This was submitted by Brenden Kendall. There is some good information here.
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Guidelines for Writing a Letter to Your (Soon-to-Be) Elected Representative

It’s easy to forget the value of directly contacting our elected representatives and candidates for public office. Since the peak of world oil production, or “peak oil”, is an often unknown or underestimated scenario, establishing its visibility and importance for public officials is crucial. The same goes for “relocalization”, the reinvigoration of local infrastructure, economies, communities, and resource cycles. To establish visibility, groups of concerned citizens must generate sufficient comment about the issue. To be convincing of the issue’s import, those groups must craft unique, persuasive comments. That’s why we’re providing you the guidelines below rather than just another form letter. These guidelines, used to build a brief and pithy letter under one page in length, should help you craft an effective appeal to your candidate or representative.

♣ Establish who you are. Are you a “concerned citizen”? Are you actively involved with Post Carbon Salt Lake? (Our group can use all of the exposure we can get!) Are you an employee of a prominent local business or organization? Use these identities to your advantage and to the advantage of those groups.
♣ Establish relocalization and/or peak oil as your topic. Provide a basic description that compels the interest of the reader. Establish peak oil as a problem and relocalization an opportunity. Provide useful references, such as PCSL’s website, http://www.relocalize.net/groups/saltlake.
♣ Explain why you’re concerned about peak oil and/or relocalization. Do you have particular concerns related to these topics? Do you get all hot and bothered about food production and distribution, transit, housing, energy procurement and use, or something else? Tackle the sub-issues that interest you. Being specific makes your letter more emotionally honest and intellectually interesting.
♣ Explain why the person to whom you’re writing should be concerned about peak oil. A few statements telling this person why there important serve several functions. They can stoke the recipient’s self-esteem and sense of efficacy. Also, such statements can personalize the letter. Why did you write this decision maker – beyond the fact that they are a decision maker and opinion leader, perhaps – in addition to or instead of other individuals?
♣ Make connections between their platforms/professional history and the actions necessary to mitigate the effects of peak oil or to relocalize Utah communities. Appeal to the common ground between your personal and political interests, perhaps those of PCSL, and those of the recipient of the letter. Demonstrate the programs or ideas espoused by this candidate that are to some degree consonant with the requirements of peak oil and relocalization.
♣ Call for action. What do you want this person to do about this issue and your letter? Some possibilities include:
o request a response to your letter,
o request that the recipient study peak oil further,
o ask the recipient to see a peak oil/presentation by a member of our group (Jean Arnold has conducted presentations with the two remaining ’07 Salt Lake City mayoral candidates),
o ask the candidate/official to talk about peak oil in their regular professional capacity,
o ask that the recipient support specific extant groups or initiatives,
o ask that the recipient initiate further initiatives, such as convening a peak oil task force much like that in Portland, Oregon: http://www.portlandonline.com/osd/index.cfm?&a=150007&c=41625.
♣ Close with the emotional tenor you hope to convey. Do you want to convey appreciation for the attention to your letter, urgency about the issue, optimism about the ability of the recipient to create change, or something else? This, the closing paragraph of the letter, is where you “frame” everything that came before. Make sure its emotional tenor is consonant with much of the rest of the letter.
♣ Provide your contact information. If you want a response, provide this person or their staff with a way to get in touch with you. Providing your contact information also signals the import of your concerns, as doing so implies that you want to take the time to hear a response.
♣ Tell others to make contact, and keep Post Carbon Salt Lake abreast of inroads you make with your letters and contacts. Encourage others to participate in the democratic process as you have. Contact PCSL representatives about any dialogue you strike up on the issue. The information you provide will be important to our membership.

Thanks for doing your part in the democratic process, and for working on issues related to peak oil and relocalization. Generating a community of sentiment and action is inspiring and imperative!