News & Issues: Around the Alliance

Two Clicks To Be Counted

By Todd Polinchock, Secretary/Treasurer

Suburban REALTORS Alliance Board of Directors

Spring 2008

You've heard of "There is strength in numbers" and "the power of the people." Well in today's political forum, I have coined this new phrase."Two Clicks To Be Counted." No this is not a long lost Abba song and I'm not waiting for Randy Jackson to knock on my door and ask to record it.
It is simply the way that you can get your voice and opinion heard in Washington, D.C. or at the State Capitol in Harrisburg. Two mouse "clicks" for all that power you say? Pretty powerful stuff. Isn't it?

Did you know that when there is a major issue in Washington, DC, Harrisburg, or even Bucks County that directly affects your job as a Realtor, NAR, PAR and the Suburban Realtors Alliance (SRA) are watching out for you? When it becomes necessary to let our legislators know the Realtor's position on a topic that affects our jobs or personal property rights, you receive an
email asking you to make two mouse clicks. Yes, that's it..two mouse clicks! Not a request to have you recite the constitution (although I used to have the Preamble memorized thanks to Scholastic Rock.) Just two clicks! These are called "Calls To Action."

Now you'll say, "the legislators don't read all of those emails.they are form letters." Very astute and very true my fellow Realtor. BUT, they always ask their staff how many they received. I spoke recently to a staffer for a local Bucks County state representative who told me that during our last
state call to action, we literally locked up the legislator's email account with emails from her Realtor constituents. So much so that I got a call from her office saying "Ok, ok we get it!" Pretty powerful stuff from "two little clicks."

In the last Federal Call to Action on adding the FHA reform to the President's Economic Stimulus package, Congress received over 80,000 emails! Now that sounds wonderful until you realize there are over 1,300,000 Realtors (I mean registered voters) who could have responded. Think  what kind of message that would have sent.

So the next time you get that email asking you to respond to a Realtor Call To Action, don't just click once and delete it. Click twice and be counted! The job you protect may be mine. I mean yours!