By Mary Kay Clunies-Ross, CDC Executive Director
I’ve been looking forward to the Women in Government National Legislative Conference for months. It's inspiring to be around Republican and Democrat legislators from all over the country, and they’re all so focused on finding lasting solutions for families and communities. It’s also so fun to be around a lot of other “good government geeks” who are willing to learn and work together.
This year opened with a shadow: less than a week ago, a Minnesota legislator was murdered in her home, another one was shot, others had been stalked. It was a terrible reminder of the cost of being a public servant.
It's already hard to be an elected representative. It's hard to get up the nerve to run for office, to knock on doors, to talk politics with your neighbors, to be criticized by reporters, yelled at in grocery stores, to get hate mail. To get threats. And in the days after Minnesota, it is fair to wonder why they do it at all.
But these women reminded me why they do it. They are certain in their desire to fix things, to make a better health care system, to support small and independent businesses, to strengthen supply chains. All that they want to accomplish is more compelling than the fear they feel.
They are steadfast.
One of the things that we try to do at the Chronic Disease Coalition is to break down the barriers between legislators and their constituents. We don't want legislators to be just talking heads on TV, we want neighbors to know each other so that they can speak directly about common problems.
Although Chronic Disease Month (CDM) is not until July, we want to roll out one of our CDM activities early, in light of everything that is happening.
Over the years, we've met so many Republicans and Democrats who have told us how much they value connecting with the people in their districts. Those relationships are important to us too, so we created an easy way to request a meeting with your legislator. This could be coffee, an office visit, a group meeting or just a solo introduction. Whatever works best for you. We have a template letter, a short video guide and some tips on this page:
The most important tip is this: Say thank you. Even if you have to agree to disagree, thank them for their public service and their time. And let us know how it goes!