Hesiod has a pretty good idea about who to call after you’ve called your Senators, reminding them to support Chris Dodd’s upcoming filibuster of the FISA Amendments Act:
Call the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee at (202) 224-2447. No, not to give the DSCC money to be doled out as the DSCC sees fit to help Democrats get elected to the Senate. See, if it were simply a matter of Democrats being the good ones and Republicans being the bad ones as a set, then there’d be no fuss or worry about the FISA Amendments Act. All of the Democrats would stand against this erosion of constitutional oversight and the FISA Amendments Act would simply die. The problem is that a fair number of Democrats are coming out in support of the FISA Amendments Act despite its anti-constitutional provisions.
The logic of the DSCC is that you would want to give money to them to promote Democratic candidates on the premise that Democratic Senators would act in your interest. But that premise is proving false, making it unwise to contribute to groups like the DSCC, which will distribute money to candidates who do not share your progressive values. The DSCC needs to be reminded that you will not be their chump. Call the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee at (202) 224-2447 and tell them in no uncertain terms that they won’t see a cent from your bank account if the Democratic Party can’t muster 41 votes to support Christopher Dodd and kill the bill. No coalition supporting the filibuster of the FISA Amendments Act of 2007, no cash for the DSCC.
The current leadership of the Democratic Party thinks in dollar terms. If enough people send this monetary message to the Democrats, the Democrats will listen.
When you go to Dodd’s website and click through to the “contact your senator” page, they ask for your name, email, and phone number, and they say the phone call is free if you do it through their website.
What’s your take on that?
Oh, I avoid that part and just call using the number on the left-hand side of the screen, which is the relevant Senator’s DC office number. I expect any candidacy to try to build up an e-mail list, but I’ll give it a pass if there’s real activism involved as well. That’s what pissed me off about Robert Wexler’s recent impeachment stagecraft… everything was just a shell for the re-elect Wexler campaign. There was nothing for citizens to do at that website except give their contact information for future fundraising calls or just give money to Wexler directly. The difference is that Dodd is asking citizens to do something real, and is showing also that he’s willing to sacrifice campaign time to do the business of principled politics in DC.
Oh, totally, in fact I’m already on his mailing list, just wondering if there’s an advantage to going through his website, like he might be tracking the issue, although he doesn’t seem to be particularly encouraging it. I would expect the names to go on his mailing list too.