happen, and for that I will always be sad because the blind lead the blind, and some made profit in this process as I warned.....but my arguments simply were powerless against the greed of the times......I have used this William Blake quote a great deal lately......the road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.

shoot, I just go down to the titti bar where they hang out

2seaoat wrote:As you know, I was quite vocal about the first Sandy relief bill not being timely passed by Congress. I was particularly upset about the Congressman from Biloxi Ms. So I wrote him an email. At first it would not accept my email because they would not accept an email outside the district. I changed the zip code and said my name was....."somebody you do not want to hear from......

I then told him that as I was contacted by a friend in Biloxi who had no where to go with their children.....and they had friends who were homeless because of Katrina. I explained that I had a brand new house which had just got completed, and that I invited everybody who was homeless. For three months my house had between 20-25 people in my home. I got on the phone and raised 14k to get sleeping bags, food and furniture for these folks during this awful time and make sure they were safe. People gave $500 to help these people and never blinked an eye. These people cried when I finally met them and could not stop thanking me because they were not rich people who had options. I told the representative from Biloxi that as a life long Republican I will support any Republican candidate who runs against him in the election, and I will be getting on the phone and calling each of those people who stayed in my house and were cared for by so many generous people that I need their help in making sure that he lost in the primary. I talked about how Navarre had been hit by two hurricanes in two years and that he was hurting all the people of the Gulf Coast by hurting these victims of Sandy.

I could not get a response, because of their damn restrictive email system.....so I thought I was going to be making a bunch of phone calls next spring. Today, I learned that the representative got in a plane and flew to New Jersey......The man walked and saw the suffering. The man became a human being and not a politician. Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-Miss.), now has made me a believer that folks who call or write their congressman can make a difference.........the fact is he may never have read my email.....he may have done this completely by the realization that people are suffering.....but I am encouraged hearing his reversal......I have hope.

I am impressed by your kindness to these people,Seaoat. I guess there are some good republicans.