Kansas Association of Realtors * Kansas City Anti-Violence Project * League of Conservation Voters * M+R Strategic Services * Medical Group Management Association * MoveOn.org * National Air Traffic Controllers Association * National Congress of Vietnamese Americans * National Council of Nonprofit Associations *
National Environmental Trust * National Independent Advocate National Nuclear Victims for Justice * National Parks Conservation Association * National Taxpayers Union * National Wildlife Federation * NARAL Pro-Choice America * New Jersey Audubon Society * New Mexico Wilderness Alliance * New Organizing Institute * New York - New Jersey Trail Conference Oxfam America * NTEN * Nuclear Information and Resource Service *
Oceana * OMB Watch/Focus Project * Oxfam America * Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters * People for the American Way * Planned Parenthood Federation of America * Planned Parenthood Federation of Georgia, Inc * Polly Klaas Foundation *Rad Campaign * RightMarch.com * Scenic America * Service Employees International Union * Sojourners * Stem Cell Political Action Coalition * The Center for Democracy and Technology * The Center for Food Safety * The Humane Society of the United States * The Wilderness Society * Triangle Foundation * TrueMajority.org/TrueMajorityACTION.org * United Cerebral Palsy * United Farmworkers * US Public Interest Research Group * Women's Funding Network *



June 19, 2006

Dear Representative,

We recently learned that congressional offices may be implementing new technology that will effectively block email communications from constituents to their Representatives. While you may not yet be aware of this technology, more than 100 organizations from across the political and ideological spectrum strongly urge you not to implement this new function. If your office has begun using it, we request that you disable it.

This technology, called 'Logic Puzzle,' enables congressional offices to block email from constituents. This tool would block millions of constituent messages from people who expect you--and elected you--to listen to them. We believe the use of such technology, to limit communications between the public and elected officials, is wrong and a real threat to democratic principles.

We ask instead that you agree to work in a public, open and bipartisan way with nonprofits and other organizations to improve Congress' handling of email communications for both your benefit and the benefit of your constituents. While we understand and sympathize with the growing demand on congressional staff posed by increasing volumes of email, blocking emails from your constituents that flow through organizations is not a solution, and in fact is a very significant threat to our democratic process.

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