Your read an article about government that makes you mad.
Or you read a compelling letter to the editor or a Facebook appeal that tells you to contact your representative and tell them what you think.
The problem is that often, we don’t follow through because we don’t know how to reach them.
So we don’t bother, and then they never hear from us.
That’s a shame.
Because other than voting, we citizens have few other means of influencing our elected officials in the federal or state governments, other than by contacting them ourselves and sharing our views.
If you think you can’t make a difference by emailing or calling or sending a letter, you’d be wrong.
Many elected officials are particularly sensitive to the needs of their constituents, since they need those same constituents to support them at election time.
During one of our editorial board meetings with an incumbent member of Congress, the congressman specifically addressed the complaints made in several letters to the editor written by one individual to our paper.
Public officials do notice when you speak up.
At their offices, they have staff members who not only will take your calls or read your emails, but will log them and convey to the representative what issue is drawing particular concern.
One state senator once told us that if she gets just four calls on the same topic in a given morning, it raises enough red flags to get her to take notice right away.
You might not get to speak directly to the representative or get a meeting when you call or email.Members of Congress and the state Legislature each represent thousands of people.
Some members of the Legislature you can actually get on the phone when you call. It often depends the representative and the issue if you get a personal call. Others might assign your call to a staff member.
Whatever you convey to the staff member very well may at least be read within the office and perhaps convince the representative that there’s enough concern among the public to take action.
Some suggestions for reaching out to your elected officials include calling rather than emailing, because emails can get lost among many. If you’re going to show up at the representative’s office, try to give advance notice and go with a small group.
If you’re going to send a letter, make sure it looks professional so it’s likely to be read.
When you do get someone on the phone or are preparing an email, make sure you articulate briefly the issue you want to discuss and be specific with other information you’ve garnered from careful research, experts say.
We’ve tried to take some of the mystery out of reaching out to your elected representatives by providing contact information for a number of federal and state officials, including president, governor and U.S. senators. We’ve also included contact information for our local members of Congress and the state Senate and Assembly.
Keep in mind that some lawmakers have multiple district offices; we’ve only included their main capital office and one local office, as well as email information.
With emails, a lot of representatives have a form that’s attached to a website rather than a direct email.
If you don’t know who your representative is, go online and google a map of the government districts and see where your house falls.
If you’re a voter, your voter registration card will give you all that information. Visit the Board of Elections’ Voter Lookup page and fill in your personal info: https://voterlookup.elections.ny.gov/.
Copy our list of contacts below and save them to a file, or print them out and clip them to your fridge or bulletin board for future reference.
We hope this helps you.
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
PRESIDENT
Donald J. Trump
The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500
Comments: 202-456-1111
White House switchboard: 202-456-1414
Email: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
U.S. SENATE
U.S. Sen. Charles E. Schumer
Washington, DC Office
322 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-6542
Albany Office
Leo O’Brien Building, Room 420, Albany, NY 12207
Phone: (518) 431-4070
Email: www.schumer.senate.gov/contact/email-chuck
U.S. Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand
Washington, DC Office
478 Russell Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-4451
Albany Office
Leo W. O’Brien Federal Office Building, 11A Clinton Avenue, Room 821, Albany, NY 12207
Phone: (518) 431-0120
Email: www.gillibrand.senate.gov/contact/email-me
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Rep. Antonio Delgado, 19th District
Washington, DC Office:
1007 Longworth HOB, Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-5614
Kingston Office
256 Clinton Ave, Kingston, NY 12401
Email: https://delgado.house.gov/contact/email-me
Rep. Paul D. Tonko, 20th District
Washington D.C. Office
2369 Rayburn HOB, Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-5076
Schenectady Office:
105 Jay Street, Room 15, Schenectady, NY 12305
Phone: (518) 374-4547
Email: https://tonko.house.gov/contact/
Rep. Elise Stefanik, 21st District
Washington, DC Office
318 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-4611
Glens Falls Office
5 Warren Street, Suite 4
Glens Falls, NY 12801
Phone: (518) 743-0964
Email: https://stefanik.house.gov/contact/email
NEW YORK STATE GOVERNMENT
GOVERNOR
Gov. Andrew Cuomo
New York State Capitol Building, Albany, NY 12224
Phone: (518) 474-8390
Email: http://www.governor.ny.gov/contact.
NEW YORK STATE SENATE
Sen. Daphne Jordan, 43rd District
Albany Office
Legislative Office Building, Room 917, Albany, NY 12247
Albany office: (518) 455-2381
Email: [email protected]
Sen. Jim Tedisco, 49th District
Clifton Park District Office
636 Plank Rd., 2nd Floor Clifton Park, NY 12065-2046
Phone: 518-885-1829
Albany Office
Legislative Office Building, Room 515, Albany, NY 12247
Phone: 518-455-2181
Email: [email protected]
Sen. George Amedore, 46th District
Montgomery County Office
20 Park Street, Fonda, NY 12068
Phone: 518-853-3401
Albany Office
Legislative Office Building, Room 802, Albany, NY 12247
Phone: (518) 455-2350
Email: [email protected]
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
Assemblyman Phil Steck, 110th District
Schenectady Office:
1609 Union Street, Schenectady, NY 12309
Phone: 518-377-0902
Albany Office
Legislative Office Building, Room, 702, Albany, NY 12248
Phone: 518-455-5931
Email: [email protected]
Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara, 111th District
Schenectady office:
433 State Street, Schenectady, NY 12305
Phone: 518-382-2941
Albany Office
Legislative Office Building, Room 654, Albany, NY 12248
Phone: 518-455-5197
Email: [email protected]
Assemblywoman Mary Beth Walsh, 112th District
Ballston Spa Office
199 Milton Avenue, Suite 3-4, Ballston Spa, NY 12020
Phone: 518-884-8010
Albany Office
Legislative Office Building, Room 725, Albany, NY 12248
Phone: 518-455-5772
Email: [email protected]
Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner, 113th District
Saratoga Office
112 Spring Street, Suite 205, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
518-584-5493
Albany Office
Legislative Office Building, Room 323, Albany, NY 12248
Phone: 518-455-5404
Email: [email protected]
Assemblyman Robert Smullen, 118th District
Johnstown Office
41 East Main Street, Room 108 City Hall, Johnstown, NY 12095
Phone: 518-762-1427
Albany Office
Legislative Office Building, Room 527, Albany, NY 12248
Phone: 518-455-5393
Electronic message: https://www.facebook.com/SmullenAssembly/
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