Letters to the Editor

The members of the Letters to the Editor Committee share ideas and focus on some of the most incendiary issues of the day. Whether the issue is as local as an ill-founded gas tax initiative or as universal as the rift between science and religion, we're getting our progressive voices into the mainstream media.

Letter-to-the-editor pages are always well read, especially during times of national crisis. Our letters often bring a different viewpoint to the dialog, a new slant on old ideas, or maybe even an occasional chuckle. We act as media watchdogs, making sure their reporting is accurate, and sounding an alarm if it is not.

This may all sound terribly official, but we are just a group of people with an interest in pitching in effectively. We are all learning how to write letters together. We are always looking for new members, so if you have an interest in joining up, we urge you to continue reading. There are lots of ideas on this web page.

Letters to Our Legislators

In addition to writing to newspapers, we write to our legislators about important issues. We get our ideas from many places, including members of the 45th who suggest specific issues, such as a bill that is being debated in the legislature, to the rest of the group.

Communication

It is important to keep the lines of communication open. We communicate primarily through meetings and email.

Meetings

We meet the first Wednesday of every month before the 45th LD general meeting. We serve as a sounding board for discussion of issues and ideas. We do not constrain or force writing on topics that might not strike everyone's political fancy.

Some of the discussions will be "brainstorming" sessions. We want people to feel free to discuss ideas even if they are in formative stages. The more ideas we get into the group, the better. Feel free to speak your mind even if you have contrary ideas.

Other discussions will be more structured. Use this forum to promote your issue and to try to recruit others to your letter-writing cause. In all cases, we want to foster, not discourage, ideas and open discussion.

To join, just come to our meeting. It is at 6 p.m. before the monthly meeting.

Email

Between meetings, we stay in touch by email. To reach us, click here to send an email. You can then append your subject to the subject line. When responding to a "Letters to the Editor" email, please use 'reply all' so everyone can have the opportunity to chime in if they want to.

Our monthly meeting and email correspondence are the places where we can freely discuss issues and ideas. Don't worry if you don't know how to write a letter to the editor or what to write about. We are all in this together; we'll figure it out. This is important work, and we will do it.

Other Sources for Ideas

The DNC regularly sends out topics and talking points that it wants kept in the news. Take a look at the DNC link in the "Advice to Letter Writers" section in the sidebar, or sign up to receive DNC email updates.

Newspapers

You can write to any newspaper you choose. See the sidebar for some suggestions. You can follow the link to the paper's "submit your letter" page, or email. You may have to look around on the page a bit to find the instructions.

If you do write a letter, drop us an email and let us know. We will publish it in our archives, whether or not it gets published in the newspaper.

Archives

The Archives link on the left sidebar will get you to the letters our group has written so far.

 
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