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Subject:Re. Steve Jong's letter to congress From:Geoff Hart <geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA> Date:Wed, 10 May 1995 14:28:20 LCL
WHile I agree with the principle of Steve Jong's letter to Congress,
I'd take issue with the content. If I were an elected official,
besieged by lobbyists, I'd file his letter in the garbage as soon as I
saw the name of a professional society: "Jest 'nother dam [sic]
lobbyist!" The letter stands fine on its own without mentioning the
society, and is more likely to be taken seriously... "hmmm... one of
my voters wants to tell me something" (blatant self-interest).
Of course, in my own experience with writing such letters, you don't
generally reach the pol in the first place. If you're very lucky, you
reach an intelligent secretary/assistant who screens the letter;
generally, you just get a form letter in reply, maybe even without
your name on anything but the envelope. But at least if you don't send
up any red flags, you're likely to get past the form letter stage.
Your mileage may vary.
--Geoff Hart #8^{)}
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
Disclaimer: These comments are my own and don't represent the opinions
of the Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada.
