Legislative Outreach Letter Writing Tools

Communicating our industry's message is critical to our survival. Horse racing employs more than 12,000 people in Michigan but, because we are spread across all 83 counties, our economic importance is sometimes overlooked. The casinos have unlimited financial resources to spread their message in Lansing. If we are to prevent the casinos from gobbling up our small sliver of the gaming pie in Michigan and preserve our livelihood, we must mobilize our industry's most valuable resource--YOU. Each and every horsemen must take responsibility for communicating our message to our legislators.

To help you in that effort, we’ve created some tools to help with that task. Every horseman, every situation, and every story is unique, but keep in mind the important points we need to communicate. To assist you in communicating those important points to your legislators, consider starting with one of the letter templates below as a guide and be sure and include the following key information:

Introduction: who you are, where you live, and what you do;

Industry description: 12,000  hard-working horsemen who support many others through their purchase of goods and services;

Industry status: hurt by the expansion of casino gambling and prevented from evolving to meet customer preferences;

Request support: ask them to please support SB1075 and HB5546.

Urgency: our industry will likely cease to exist beyond next year without a solution.

Once you've sent your letters to Lansing, ask your fellow horsemen, vets, suppliers, family, and friends if they’ve done the same. If horse racing ceases to exist, the impact will be felt by many. We CAN make sure our message is heard, but only if we all do our part.

Personalize the template to your situation. Don't forget to include the key points and keep it brief. This type of letter has a much greater impact than either a phone call or e-mail. REACH OUT TO LANSING IN ANY WAY YOU CAN.

1. Determine who represents you in Lansing

Find your Senator (http://www.senate.michigan.gov/fysenator/fysenator.htm)

Find your Representative (http://house.michigan.gov/MHRPublic/)

2. Pick a letter template and personalize your message

Horsemen's letter templates

Supplier/Vet/Feed Mill letter templates