RADAR ALERT: USE AUGUST TO BUILD ON OUR MOMENTUM

[RADAR]

RADAR ALERT: USE AUGUST TO BUILD ON OUR MOMENTUM

On August 1 our elected officials began their August recess.  The August recess is when they go back to their home districts and see how the political winds are blowing.  And this year, our Senators and Congressmen will be meeting with persons saying that VAWA needs to be changed!

To make sure you can get an appointment, it's critical that you do the following THIS WEEK:
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• Get the phone number of the Washington office of your Representative (available at http://www.house.gov)
  
• Call your Representative's office and request to speak with the Scheduler.
  
• When you speak to the Scheduler, state that you are a constituent and you wish to meet with the Representative during the August recess, preferably during the last two weeks of August. (That will give you enough time to finalize the meeting date and find 1-2 other persons from your District to join you.)
  
• If you are asked what organization you are with, state "RADAR" (or any other appropriate group you are involved with).
  
• The Scheduler may ask you to fax a written request indicating the topic you want to discuss, along with a couple of preferred meeting dates.  Simply state that you want to discuss "VAWA reauthorization".
  
• Make a note of the Scheduler's name, in case you need to follow-up.
  
• If you are ambitious, now do the same for your two Senators!  You can find their phone numbers at http://www.senate.gov.
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  That's all you need to do this week - make an initial call to set up a meeting date.  When you do meet with your legislator, make the following two requests:
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• Change the title from VAWA to the "Family Violence Prevention Act".
  
• Add language to the bill to require that 36% of the funding go to programs that serve male victims of DV.
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  Keep an eye on RADAR's website (http://www.mediaradar.org) or sign up for our E-lert to keep up to date on specifics of what to tell your legislators when you meet with them.
  
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  Date of RADAR Release: August 2, 2005
  
  To track the current status of VAWA, go to http://thomas.loc.gov and enter the bill number: Senate bill S. 1197; House of Representatives bill H.R. 3402.
  
  To receive RADAR Alerts, press releases, and other special announcements, sign up for the RADAR E-lert. You can sign up for the E-lert on the RADAR home page at http://www.mediaradar.org. Your e-mail address will be kept confidential, and will not be shared with any outside organization. It's fast, easy, and keeps you in the loop.
  
  Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting (RADAR) is a coalition of men and women working to assure media balance and accuracy in coverage of the domestic violence issue.

[Men's Rights Activist]

I suspect the best anyone will get is a meeting with a member of the elected Rep's staff.  That's what happened the one time I was able to get a meeting concerning an issue.

If someone else has more experience in this facet of politics, I would welcome your insight, your input.