Senator	Party	District	Email Address
Harris McDowell	D	1	harris.mcdowell@state.de.us
Margaret Rose Henry	D	2	margaret.henry@state.de.us
Robert Marshall	D	3	robert.marshall@state.de.us
Michael Katz	D	4
Catherine Cloutier	R	5	cloutiercathy@aol.com
Liane Sorenson	R	6	liane.sorenson@state.de.us
Patricia Blevins	D	7	patricia.blevins@state.de.us
David Sokola	D	8	david.sokola@state.de.us
Karen Peterson	D	9	karen.peterson@state.de.us
Bethany Hall-Long	D	10	bethany.hall-long@state.de.us
Anthony DeLuca	D	11	anthony.deluca@state.de.us
Dorinda Connor	R	12	dorinda.connor@state.de.us
David McBride	D	13	david.mcbride@state.de.us
Bruce Ennis	D	14	bruce.ennis@state.de.us
Nancy Cook	D	15	nancy.cook@state.de.us
Colin Bonini	R	16	senator-colin@prodigy.net
Brian Bushweller	D	17
Gary Simpson	R	18	gsimpson@udel.edu
Thurman Adams	D	19	thurman.adams@state.de.us
George Bunting	D	20	george.bunting@state.de.us
Robert Venables	D	21	robert.venables@state.de.us

 

 

 

Representative	Party	District	Email Address
Dennis P. Williams	D	1	dennis.williams@state.de.us
Hazel Plant	D	2	hazel.plant@state.de.us
Helene Keeley	D	3	helene.keeley@state.de.us
Gerald Brady	D	4	gerald.brady@state.de.us
Melanie George Marshall	D	5	melanie.george@state.de.us
Diana McWilliams	D	6	dianamcwilliams@comcast.net
Bryon Short	D	7	bryon.short@state.de.us
Quinton Johnson	D	8
Richard Cathcart	R	9	richard.cathcart@state.de.us
Dennis E. Williams	D	10
Gregory Lavelle	R	11	greg.lavelle@state.de.us
Deborah Hudson	R	12	deborah.hudson@state.de.us
John Mitchell	D	13	john.l.mitchell@state.de.us
Peter Schwartzkopf	D	14	peter.schwartzkopf@state.de.us
Valerie Longhurst	D	15	valerie.longhurst@state.de.us
James Johnson	D	16	jj.johnson@state.de.us
Michael Mulroony	D	17	michael.mulroony@state.de.us
Michael Barbiere	D	18
Robert Gilligan	D	19	robert.gilligan@state.de.us
Nick Manolakos	R	20	nick.t.manolakos@state.de.us
Michael Ramone	R	21
Joseph Miro	R	22	joseph.miro@state.de.us
Theresa Schooley	D	23	terry.schooley@comcast.net
William Oberle	R	24	william.oberle@state.de.us
John Kowalko	D	25	john.kowalko@state.de.us
John Viola	D	26	john.viola@state.de.us
Earl Jacques	D	27
William Carson	D	28	william.carson@state.de.us
Pamela Thornburg	R	29	pam.thornburg@state.de.us
William Outten	R	30	william.outten@state.de.us
Darryl Scott	D	31
Bradford Bennett	D	32
Robert Walls	D	33	robert.walls@state.de.us
Donald Blakey	R	34	donald.blakey@state.de.us
David Wilson	R	35
V. George Carey	R	36	george.carey@state.de.us
Joseph Booth	R	37	joseph.booth@state.de.us
Gerald Hocker	R	38	gerald.hocker@state.de.us
Daniel Short	R	39	daniel.short@state.de.us
Clifford Lee	R	40	biff.lee@state.de.us
John Atkins	D	41

 

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Simply put, lobbying is seeking to influence a legislator or other public figure regarding a particular issue or bill.  Lobbying is tremendously important in Delaware due to Delaware's small size.  Any lobbying effort done here goes alot farther than in more populous states, for with about 800,000 residents in Delaware, we each can have potentially more personal and direct relationships with our public figures.  

Bridges we can build with governmental decision-makers may be on the basis of political party, employment, business or religion.  That is, do you share their political party, work with them, do business with them or share their religious affiliation?  Perhaps you are related to them, are neighbors with them or contributed to them or their political party.  Any of these common areas should be briefly identified when communicating with the lawmakers or other officials.

When visiting with your lawmaker at Legislative Hall in Dover here are some tips:

(a)  Call for an appointment.

(b) Dress the part.  Blue jeans, cut-offs or T-shirts could send a    message of disrespect.  Generally accepted office attire is appropriate.

(c)  Take a driver's license or other picture ID to pass security.

(d)  Identify yourself as a constituent of that legislator if you are; if not, identify yourself as a concerned Delawarean.  

(e)  Cite the bill number and where the bill is currently located, i.e., what committee or which chamber has it.  Give your reasons for supporting the bill.

(f)  Be polite no matter how uninformed or overtly bigoted the lawmaker may be.

(g)  Keep focused on the issue.  Do not allow the lawmaker to dwell on unrelated smokescreens but return to what is germane to the bill.

(h)  Tell the officeholder you will continue to be in dialog with her/him about this bill, and then do so.

When lobbying by phone or by email/post/fax, above items (d) through (h) apply.

Whom should you lobby?  Start with your own representative and senator.  Then contact the committee members of the committee to which the bill is assigned.  Then contact any legislator with whom you have a personal, political, professional or religious connection.  Even those lawmakers who are supportive of your bill or issue should be encouraged in their position, lest they waver!  Legislators' e-addresses are above; other contact information for each member of the General Assembly and other elected officials is at www.delaware.gov.

Remember that if you are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender you are an expert on what it means to live under discrimination in Delaware.  If you do not belong to a sexual minority but are progressive you will also be able to enlighten some of our officeholders.  Personal experience goes far when lobbying:  tell your story, have it in written form and leave it with the lawmaker or other official as a handout.   You may want to use the Spiritual Leaders' Statement in support of gay, lesbian and bisexual civil rights or you may want to use other materials.  

In conclusion, we have often seen patient and persistent lobbying and education change minds in the Delaware General Assembly toward the direction of greater equality for the 80,000 of us Delawareans who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.  Have at it!

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Email Delaware's federal legislators through their official websites:

 

Sen. Joseph Biden:  www.biden.senate.gov   

 

Sen. Thomas Carper:  www.carper.senate.gov 

 

Rep. Michael Castle:  www.house.gov/castle

 

 

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