How to Get Your Congress Member to Co-Sponsor H Res 333

By Dave Robinson of Brooklyn

Five of us Brooklyn people met with Congressman Ed Towns yesterday and successfully persuaded him to sign on to H. Res. 333. For what it's worth here's what worked with Ed. The same elements I think can only help you guys in dealing with YOUR REPS.

1 - Like it or not, if you can get a member of clergy to go with you it's a huge help. It worked for us meeting both with Ed yesterday and Yvette Clarke back in June. Both times the Rep signed H. Res. 333 to impeach Cheney!

2 - If you can bring vets/military family members, do it. Make sure your Rep. knows who they are, point them out, have them ID themselves as vets or military family members and have them speak in favor of H. Res. 333. Again, it worked for us yesterday.

3 - Know H. Res. 333 cold and keep your message tightly focused on the resolution. The first two articles are closely related, in as much as they charge Cheney with purposefully manipulating prewar intelligence to deceive the American people and the Congress about why we went to war. (Article 1 concerns lies re WMD's; Article 2 concerns lies about the nonexistent ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda, which in the public mind linked Saddam and 9/11.) That's huge. This is why so many people joined the military after 9/11, and why 3,700 of them are now dead. Ed was on board right there. (Article #3 is important as well, that in continually threatening Iran Cheney is in violation of Article VI of the Constitution re international treaty obligations - the UN Charter - not to threaten the use of force against any other country except in the case of attack/self defense.)

Everything you need to know about H. Res. 333 is here: http://kucinich.house.gov/SpotlightIssues/documents.htm

4 - Point out to Your Rep. that as of June 1 H. Res. 333 only had 3 cosponsors; now it has (with Ed) 19. That's a 6 fold increase. There are two reasons why this has happened. First, people want Cheney held accountable for what he's done, they want a lawful government, they want to restore separation of powers, they want Congress to do its job. Second, and this is huge, PEOPLE UNDERSTAND THAT ONLY THROUGH IMPEACHMENT ARE WE GOING TO BRING OUR SOLDIERS HOME ANY TIME SOON.

5 - Create some kind of document, hopefully signed by all of you that you can leave with YOUR REP/ after the meeting. Don't give it to him/her beforehand. It doesn't have to be fancy. It needs to clearly say why you want him to support H. Res. 333. You guys create a similar document signed by both attendees AND OTHERS who can't make the meeting (for purposes of the document, I'm not sure everyone has to be from your District but that's your call) so he/she has something to remember you by. I'd email it to him/her after the meeting with your thank you / (or if necessary, drop dead) note. I think giving him/her a "takeaway" is important.

6 - It really helped with Ed to know who to call in Kucinich's office if you manage to persuade him/her to cosponsor H. Res. 333 (he/she should call Kucinich's legislative director Auke Mahar-Piersma (male) at 202-225-5871).