When I was in college, one of my professors wanted us to understand how to effectively communicate with government officials. He brought into class someone he knew who was a lobbyist. Here's what we were told. It's assumed that most people don't bother communicating with them in any capacity, so any ideas communicated are assumed to be shared by hundreds-to-thousands of other people in that district. The relative value of these communications is snail mail > phone calls > email. Your communications are received by staffers, and the contents of many communications are tabulated for a report that the staff gives to the representative. Representatives are very concerned about how they appear in media. They pay personal attention to media local to their district, and are sensitive to their name being mentioned.

So, the communication strategy:

1. Send a hand-written letter to your representative.
2. Send a copy of your letter to any local newspapers, for inclusion in their "letters to the editor" section.
3. Make a phone call to their office, and convey on the phone what you've conveyed in your letter.

Your letter should be short and to the point. It should mention your representative by name, and what you are asking them to do. In my experience, it takes about 3 months to receive a response from a written letter. This is why it's important that your letter also be sent to the media, and why it's important to send the phone call, as these will be noticed more quickly.

If you have the connections to get your representative mentioned by a local televised news broadcast, in relation to what you are petitioning them to do, that would be even more effective.