Visit with Congress Critter

[Greg Bockelman]

Our local Congress Critter will be in town on Saturday afternoon. I want to talk with her a bit about user fees and airline issues. Since I have never done this sort of thing before, I was wondering if anyone had suggestions about how to go about it, questions to ask, that sort of thing. Hopefully I can at least get her to commit on how she would vote on these things. LOL.

 

[KennyFlys]

Outright ask if they are in favor of user fees or are they going to fight against them. Ask them to explain any position in favor of.

I hear many congressmen respond to FairTax questions with simply saying, "We need to consider other tax options." rather than simply state whether they are for or against. Given the opportunity, they'll provide answers that keep them out of the corner. They avoid "Yes" and "No" answers.

The biggest problem is congressmen making statements on an issue they know nothing about; particularly if they are not involved in the applicable committee or personally close to the issue such as being a pilot. Have some information with you be it white papers or other items to hand over in such a case. Some published statements by Blakey would be good.

If you have a pocket recorder, have it in your pocket and recording where they cannot see it. It may come in handy given what their response might be. Sneaky, yes. But potentially valuable.

 

[ScottM]

use the AOPA webiste to get the bullet points. What you want to do is hit them with two or three quick easy bullet points about why user fees are negative. Then let them respond, look for their aid hand them a card with your name and contact info (back of your UAL pilot card might be nice) and tell them you would like an appointment to talk about this more. Your appointment will be with the iad but that is the gateway in.

A couple of bullet points could:
"I am a pilot and I would like you to not support user fees because:
1. General aviation already pays their fair share to use the ATC services that are offered through fuel taxes.
2. User fees will cause more pilots to refuse service and will lead to an erosion of air safety and put at risk more lives through possible mid air collisions.
3. The US ATC system is the best in the world, where user fees have been implemented my first two points have become a reality. "

 

[etsisk]

I would check last month's (?) AOPA magazine that had the user fees article in it - there were a couple of MIGHTY persuasive hypotheticals in that article that you can use as a "what if" scenario to ask her if that is really what she wants to risk happening!

 

[wsuffa]

Short. Concise. To the point. Be prepared to answer questions.

Make sure you point out 1) what it means to his/her constituents, 2) how it affects individuals, and 3) (most importantly) how one position or another can benefit him. For example: implementation of user fees will negatively affect 5 flight schools in his district, placing 50 people out of work, reducing tax revenue by $25,000 per year, will gain publicity in the local paper as elections come up.

With all the folks seeking his attention, short sound-bites that carry a "hook" or easily remembered point is best.

 

[tonycondon]

when he shakes your hand start talking. and dont let go until you are done.