When reviewing my communications, remember that my goal is to have an impact. That can influence how I phrase things. It is important to support politicians who show courage as well as criticize those who don't.
Senators' URL protocol is www.Senator'sFamilyname.senate.com. From there, it is generally easy to send a message.
House URL protocol is https://FamilyName.house.gov/contact/
If you have supported them in the past, it is critical to include that in any critical message; otherwise, they'll brush your message off. I have deleted such comments in my messages below.
Sometimes they won't accept email out of their district. In that case you can call them. In one case, I had to lie by saying I was in their district. Otherwise, I couldn't leave a (thankful) message. I apologized and admitted I am not a constituent in the message I left.
2025-06-08: I think this is my ~12th communication this year to each of them.
To Senator Moran:
Ukraine attacks planes, the
weapons of war. Putin attacks civilians. You repeatedly say you support Ukraine. Supporting Ukraine IS supporting the
USA. We need you to exert your leadership
capabilities NOW. Not just on Ukraine,
but for separation of powers! This is
not the time to tippy-toe with President Trump on all issues. Pick out major ones that violate your principles
and oppose them strongly. President
Trump is the RINO. We, and many friends,
will be forced to vote Democratic if Republicans in the Senate abandon their responsibility.
I subsequently sent him a second message, thanking him for co-sponsoring S. 1241, subject of my 5/28 message. He is one of two senators to sign on since 5/22. Nuts! His office did not respond to me and I failed to check the list before sending my earlier message.
To Senator Marshall:
Separation of Powers
It is hard to believe that
your values call for 100% support for President Trump. Separation of powers is critical! Pick out major issues where President Trump’s
actions violate your principles and oppose them. As such a strong supporter of President
Trump, you have more influence with him and more responsibility to attempt to
use that influence positively. We, and
many friends, will be forced to vote Democratic if Republicans in the Senate
abandon their responsibility. Thank you.
To Representative Sharice
Davids:
We have not heard back relative
to our 5/25 email about this 6/26 meeting, so we are trying again. Will you attend? Why or why not? Thanks!
You are invited to a public
bipartisan Congressional meeting at the Capitol Visitors Center on June 26th at
8:30 a.m. Some of your constituents will watch via Zoom live or recorded.
We believe it is critical to
encourage politicians to reach across the aisle for respectful dialogue to
enable us to solve problems. Our divisive political system is
catastrophic for our country and for the world, which relies upon a stable,
successful USA.
That’s why Claude is the
local KS 2nd and 3rd districts lead volunteer
for No Labels, which has organized this event.
We think the topic of the
session will be “permitting legislation”. You can register by contacting
Margaret White at margaret@nolabels.org.
My ‘No Labels’ distribution
list consists of ~300, 1/3 of whom are in the KS 3rd district.
2025-06-05: message to both Senators (Moran and Marshall)
Here are our three strongest disagreements with President Trump’s “big beautiful” budget bill:
1. It would limit contempt of court enforcement unless plaintiffs posted a security bond at the outset of the case. This would undermine the separation of powers which is critical to our success.
2. The Educational Choice for Children Act would allow 100% tax credit for some scholarship donations. If appreciated assets are donated, the donor avoids capital gains, effectively cashing out the investment for full value in tax credits. I have some smaller problems with this as well. What we should be doing is encouraging public charter schools.
3. Raising the $10K SALT cap to $40K would significantly reverse one of the best aspects of the 2017 tax law.
Note: Items 2 and 3 would benefit our family as we have 3 grandchildren in private K-12 schools and one of our children is a high-earner in NY. So, our opposition is clearly principled.
2025-05-28: You might want to let
Senators Moran and Marshall know how you feel about them not co-sponsoring S.1241, which
currently has 81 Senate sponsors. Only
19 senators have not co-sponsored.
- S. 1241 would impose a 500 percent tariff
on imported goods from countries that buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and
other products if Russian refuses to engage in "good faith
negotiations for a lasting peace with Urkaine."
- S. 1241would also impose sanctions on
specific Russian people and institutions and entities owned by Russia;
prohibit transfers, listings or trading in Russian investments; prohibit
energy exports to Russia; etc.
We sent this message to
Senator Moran:
Earlier
this year, you told us that you support Ukraine. S. 1241 has 81 Senate sponsors. Why are you not a co-sponsor?
We sent this message to
Senator Marshall:
Title:
Yes, only Trump can end the war in Ukraine
Text: We
agree with President Trump that only he can stop the Ukrainian war. He must threaten Putin strongly
privately. A public threat would be
ineffective because it would back Putin into a corner, embarrassing him. But a private threat would allow Putin to
"save face". As one of
President Trump's strongest supporters, you are well-positioned to deliver this
message. We see that you are one of only
19 senators who has not co-sponsored S. 1241.
We STRONGLY support S. 1241, yet would be comfortable with you not
supporting it, IF you leverage that non-support to get Trump's ear to advise
him to threaten Putin strongly privately.
2025-05-25: We invited Senators Moran and Marshall and Rep. Davids to attend the 6/26 NL meeting at the Capitol. After I responded that Marshall would not have a meaningful speaking opportunity, his staff responded that he had another commitment. The others had not responded as of June 8.
2025-05-09: To Senators Moran and Marshall and Rep. Sharice Davids
I'd like to send you a 5-page paper I've written about how the Federal and state governments can save money on Medicaid long-term care, while improving service. I'm a retired actuary and insurance executive. Please contact me to advise me how to send this paper to you. Thank you!
2025-04-25: To Senators Moran and Marshall:
President Trump could have ended the Ukrainian war quickly by privately telling Putin "Biden forced Zelensky to fight with one arm tied behind his back until recently. If you don't agree to stop this war, I'll release all restraints on Zelensky and arm him strongly." Can't the Senate do anything about President Trump negotiating against USA interests?
2025-04-24: To Sharice Davids: I heard
only the end of your discussion with Rep. Cleaver and Steve Kraske, but your
closing comment was tremendously better than his.
President
Trump won because the Democrats were on the wrong (extreme) side of many issues
in the eyes of Independents and moderates of both parties. However, President Trump’s approach to dealing
with issues is unacceptable.
Blindly
saying “We’re right and they’re wrong” is political suicide. Democrats can be successful if they listen, engage
responsibly and move more to the middle.
2025-04-21: I contacted Senators Moran and Marshall and Congressperson Davids writing that we must support Ukraine.
2025-03-26: to Senator Moran (slightly different 1st paragraph for Senator Marshall)
Senator Moran, you have character. You do NOT want your legacy to have been
supporting the following. Thanks for
starting to speak up. We need you to do
more, leading your fellow Republicans to demonstrate patriotism and character.
Sending Venezuelans to El Salvador is NOT a question of
appropriate/inappropriate deportation.
The Trump administration sent those people to a high-security
prison. It is like sending them to
Siberia, indefinitely or permanently, without due process. This is much worse than deportation!
(Even people willing to sacrifice these people’s rights
should be concerned about the terms of the deal. How are we paying to this? But more fundamentally, what if your child
had been sent off?)
Trump is also intimidating attorneys and law firms. Such intimidation discourages attorneys from
defending clients on causes Trump might not like. It causes clients to shy away from the law
firms to avoid Trump's enmity. He has also
reportedly directed DOJ to recommend similar actions against firms representing
immigrants or that sued the government in the past 8 years. This is a clear parallel to Nazi Germany (https://www.fedbar.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/legalcomm-sept13-pdf-1.pdf).
He says dissenting judges should be impeached.
Consider the following: First, he imprisoned Venezuelans in
El Salvador; I did nothing because I figured most of those people deserved
it. Then, he intimidated attorneys; I did nothing because they weren't my
attorney. Then, he intimidated judges; I did nothing because they weren't
judging my case. He has also started intimidating the press, but I'm
doing nothing (not sure why). When he comes after you or your loved ones,
who will be left to protect you/them? You likely recognize that I'm
re-phrasing Martin Niemoller’s famous quote.
A good companion quote is from Rabbi Hillel: “If not you,
who? If not now, when?”
Relative to the phone call that permitted the reporter to
join, I don’t believe people should necessarily be fired after making a
mistake. That person may be less likely
to make that mistake in the future than a replacement employee. However, firing people for blatantly lying to
Congress is appropriate!
2025-03-16: on Jared Golden's Facebook page
Heard about this from No Labels! Thanks! Last week, I spoke at a conference in Philadelphia. Met some people from Maine and emphasized to each of them how fortunate Maine (and the whole country) is to have you!
2025-03-16: To Senator Moran (note: maybe he was responding to comments from me and others)
Thank you for distancing yourself recently from President Trump, for example related to veterans, Ukraine and Haskell. Please keep it up and accelerate as necessary. My wife and I have voted for you several times and are concerned that Congress must retain its purpose. Separation of Powers has been the key to our country's success!
2025-03-04: To Senators Moran and Marshall
Worse than Afghanistan or Munich: You are COMPLICIT
Afghanistan and Czechoslovakia could not defend themselves
without foreign troops. Afghanistan was
a civil war, whereas Russia invaded Ukraine.
Munich bought time for Britain to asrm and organize to counter Hitler
whereas Trump is siding with the aggressor.
Biden weakly under-supported Ukraine, setting Trump up for a victory. He could have threatened Putin and negotiated
a more favorable treaty. Your cowardice
in not opposing Trump when appropriate is a stain you’ll not only have to live
with the rest of your life, it will also end up being your legacy.
2025-02-27: In response to a survey from Sharice Davids, I commented: "Very interesting. You offer 16 priorities for Congress but do not include balancing the budget (my #1 budget priority; you do offer reducing government waste); allowing inner-city students to get a decent education (my #2 with my favorite approach being public charter schools), immigration or national security.
Miss Davids highlighted the following options in her cover message:
• Cutting the Medicaid health care program.
• Repealing tax cuts that lower people’s health
premiums.
• Gutting emergency nutrition assistance for
families.
The full list was:
1.
Creating jobs and growing our economy.
2.
Addressing rising costs in our economy.
3.
Protecting Medicare and Social Security.
4.
Improving health care and lowering the cost of
prescription drugs and premiums.
5.
Protecting reproductive rights.
6.
Supporting public safety and addressing crime.
7.
Protecting our democracy and the voting rights
of all eligible voters.
8.
Ending partisan bickering in Congress.
9.
Preventing gun violence.
10.
Securing our borders and immigration.
11.
Supporting our kids in K-12 and higher
education.
12.
Protecting our environment and tackling climate
change.
13.
Investing in transportation and infrastructure.
14.
Helping local small businesses in Kansas.
15.
Eliminating government corruption and ensuring
stronger ethics rules. Cutting wasteful government spending.
20 2025-02-26:
Senator Moran responded to my 2/21 message (below). My message to him today explains how he responded to my 2/21 message:
I sent you an email expressing disappointment because you have not had the courage to rebut President Trump's recent lies about Ukraine. Your fellow Republican senators Rounds, Kennedy, Cramer, Tillis and Thune showed such courage. In response, you sent me an undated copy of a July 27, 2023 article you wrote with Mike Pompeo. I was already aware of that article appropriately supportive of Ukraine. Your response underscores that you were willing to tell the truth about Ukraine when it was politically expedient to do so but are unwilling to do so today. It also seems unusual to send out an article with no indication of the date that it was written. Were you hoping that I'd think it was current? I've voted for you consistently and I've respected you. I don't think your current cowardice and misleading response reflect your character. I hope that you can dig deep and find the courage to represent our nation's principles. Please don't abandon your responsibilities when we most need you to fulfill them.
2025-02-21:
I applauded the following Republican Senators: Mike Rounds (SD), Thom Tillis (NC), John Kennedy (LA), John Thune (SD), Kevin Cramer (ND) and Republican Representatives Don Bacon (NE) and Brian FitzPatrick (PA) or speaking the truth about Ukraine. I wrote "Thanks for defending United States integrity as regards Ukraine. FYI, I'm a 'No Labels' guy; we greatly appreciate independence and integrity."
I wrote to my senators (Marshall and Moran): Why don’t you have the
integrity of Senators Mike Rounds (SD), Thom Tillis (NC), John Kennedy (LA),
John Thune (SD), Kevin Cramer (ND) and Representative Don Bacon (NE) to speak
the truth about Ukraine and defend the honor of the United States?
2025-02-17: Danielle Sassoon is the US Attorney who
resigned rather than end her case against Mayor Eric Adams. I could not find a LinkedIn account for her,
so I went to her Facebook page today and “liked” several entries.
I also sent the following message to my two Republican
Senators (Jerry Moran and Roger Marshall):
Is
President Trump intent on making President Biden look strong???
If President Trump ends the Russia vs. Ukraine
war on terms favorable to Russia, he will damage his legacy and make President
Biden look strong.
2025-02-12: To Congresswoman Sharice Davids
Oops! I lost it, but, in response to her survey, I told her that:
1) I'd love to see Congress resolve the debt (as she seemed to be suggesting) but Congress has refused to do so. We have few patriotic politicians as our politicians value their political career more than our nation's (or the world's) needs.
2) It is terrible that we force children to attend terrible inner-city schools. We know that public charter schools are much better, but the teachers' unions fight them tooth-and-nail because the teachers' unions (like politicians) treat their power as a higher priority than the kids' education.
3) Although I've been an environmentalist for at least six decades, I consider nuclear war to be our most existential threat. Our nation's strategy in that regard has been terrible, inadvertently encouraging the spread of nuclear weapons.
2025-01-25:
To Senator Jerry Moran
President Trump has pushed for some good ideas, but they MUST be done properly as separation of powers is critical to our country's success. I noted with interest that you confirmed Pete Hegseth's nomination. I wasn't sure you would endorse him. When he does well (as I hope he will), I'll point out to people that you put your political reputation on the line for him.
To Senator Roger Marshall:
President Trump has pushed for some good ideas, but they MUST be done properly as separation of powers is critical to our country's success.
I noted with interest that you confirmed Pete Hegseth's nomination. If he does well (as I hope he will), I'll point out to people that you put your political reputation on the line for him.; he wouldn't have made it without your vote. Of course, credit/blame goes both ways.
2024-12-26, I encouraged readers to contact their politicians as follows:
We communicated as follows recently to our Senators, both of whom are Republican:
Support Ukraine
We hope that Presidents Trump and Biden agreed that Biden would increase pressure on Russia so Trump could come in and tell Putin "You'll get even more pressure, if you don't negotiate favorably." Trump's tough stand against Hamas is working and he should do the same against Russia in Ukraine. His strong stance in Ukraine will undermine Russian advances in Africa and deter Iran and China. He does not want to start his second term showing international weakness like Biden did in Afghanistan.
Earlier we wrote:
We have your back if you choose to oppose some of President Trump's nominations. Our primary concern is Tulsi Gabbard. We don't object to her being in the government, but she is not a good candidate for Director of National Intelligence.
For our Democratic Congresswoman we wrote:
Support Ukraine
We hope that Presidents Biden and Trump agreed that President Biden would increase pressure on Russia so Trump could come in and tell Putin "You'll get even more pressure, if you don't negotiate favorably." Trump's tough stand against Hamas is working and he should do the same against Russia in Ukraine. His strong stance in Ukraine will undermine Russian advances in Africa and deter Iran and China. He does not want to start his second term showing international weakness.
On 8Dec24, I encouraged people to contact their politicians about nominations and deportations as follows:
Here's a message you can send to senators, modified to fit your preferences.
I voted for you and want to let you know that I have your back if you choose not to vote for some of President Trump’s nominees. My biggest concern is Tulsi Gabbard. She is a bright, passionate person who can contribute in the government, but Director of National Intelligence isn’t a good place for her. Secondly, although I support stronger border security and some deportations, the focus should be on those who have broken laws or have entered during the Biden administration. Thank you!
