GripeGenie Makes it Easy to Sound off on Kagan nomination to Senate Judiciary Committee

June 15, 2010 - PRLog -- Basking Ridge, NJ -- The Senate Judiciary Committee hearings scheduled to begin June 28 on the nomination of Solicitor General Elena Kagan to serve on the Supreme Court will follow basically the same schedule and process used in last year's hearings on the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor, according to Committee Chairman Pat Leahy (D-VT). Ranking Member Jeff Sessions (R-AL) preferred to have the hearings after the July recess, but says he remains committed to trying to hold a final vote on Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan before the August break.

A big difference this year, however, is that citizens all across the country can sound off on the Kagan nomination directly to the 19 Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, thanks to the new "Contact Congress" service launched recently by GripeGenie.com. "Most people don't know that Congress has a geographic blockade to prevent citizens from using the Internet to contact Members other than their own Senators and Representative" says Ali Rizvi, CEO of GripeGenie, Inc. "If neither of your Senators is on the Judiciary Committee, your chances of making a difference are slim and none. You need to focus your efforts on getting your message across to the Committee Members. If you don't write to the right Congressional Leaders, you're probably wasting your time and effort."

To get around the Congressional blockade against out-of-district communications, GripeGenie created a fax service that is actually easier to use than the Congressional system that requires you to go to each Member's web site. "You can find and select any or all the Members of a Committee in the House or Senate within seconds," Rizvi says, "then write your message and it will be automatically processed into individual faxes sent to each Member."

The geographic blockade doesn't makes sense, Rizvi observes, because it prevents stakeholders, experts and spokespersons for unions, associations and other groups from getting their message across to Members of a Committee unless one of their Senators or their Representative is on that Committee. "These people, as well as citizens everywhere, deserve to be heard," Rizvi declares."I hope Congress soon allows citizens to send email to any or all Senators."

The GripeGenie service makes it fast and easy for citizens to go where the action is - the Committees and Subcommittees in the House and Senate that are actually writing new legislation and reviewing Presidential nominations - so citizens can express their views to any or all the Members who have the first vote on the matter. "The guiding principle of GripeGenie is whatever will help people be heard and make a difference," Rizvi states. "That's why we also include separate fields for citizens to select the topic they are writing about, and to state their call to action - what they want the Members of Congress to do. We added these and other features after studying how Congressional offices handle incoming correspondence so that our users will have the best chance to get through all the clutter and actually get the political leaders to listen to what they have to say."

In the case of the Kagan confirmation hearings, Republicans have promised that she will go through a tough-as-nails nomination process. That is not entirely surprising. But Kagan's nomination has also drawn fire from the left. Progressive Democrats have complained that the president may be pulling the court further to the right by selecting a moderate liberal whose judicial philosophy is unclear.

To facilitate citizen involvement in the confirmation process, the GripeGenie staff has culled Ms. Kagan's views on key issues from her testimony last year before the Judiciary Committee in connection with her confirmation as Solicitor General. The attached fact sheet reproduces her statements on gun control, same-sex marriage, don't ask don't tell, abortion and separation of church and state.

The GripeGenie fax service isn't free, although Rizvi says "we've done our best to keep the cost down to where it's comparable to mailing a letter by offering substantial volume discounts," Rizvi explains. "We should point out that letters sent via US Mail don't work very well anymore, because of the security screening procedures put in place after the anthrax episode that occurred right after 9/11. It now takes three weeks to three months for letters to be delivered to Congress." To contact all 19 Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Rizvi says, GripeGenie charges $9.00, or about 47 cents apiece.

About GripeGenie, Inc.
GripeGenie is a startup company financed by angel investors. GripeGenie's mission is to be the ultimate advocate of people who want to be heard and make a difference. GripeGenie's Contact Congress service is totally agnostic and completely independent of and open to any political viewpoint. GripeGenie's objective with this service is simply to enable citizens to put Democracy in Action by helping them get their message on any issue to the Congressional leaders in a position to really do something about it. By the same token, GripeGenie will soon be helping consumers get their money's worth for the products and services they purchase.

Contact:
Robert A. Del Genio
GripeGenie, Inc.
Basking Ridge, NJ 07920
9087660375
rob.delgenio@gripegenie.com
http://www.gripegenie.com