Politicians who will really listen.
This article is from the August 2018 ASCE Wisconsin Section newsletter
(Opinion by Public Affairs Chairman, Gregory Schroeder, P.E.)
I think that I can help you find a politician who will really listen. They are called candidates.
The August 14th primaries will be done by the time this is published, and the November 6th elections are in front of us. This is a great time to contact the candidates for the offices that you feel are most important to your causes and concerns and express your opinions. Maybe a token contribution wouldn't hurt either. If you don't make a token contribution, maybe you can offer to volunteer or put out a yard sign. Perhaps that is premature until you have established if the candidate's values and goals align with your own. That's okay. Make this your own process.
I pulled up a gubernatorial candidate's web site. Here are the tabs to investigate: meet the candidate, issue positions, get involved. (Okay, that was after the pop up window to donate. You can't blame them for trying.) But, the things I wanted to see were right there. Under the volunteer options is a volunteer form to 1.be a supporter, 2. make calls, 3. knock on doors, or 4. host an event. Finally, there is a contact page that makes it easy to provide your input.
The second candidate search that I tried is for a candidate who is running for Senate. The first site for this candidate that I pulled up has position statements only. It was from a political action committee. Immediately upon my second try I chose the candidate's page and it included all of the same items as the site of the gubernatorial candidate above. I didn't realize that there appear to be some basic standards for a candidate's website. Digging further, I found some variation. Under volunteer, in addition to one through four above we also have 5. endorse the candidate, 6. display a yard sign, 7. help in the office, 8. volunteer at an event, 9. write a letter to the editor, and 10.a catch-all, other ways to help. We can't all do all of these, but a few of us could do one of these. Maybe if you choose one or more of these options, you will have a connection that you may build upon to grow your impact and influence, and you will find a candidate, a politician, who will really listen.
This article is posted to ASCE Collaborate in the Wisconsin Section community. Please comment there. If you have topics for discussion, feel free to email me at gregory.schroeder@... or make your post on ASCE Collaborate in the Wisconsin Section community.
The opinions expressed here are those of the author only, and do not necessarily represent the views of the Wisconsin Section or ASCE.
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Gregory Schroeder P.E., M.ASCE
Senior Engineer
Lake Geneva WI
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