Laws/Legislation: How can I get involved in learning or voicing my opinion?

[DarkSkies]

Well people, the first thing that shows you're interested is ya clicked on this thread. I'll try to keep this on top as a resource for people who want to involve themselves in their fishing future, and wonder how to do it most effectively. This will serve as a companion thread to the "Why Me?" thread in the main forum.
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...ead.php?t=5610

I'm getting less time to manage these threads as more legislative and access issues loom on the fishing horizon. Anyone who feels they can add anything here, no matter how insignificant you think it is, please feel free. Thanks!

[DarkSkies]

Many times guys will ask me: "Well, ya know, how can I be certain that my letter will make a difference? won't it just get thrown away, or read by an aide?"

Those are good questions, and valid. There are times when it may seem not as productive to write letters, IMO if you want the attention of politicians here are the ways to do it, from the most effective to the least:

1. Granting, or withholding, campaign contributions.

2. Lobbyist contact attempts and meetings by lobbyists who represent a specific constituent group.

3. Personal protests and demonstrations. Nothing is more visually impressive than an organized protest. Politicians know they bring news coverage, and don't want any negative press connected with their names.

4. Q&A sessions where a politician is exposed to public questions. Politicians are very responsive to any public meeting they attend where they see a good number of citizens (ie potential voters) are galvanized for or against a particular issue.

5. Letter writing campaigns. Politicians know they have to pay attention if the volume is high. There are several categories within this:
a) Hand written letters - hand written letters are usually more effective, because almost no one does this anymore. If legible, carefully worded, and not too long, (that leaves me out!! ) these have the best chance of getting read by the actual politician. Only the best of the best letters have a chance of reaching this point.
b) Form letters or postcards - effective, but usually only to calculate the sheer number of voters that are pissed off about an issue.


6. E-mail campaigns and online petitions. Although it's easier for our generation to do this, the truth is most politicians don't read their e-mails. How can you expect them to if they get thousands of them? I would say if anyone wants to do this, if you don't have time to participate in any of the ways above, by all means you should send one. It can't hurt.

But also realize it's one of the least effective strategically. There's no consistent way to prove if a politician ever got or had the chance to read your e-mail, no matter how passionate it may sound.




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If you don't have the time, resources, or energy to get physically involved, that's OK. You can't expect everyone to feel the same way you do on any given issue. That's one of the reasons you'll notice here while this year I'll be trying to promote C&R more, I don't ever think it's fair to shove those views down someone's throat.

I like to eat fish I catch at times, and don't want anyone else to preach to me that I shouldn't. I'm sure many of you feel the same way.

So C&R, just like joining an organization and supporting them, should be a personal, voluntary choice. On the other hand, if someone does nothing to stand up for their fishing rights in any way, then they would not have any grounds to complain when those rights are arbitrarily taken away.

Also, if you really don't have the time to get involved, you can help to make a difference by contributing to the organization whose vision most fits yours.

Please realize I'm not nesessarily pitching here for you so send money to the JCAA, RFA, SSFFF or whatever organization we're talking about at the moment.

These are all personal choices, whether we give something or not. I merely wanted to offer those who were concerned, an optional choice.

[DarkSkies]

http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/

[DarkSkies]

Anglers getting involved and putting aside differences to reach a common goal
"All about the little guys banding together"

"Can one person really make a difference?"

The past posts only tell the partial story of what happened, guys and girls.

What really needed to happen was for angler groups throughout the state to get organized en masse and begin a letter writing and Congressmen contacting campaign to let them know that their constituents were not happy.

The JCAA got the ball rolling and deserve the lion's share of the credit.

However, there were dozens of other fishing clubs, organizations, and groups of guys who had to be convinced to go along. The gravity of the bunker situation had to be explained to them, and they had to be convinced exactly why their help was needed.

So in the end, it was thousands of these "little guys", their letter writing, and constantly contacting their Congressmen, that changed fishing history.

I'm posting up some of these older letters someone sent me to maybe help people see that these battles aren't won overnight, and everyone who's interested can make a difference:

Bunker bill S-722 1999




NJ striped bass gamefish bill, letter from Matthew Rinaldo, 2-16-90




NJ striped bass gamefish bill, letter from Dean Gallo, HR- 3903, 2-22-90