How can I find contact info for a new White House Task Force?
January 31, 2014 7:19 PM Subscribe
I'm charged with delivering a letter from a group of sexual assault prevention experts to the newly formed White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault. The task force only exists for 90 days, so time is of the essence, yet I can't find a way to contact them.
So, I've helped draft, and collected signatures on, a letter from a group of sexual assault prevention experts to the newly formed White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault. (We're urging the task force to foreground prevention efforts, which have been neglected at the national level for decades). We need a physical address, email address, or fax number, preferably with an associated name of an actual person, to send the letter to.
The task force is co-chaired by designees (unnamed, as yet) of the Office of the Vice President and the White House Council on Women and Girls. Email query to the White House via their main website has gone unanswered (5 business days). Tweets to Joe Biden, his VP Twitter account, and Valeri Jarrett's Twitter account (she chairs the Council on Women and Girls) have produced nothing. The email link for the Vice President at the whitehouse.gov site returns a 404 Not Found (!).
I haven't called my senators or representative because I live in Texas and I loathe all three of them. My next plan is to call the White House switchboard, but I can't do that until Monday. And if that doesn't work, I have to start begging Ted Cruz for help. I will if I have to, but I can't help thinking there must be another way.
I realize it's early days and it may take the administration a little while to assign staff, set meetings, etc. But the task force only has 90 days to consult with outside experts and formulate its recommendations to the President, so we want to get our concerns before the members ASAP.
So, I've helped draft, and collected signatures on, a letter from a group of sexual assault prevention experts to the newly formed White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault. (We're urging the task force to foreground prevention efforts, which have been neglected at the national level for decades). We need a physical address, email address, or fax number, preferably with an associated name of an actual person, to send the letter to.
The task force is co-chaired by designees (unnamed, as yet) of the Office of the Vice President and the White House Council on Women and Girls. Email query to the White House via their main website has gone unanswered (5 business days). Tweets to Joe Biden, his VP Twitter account, and Valeri Jarrett's Twitter account (she chairs the Council on Women and Girls) have produced nothing. The email link for the Vice President at the whitehouse.gov site returns a 404 Not Found (!).
I haven't called my senators or representative because I live in Texas and I loathe all three of them. My next plan is to call the White House switchboard, but I can't do that until Monday. And if that doesn't work, I have to start begging Ted Cruz for help. I will if I have to, but I can't help thinking there must be another way.
I realize it's early days and it may take the administration a little while to assign staff, set meetings, etc. But the task force only has 90 days to consult with outside experts and formulate its recommendations to the President, so we want to get our concerns before the members ASAP.
Call your congress critters, even if they're craven shits. This is constituent services, which they get a budget for.
posted by klangklangston at 7:37 PM on January 31, 2014 [5 favorites]
posted by klangklangston at 7:37 PM on January 31, 2014 [5 favorites]
Response by poster: Thanks everyone--I tried all of the above (elected officials were spectacularly unhelpful) and finally struck pay dirt through the Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women. They provided the email address OVW.SATaskForce [at] usdoj.gov through which I was able to send our letter and follow up with some conference calls. The task force is active through early April, and they've encouraged everyone to send comments, so if you're interested in this topic, please spread that address around. They seem very engaged and interested in hearing from everyone, formally and informally.
posted by helpthebear at 2:02 PM on March 3, 2014
posted by helpthebear at 2:02 PM on March 3, 2014
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I would reconsider calling your senators or congressperson. Yeah, you loathe them, but you're not calling them personally, you're calling some nice and helpful drone in their office whose job it is to respond promptly and courteously to constituents like you.
posted by Rob Rockets at 7:34 PM on January 31, 2014 [2 favorites]