Visiting my Rep in Albuquerque
Posted August 26th, 2008 by Ben Byrne
On August 21, I visited the local office of my representative, Heather Wilson, along with four other constituents from New Mexico’s first district. While Free Press arranged the meeting, it was up to us as citizens to make the case for Rep. Wilson to co-sponsor a resolution to stop media consolidation (armed with materials Free Press provided, of course!).
I was a bit nervous — despite years of media reform activism and involvement, I’d never actually done anything like this before and was worried I’d do more harm than good. As it turns out, though, my fears were completely off-base.
The five of us sat down with one of Rep. Wilson’s local staffers, who was very friendly and patient as we introduced ourselves and explained what had brought us there. It was clear from the get-go that the staffer totally understood the importance of media in a democracy and recognized that news programming now covers more Britney Spears than Nancy Pelosi.
Each of us brought our own unique perspective to the issue. I focused mainly on the nuts and bolts of the FCC decision to allow more media cross-ownership and the particular legislation, the Resolution of Disapproval (H.J.Res 79), we were asking Rep. Wilson to support. Others talked more generally about a need for more diversity in media ownership and the disappointing lack of information the public has nowadays.
In addition to talking, we presented signatures Free Press had collected of other folks in our district who support the Resolution of Disapproval and some fact sheets backing up our case so that Rep. Wilson’s office had something to refer to after we left.
We had a healthy discussion for nearly an hour. The staffer seemed genuinely appreciative of what we had to say, listened well, and also gave us some insight into his own perspective, which was sympathetic but noncommittal. We made our case the best we could, and asked if we could expect Rep. Wilson to sign on as a co-sponsor. He said he’d pass along information about the bill and our concerns to the appropriate legislative aides in the D.C. office.
The staffer portrayed Rep. Wilson as one who governs with data more than ideology. He was interested in getting copies of the research behind our position, which I e-mailed him after our meeting. He promised to pass the information along to Rep. Wilson and told us he hoped to be able to give us her final position on the bill soon.
Did we get a member of Congress who was on the fence to add her name as a co-sponsor? I’m not sure; only time will tell. But I am sure that the meeting was worthwhile, that citizen meetings like this are nothing to be afraid of, and that they’re an effective way to demonstrate how we as citizens feel. I look forward to doing another one.
