Unread Political Email

During the Kansas Senate's debate on the 2009-10 budget, the Kansas University Alumni Association asked me to contact my state senator and urge that KU's budget not be cut. I used the Association's Web site to send an email with a subject line that read "Kansas Higher Education Budget" to react to their request. Rather than parrot the Association's line, I took a contrary approach, telling my senator that KU was over-staffed and could do more to reduce spending in a time of funding scarcity. Shortly after sending my email, I received a thank you email from the Association for my support of KU's budget needs.

This week I received a follow-up email from my senator informing me that "The legislation which emerged asks higher education to cut its budget by eight tenths of one percent (0.8%). Higher education and K-12 are essentially held harmless in the current budget bill." The senator's email ended with, "Thank you for your email in support of funding for higher education. I appreciate your taking time to share your comments with me." Obviously, the senator's office didn't read my email, else they wouldn't have thanked me for supporting funding for higher education, which I did not.

What is the lesson taught by this sequence of events? In an email to elected representatives, all that counts is the subject line. So, put your opinion there, up front in an unambiguous way. Then, be really brief in your comments. You'll have a better chance of being read.