Effective Lobbying
At the Grassroots Level
By Chris Brantley,
IEEE-USA
This section provides a practical overview on how
you can build an effective grassroots network in your section, community, and/or state to
share information and mobilize action on the policy issues that concern you and the
engineering profession.
Why Grassroots?
The answer to the question is quite simple.
Politicians need votes in order to get elected (or re-elected). A strong grassroots
network of constituents represents a vote generating (or alienating) engine that a good
candidate or elected official can't afford to ignore.
For their December 1997 issue, Fortune
magazine interviewed over 2,000 Washington insiders, including Members of Congress, their
staffs, and White House officials, and asked them to rank the most influential lobbies in
Washington and to identify what makes them influential. The answers shouldn't be
surprising. Dominating the top ten lobbies were national organizations like the American
Association of Retired Persons, the National Federation of Independent Businesses, the
National Rifle Association, and the Christian Coalition. What do they all have in common?
A very large and motivated membership that actively participates in grassroots political
activity on issues of common concern.
Equally enlightening was the respondents' list of
what works best in lobbying:
- Delivering the straight facts to lawmakers;
- Having active allies in a Congressman's district;
- Mobilizing grassroots action, such as phone calls
and letters;
- Getting along well with politicians and their
staffs.
And what doesn't work: Johnny-come-lately's who
rush into action during election years and spent their money on high-priced lobbyists and
TV/radio/print attack ads.
During my nine years with IEEE-USA, I frequently
interact with members who seem genuinely surprised with the notion that political
popularity can dictate the legislative solution to a problem rather than a cold hard
systems analysis of the options that identifies the most effecient solution. But to quote
from Marc Caplan's A Citizen's Guide to Lobbying:
Few bills, if any, pass solely on their merits.
Evidence is nice, but facts do not vote; constituents do. Organizing citizen support for a
bill is the most crucial part of lobbying.
Therefore, it isn't enough for engineers to offer
the technically-sound "right answer" to solve national, state, or local
problems; they have to help ensure that the decision-maker who is being asked to implement
that solution is comfortable that it has broad public support and will help, not-hinder,
re-election prospects.
Hopefully, these excerpts combined with the
exhortations of my fellow panelists have convinced you of the critical role that
grassroots activism can play in shaping our laws and regulations at the federal and state
level. But if you are still in doubt, I leave you with this advice given by Congressman
George Brown to IEEE-USA at its 1997 Technology Policy Symposium:
You also need to use your membership to engage in
a broader process of educating legislators and the public. Professional science and
engineering societies should be using their local chapters and regional sections to
interact with Members of the House and Senate. These Members should be helped to realize
that these seemingly arcane debates about technology development have a local face at high
technology companies in their state or district, or at colleges and universities at home.
They need to gain a better understanding of your world and the realities of our science
and technology efforts.
Why Me?
Another easy answer---self interest.
It must have happened to you. One day you opened
the paper or turned on the TV and saw something that put a crease in your brow or caused
your stomach to churn. You scratched your head and said "that doesn't make
sense" or "that can't work." Or you realized that this proposal or the
failure to take action (i.e., political gridlock) could adversely affect your job, hurt
your community, or put a strain on your bank-account.
So that the point is not too abstract here are
some concrete examples. It could be that proposal being considered by your state board of
licensing and registration to impose mandatory continuing education requirements. Maybe
you're a software engineer in Texas subject to a new registration requirement. Perhaps
you're nearing retirement and thinking about that change in the pension laws under
consideration in Washington that could improve your retirement security if only Congress
would move it forward. It could be that your company let you go and you just heard that a
foreign engineer brought into the country with an H-1B guestworker visa took your place.
Or your research proposal was rejected because of federal R&D fundings cuts. To close
out this parade of horribles, perhaps your state is planning to deregulate your electrical
utility service and you're fearful that their proposal will only serve to increase the
cost of electricity, add to your frustration, and maybe even damage the reliability of
your electrical service.
You'd like to protect your interests and encourage
the best possible solution to the problems, but what do you do? What can you do? And if
not you, then who?
The first thing is to become politically active as
an individual. That means becoming more educated about the issues and communicating your
views to your elected and appointed representatives. It means establishing a relationship
with them, if possible, by visiting them, becoming a credible resource for advice and
information, inviting them to visit your company, university, organization or community
group, and byvolunteering to work on their political campaign. Last, but not least, it
means joining with and recruiting others who share your concerns and interests to do the
same.
How to Build a Local Grassroots Network
A grass roots network is essentially a group of
individuals with similar interests and concerns who are willing to take personal action.
So where do you start? Why not right in own your local IEEE section or group, in your
church group, or with your neighbors.
Begin your network by creating a list of everyone
you know who might be able and interested in helping. Then contact them and ask them to
volunteer. Build a phone tree or e-mail list so that you have a means of contacting
everyone who shares your interest. Share the burden and get everyone involved. As your
network grows, recruit coordinators (i.e., individuals who are willing to take
responsibility for keeping a portion of the network informed and active). Ask your network
members to recruit new members; those that are successful will become the coordinators.
Use technology to help manage the network.
Database or address book software can be used to keep contact information and generate
mailing labels. E-mail provides a cheap and quick means of communication within the
network. You can save the costs of postage and minimze e-mail traffic by providing
background information such as draft legislation, proposed statements, and points of
contact on the World Wide Web.
Once your network is established it is also
important to broaden your base by building coalitions with other networks and
organizations willing to invest their energy and resources on issues of common concern. If
it a technical issue of interest to IEEE members, certainly it may affect other
engineering disciplines. Investigate what other societies and their local sections are
doing. If your issue concerns your community or state, any number of organizations and
groups may be willing to join forces. You may have to educate them on the issues, but once
they understand how they can be effected, they will look for ways to endorse and support
your efforts.
For years, IEEE-USA has lobbyied in Washington for
greater portability of pensions. Pension portability is the perfect example of an issue
that can cut across a broad spectrum of groups and professions because of our increasingly
mobile U.S. workforce. Accordingly, IEEE-USA's pension lobbying efforts are coordinated
with other organizations through the Pensions Coalition and the Engineers and Scientists
Joint Committee on Pensions.
The down-side of coalitions is that it can be
difficult to reach consensus on priorities and lobbying strategies when there are more
players at the table. However, it is usually better to approach decision-makers with a
coordinated voice and to leverage the available resources for a common purpose rather than
generating confusion and possibly cancelling out each others influence out through
multiple and conflicting efforts.
The Tools of the Trade
So you've got a grassroots network in place. How
can you make effective use of it? Here are some notes on grassroots lobbying, including
some tips on useful tools of the trade:
1. Energizing Your Network: One of the real
challenges in grass roots lobbying is how to get volunteers who have expressed an interest
to take action when needed. Paul Revere's mid-night ride would have been to no avail if
the Minutemen had not grabbed their muskets and marched to met the British regulars.
Having a list of volunteer names in a database is not enough; you need to keep that
network energized so that they are ready to act when the alert goes out.
The basic formula for keeping a grassroots network
energized includes three steps:
- Education;
- Motivation; and
- Activation.
Education involves keeping your
network members up to date on the issues and developments. Make sure they understand the
politics and the key players who are also attempting to influence outcomes on your issues.
Give them advance notice of decision points such as hearings and key votes, and warn them
that they will be called upon to take action. Grassroots volunteers (especially engineers)
must feel comfortable that they know what they are talking about before they will take
action. Legislative Bulletins and/or newsletters are typically tools for keeping your
grassroots network up to speed. Some other tools include regular meetings, e-mail lists,
and the World Wide Web.
Motivation is also a part of
education. It is not enough to tell network members that they to write to their legislator
urging a particular action. The grassroots volunteers also need to know how the
legislation will affect them, their interests, or their community. Will it affect their
pocket-book (and how)? Will it affect how their practice their profession (and how)? Will
it somehow hurt the community, state, or country (and how)? Unless your volunteers are
motivated by personal interest and knowledge, they will not respond to your call for
action.
Finally, there is Activation.
Typically this is done by issuing an Action Alert to your network members that asks them
to take a specific action by a certain date, gives them necessary contact information,
explains why the action is necessary, and provides talking points or background
information to help them respond. Members should be activated at those key points in the
legislative process when their input can make a difference. Contacts should be scheduled
to coincide with key steps in the legislative process, including bill introduction,
hearings, legislative mark-ups, subcommittee and committee votes, floor debates and votes,
and conference committee deliberations. If the bill is not moving, then action alerts can
be used to urge a hearing or encourage co-sponsorship of the bill to move it into the
legislatie spot-light. Timing is everthing. If input is to early, policy-makers will
ignore or forget it by the time they have to take action. Another common mistake is to
issue the call for action so late that network members either don't have time to respond
or their responses are received too late, which conveys the unfortunate message that your
volunteers are not politically savvy.
Like any tool, a grassroots network has to be used
regularly to stay sharp. People need to be involved and feel that their involvement is
making a difference, otherwise their interest tends to fade away. You can't put your
network on hold after the legislative session and expect that people will respond quickly
when the next session starts. By the same token, activation can't be just busy work; it
has to make your grassroots volunteer feel like they are making a real contribution. And
you have to stop to acknowledge and celebrate your successes, one of the most common
oversights in our sometimes frenetic existence.
2. Contacting Your Legislator: Once you've
energized your grassroots network to take action, there are three basic tools that your
network members can use to reach a legislator or government official quickly.
Phone Calls are the quickest
method to register your views. You can find your Senator or Representatives' phone number
in the blue pages of your local phone book or by contacting the IEEE-USA Washington
office. Don't expect to speak with the actual Member of Congress unless you are well-known
to each other, but ask to speak with the staffer who is responsible for monitoring the
issue or bill that you are concerned by. When you get that person on the phone, identify
yourself as a constitutent and then tell them what you want your Member of Congress to do
and why. Keep your call short and to the point, don't threaten or talk down to the
staffer, and offer to provide more detailed information in support of your position if
asked.
Letters can be effective if you
are clearly identified as a constituent, if the content is clear and to the point, and if
you focus on one topic and state clearly what action you would like taken and why.
Personal letters carry disproportionate weight since Members assume anyone who is
motivated enough to take the time required to write such a letter represents the tip of
the iceberg of constituent concern. On complex science and technology issues, IEEE-USA has
been told frequently by our contacts on the Hill that as few as 4-7 personal letters from
constitutents are enought to encourage that Member to take action. Form letters, post
cards, and blast faxes on a specific bill or issue are counted and weighed and may be
influential in large quality, but are typically not read or responded to.
E-mail is increasingly used for
grassroots communications and by Members of Congress and their staff, although acceptance
is still not universal. Many offices routinely delete any e-mail that is not obviously
from a constitutent, so make sure your e-mail has a mailing address or advisory in the
subject heading and at the top of the page. Only a few offices review e-mail in it's
electronic form; many just print off the messages and add them to the stack of constituent
mail to be reviewed and answered (or not). In that case, the same advice for writing an
effective letter is also applicable to e-mail.
In addition to a quick response mechanism, an
effective grass roots network should also be involved in supporting a more deliberate,
proactive plan for interaction with your elected representatives. The goal is to establish
an on-going relationship with the legislator so that he or she knows your group and their
interests, and know who to contact for information and support. Activities and events such
as visits to a legislator's Washington or district office, invitations to speak at
meetings and special events, demonstration and tours, award presentations, etc. are all
key components of an effective plan.
3. Working The Media: One very important
way to influence legislation or policy is by raising public awareness and swaying public
opinion on your issues. That involves working with the media and establishing yourself (or
your network or coalition) as a credible source of information that can respond to
reporters' requests on a short deadlines. There is no substitute here for establishing a
working relationship with the reporters who cover the issues you're concerned about. You
can do that by attending the events that they cover and talking to them, sharing useful
information, and identifying credible sources that they can interview. If you help them do
their job well, they find a way to repay the favor.
Press Releases are the traditional tools for
conveying your message to media outlets. Whether your message will see print will depend
in large part on several factors, including how "hot" the news issue is, how
newsworthy your contribution is, how credible your information source or organization is,
and how well drafted the release is.
Letters to the Editor and OpEds are another way to
get your message into print. When you see an article in the local paper on an issue of
concern, and you think the article missed a key point or got something wrong, don't wait
for someone else to say so (since they probably won't). Take the time to write a letter to
the editor and submit it as soon as possible so that your response is timely. Op Eds are
another way to get your point of view into print; these are simply prepared editorials on
certain subjects submitted for print. It is worth the time to contact your editorial page
editor to find out what they expect in an OpEd piece. If you can also arrange for a
prominent member of the community to submit the OpEd, it also increases the prospects that
it will be printed.
Interviews on television or in print are a great
way to raise public awareness. When the opportunity arises, it is critical that your
network/coalition puts forward the best possible speaker; someone who has a good command
of the issues, communicates well, is able to speak in quotable sound-bites, and will stick
to the message that the network/coalition has agreed to. This can be difficult since media
opportunities typically arise on short notice. It is best to recruit a spokesperson well
in advance and if possible to practice for media opportunities.
Another way to get media exposure if by showing up
at the press conferences and media events organized by others, with banners, signs, and
spokespersons who can share your group's perspectives with the reporters in attendance.
4. Hiring a Lobbyist: A lobbyist is simply
someone paid to help influence legislation or regulations in a way that serves the
interests of the client. A good lobbyist is someone knowledgeable about the issues and the
policy process, who has a network of contacts that can be used to build coalitions and
access policy-makers, has experience and a successful track record of advocacy, and is not
subject to conflicts of interest. If funds are available, a lobbyist can provide valuable
assistance to a grass-roots network, including helping to monitor legislation and the
legislative process, generating a lobbying strategy for your network, shaping your message
and identifying opportunities to communicate it, and by serving as a primary point of
contact for the network, media, decision-makers and others.
Hiring a lobbyist is not an inexpensive
proposition, but if you are able to do so, then you will need to negotiate a contract that
specifies the duties of the lobbyist and fees to be paid in some detail. Your lobbyist
should also be registered with the appropriate state agency and/or U.S. Congress.
Some engineering societies provide a modest
stipend or expense allowance to a retired member who is willing to take on the job of
being a lobbyist. This is fine as long as that individual satisfies the applicable
lobbyist registration requirements. Your network may also be able to draw on the lobbying
experience of the organizations to which the network members belong. IEEE-USA for example,
has five professional staffers who are registered as lobbyists, including the author who
are available as a resource to assist IEEE's U.S. members.
One other point about lobbyists is that is you are
hiring a lobbyist or engaging in lobbying activities as an IEEE entity, you need report
your activities and expenditures to IEEE’s Manager of Tax Compliance and to IEEE-USA
so that we can file the proper IEEE disclosure and financial reports with the Internal
Revenue Service and the U.S. Congress.
5. Getting Involved in Campaigns: There are
three basic ways you can get involved in campaigns: fund-raising, candidate endorsements,
and campaign volunteering.
One prevailing notion of lobbying is that in order
to achieve your legislative goals, you have to be willing to raise money for political
candidates, typically through political action committees or by personal gifts. Money
helps candidates get elected and therefore your campaign contribution buys access and
influence with the newly-elected decision-maker.
It is certainly true that campaigns turn on money.
The cost of a typical campaign for a U.S. House of Representatives seat is now estimated
at over a million dollars. Candidates for the Senate may spend $5-10 million for a
successful campaign. But remember what campaign money buys--exposure of the candidate to
the voters either through mailings, TV time, travel, etc. If you can deliver the voters
through your grassroots network, you don't need to contribute money to the campaign
Campaign volunteering can take any number of
forms. Typical activities might include staking a candidate sign in your front yard as a
personal endorsement, going door to door to distribute information about the candidate to
your neighbors, organizing and hosting a fund-raising tea or event, helping to develop
campaign positions on issues that tap your own expertise, or working in the campaign
office stuffing envelops, making cold calls to voters, or whatever else needs to get done.
As a 501(c)(3) non-profit society, IEEE is
not allowed to participate in partisan politics. Among the prescribed activities are
participation in political campaigns, gifts to candidates, and candidate endorsements.
Therefore, as individuals or networks working to advance IEEE's legislative agenda, you
should not engage in any of these activities in IEEE's name or using IEEE's funds.
However, you are free to get personally involved in a campaign and contribute your own
funds if you wish to do so; just make sure that IEEE is not explicitly or implicitly
connected with the activity.
[ Table
of Contents ]
Last Updated: April 15, 1999
This section is adapted from a paper submitted for
presentation at the 1998 IEEE-USA Professional Development Conference.
Copyright © 1999, The
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
Permission to copy granted for non-commercial uses with appropriate attribution.
All other uses restricted. |