KEY TO SUCCESS
This page is all about the importance of getting registered as a supporter of the ALMT. If you have any question as to whether you should register or not, READ THIS PAGE!!
Why Are You Trying to Get Everyone Registered?
The number of registered supporters we have is the ultimate key to our success. The effort to get a law passed in Minnesota has been ongoing since 1991. One of the major reasons the effort has failed has not been that there is a group opposing the legislation, because there will always be someone out there who opposes ANY legislation. (There could be a bill proposed to make the official name of a person from Minnesota a Minnesotan, and somewhere somebody would oppose it on the grounds that they like the name "Minnesotaners".) So there will always be opposition. The problem for proponents of Massage Therapy credentialing has been that the groups opposing the legislation, though smaller in number have been very good at getting organized and getting their supporters to call their legislators at the right time. Our Registration drive and our upcoming "Call St. Paul!" Campaign aims to change that trend.
When a supporter of state credentialing gets officially registered, their name, phone/email contact information is entered into the ALMT Supporter Database, which resides in the computer of the ALMT Volunteer Coordinator, (whose name is Kimberly and is the lovely bride of the ALMT chair, Jeremy Miller.) Also collected is the supporter's home address and if different, their work address. These bits of info are entered into a widget (which if you don't know is actually a real thing in computer language now) to determine the legislative district for both the MN House and MN Senate. When the bill is introduced to the Legislature in February 2010 and assigned to a Committee, our Volunteer Coordinator will sort our database by Legislative District and send out a "Call St. Paul!" Action Alert to let the supporters in the districts that are represented on that committee, know we are about to be heard by their representative. Because while any citizen can call any legislator they want to, the call carries more weight if it is from a citizen who lives or works in the legislator's district.
So for a fictional example, let's make up Massage Therapist Joe. Joe lives in Duluth and works at a resort in Lutsen. His home Senator is Senator Smith, and his work Senator is Senator Jones. It just so happens that Senator Jones is the chair of the first committee to hold a hearing for our bill. So Joe and the other 9 supporters we have on our rolls who live or work in Lutsen, get an email from the ALMT Volunteer Coordinator saying it is time to "Call St. Paul!" This way our supporters know just the right time to call their Senator so that their opinion will carry the most weight and they will be getting the most mileage for their effort. And we will follow the same procedure for each supporter for their House reps as well. If a supporter works or lives in more than one place, email our Volunteer Coordinator and we can get those other address added in as well so we are increasing the number of quick phone calls you can make to push us over the top into the land of Licensure!
There is a statistic that for every call that comes into a Legislator's office, there are 300 other constituents who feel the same way. Going by that, for every person who supports the effort and registers so they can know the most effective moment to call, the amount of support our legislators perceive increases exponentially!
I Support the Idea of a Massage Credential, But I Don't Want to Give Out My Contact Information Because I Don't Want it to Go To a Certain School/AMTA/ABMP/etc.
SEE THE NEW, EZ REGISTRATION FORM THAT DOESN'T ASK FOR YOUR ADDRESS, JUST YOUR LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT ON THE FORMS, FORMS, FORMS PAGE!
Identity theft issues are a serious problem. (My best friend was a victim of identity theft over a year ago, and he is still having issues with it. So I know how devastating this can be, at that extreme level of betrayal.) We will never, ever rent, sell, give or otherwise provide your information to anyone, any group, or any organization. Did I say ever? I meant ever. When this effort is all over, all information will be destroyed, any hard copies shredded. (We will use the Boy Scouts camp clean-up motto - Leave No Trace.) What some supporters have done is created a new email address with a free email server, like gmail.com, yahoo.com or hotmail.com, or any of the many other choices out there, and used that as their registration email. The only trick is, to check it so it doesn't get shut down, or worse, so that you don't miss a "Call St. Paul!" alert.
So How Do I Register?
You can go to the Forms, Forms, Forms page and print out and mail in a paper form, or use of the several registration options on that page. The key is to get registered.
Page Updated: 22Dec2009
This page is all about the importance of getting registered as a supporter of the ALMT. If you have any question as to whether you should register or not, READ THIS PAGE!!
Why Are You Trying to Get Everyone Registered?
The number of registered supporters we have is the ultimate key to our success. The effort to get a law passed in Minnesota has been ongoing since 1991. One of the major reasons the effort has failed has not been that there is a group opposing the legislation, because there will always be someone out there who opposes ANY legislation. (There could be a bill proposed to make the official name of a person from Minnesota a Minnesotan, and somewhere somebody would oppose it on the grounds that they like the name "Minnesotaners".) So there will always be opposition. The problem for proponents of Massage Therapy credentialing has been that the groups opposing the legislation, though smaller in number have been very good at getting organized and getting their supporters to call their legislators at the right time. Our Registration drive and our upcoming "Call St. Paul!" Campaign aims to change that trend.
When a supporter of state credentialing gets officially registered, their name, phone/email contact information is entered into the ALMT Supporter Database, which resides in the computer of the ALMT Volunteer Coordinator, (whose name is Kimberly and is the lovely bride of the ALMT chair, Jeremy Miller.) Also collected is the supporter's home address and if different, their work address. These bits of info are entered into a widget (which if you don't know is actually a real thing in computer language now) to determine the legislative district for both the MN House and MN Senate. When the bill is introduced to the Legislature in February 2010 and assigned to a Committee, our Volunteer Coordinator will sort our database by Legislative District and send out a "Call St. Paul!" Action Alert to let the supporters in the districts that are represented on that committee, know we are about to be heard by their representative. Because while any citizen can call any legislator they want to, the call carries more weight if it is from a citizen who lives or works in the legislator's district.
So for a fictional example, let's make up Massage Therapist Joe. Joe lives in Duluth and works at a resort in Lutsen. His home Senator is Senator Smith, and his work Senator is Senator Jones. It just so happens that Senator Jones is the chair of the first committee to hold a hearing for our bill. So Joe and the other 9 supporters we have on our rolls who live or work in Lutsen, get an email from the ALMT Volunteer Coordinator saying it is time to "Call St. Paul!" This way our supporters know just the right time to call their Senator so that their opinion will carry the most weight and they will be getting the most mileage for their effort. And we will follow the same procedure for each supporter for their House reps as well. If a supporter works or lives in more than one place, email our Volunteer Coordinator and we can get those other address added in as well so we are increasing the number of quick phone calls you can make to push us over the top into the land of Licensure!
There is a statistic that for every call that comes into a Legislator's office, there are 300 other constituents who feel the same way. Going by that, for every person who supports the effort and registers so they can know the most effective moment to call, the amount of support our legislators perceive increases exponentially!
I Support the Idea of a Massage Credential, But I Don't Want to Give Out My Contact Information Because I Don't Want it to Go To a Certain School/AMTA/ABMP/etc.
SEE THE NEW, EZ REGISTRATION FORM THAT DOESN'T ASK FOR YOUR ADDRESS, JUST YOUR LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT ON THE FORMS, FORMS, FORMS PAGE!
Identity theft issues are a serious problem. (My best friend was a victim of identity theft over a year ago, and he is still having issues with it. So I know how devastating this can be, at that extreme level of betrayal.) We will never, ever rent, sell, give or otherwise provide your information to anyone, any group, or any organization. Did I say ever? I meant ever. When this effort is all over, all information will be destroyed, any hard copies shredded. (We will use the Boy Scouts camp clean-up motto - Leave No Trace.) What some supporters have done is created a new email address with a free email server, like gmail.com, yahoo.com or hotmail.com, or any of the many other choices out there, and used that as their registration email. The only trick is, to check it so it doesn't get shut down, or worse, so that you don't miss a "Call St. Paul!" alert.
So How Do I Register?
You can go to the Forms, Forms, Forms page and print out and mail in a paper form, or use of the several registration options on that page. The key is to get registered.
Page Updated: 22Dec2009
