Thank you very much for taking the time to answer my criticism. Whether or not you condone what congress staffers are doing on the Hill is not the issue. Having seen you speak twice, I have no doubt that you want congress to be at its best and serve the citizens of this country.

That being said your tool does make it easier for staffer not read the e-mails they receive from advocacy group. In the world of non-stop world that is Cap. Hill, if staffers don’t have have to read emails, they won’t read it. They will not come to around to it at a later date.

Again, I think it is an innovative solution but as I’ve stated, I think it’s solving the wrong problem.

What I did push for was that groups of people not to create individual letters based on cookie cutter tools designed by vendors to make it seem as if each message is truly different. The vendors cynically do this because of the myth that staffers will give less weight to one person versus another based on whether the letter is identical or different than the others in the same group. I have tried hard to dispel that myth.

So let me be clear that I do not condone offices not reading letters. In fact, as I mentioned in my talk it is one of the most important roles of a member of Congress. And the technique I added to the current standard does not in any way hinder an office from reading any messages.