March Madness on Capitol Hill

Well, I've had quite an exciting week. First of all, the team here at the Advocacy Associates empire organized hundreds of Congressional meetings for two different Washington, DC fly-ins, both of which occurred on March 11th. That wouldn't be notable in and of itself except that one of them took place at the Mayflower Hotel here in Washington, DC.

Yes, THAT Mayflower hotel - the very one where Governor Spitzer, ummm, "stayed" in February. So yours truly had the joy of being at the Mayflower the day the news broke. We were so swamped with phone calls and meeting changes during the day that I didn't even hear the news until I called my husband at 6:00pm to say, without understanding the humor at all, "well, I just finished my day at the Mayflower and now I'm going home."

Really. That's what I said. The silence on the other end of the line was deafening (although perhaps he was laughing so hard he couldn't speak).

More important though is the fact that March 11th was perhaps one of the busiest days I have ever witnessed on Capitol Hill. There were literally tens of thousands of advocates in town all seeking meetings with their elected officials. Unfortunately, many offices simply couldn't accommodate all the requests, and some advocates were turned away.

If you want to find some ways to avoid the March Madness and get your message heard, check out our latest tipsheet on the topic!

The New Lobbying: It's not Just for the Rich and Powerful Anymore!

It is established wisdom that special interests use campaign funds to buy access to lawmakers and that lobbying is akin to the world's oldest profession. However, a couple recent articles in the Washington Post suggest that this knee jerk reaction to the goings-on in Washington, DC may not be 100% accurate.

First, on Feb. 14th came an article entitled "Home Builders Halt Campaign Funds After Setback"which chronicled the decision by the home builders PAC to stop making contributions to members of Congress after not getting certain policy provisions in the emergency economic stimulus bill. The message that some people are taking away from this is "See, there you have it. Lobbyists give campaign contributions and expect favors in return." In my opinion, the more important message is "See, you can be one of the biggest PAC contributor and lobbying organization on the planet and you still can't buy yourself in to the legislative process."

My perspective, which some may call naive, was confirmed in a recent article in the Post magazine entitled "How Lobbyists Always Win." In it, the efforts of the Disney corporation to increase congressional support for tourism were discussed at some length. Interestingly, the article talked more about the advetising, marketing, grassroots and networking components of lobbying than campaign contributions. In fact, the author Jeffrey Birnbaum points to a "new breed" of lobbyists more likely to find success through a combination of non-traditional factors as opposed to just "access by powerful people" and "strategic campaign funding."

The good news is that one of the pillars of this new approach is plain, old ordinary citizens like you and I. We don't have to be leaders of industry or big campaign contributors or even relatives of an elected official to have an impact -- as long as we care about an issue and make an effort to participate, we can be more powerful than all the homebuilder and mickey mouse PACs combined.

Super Duper Tuesday

I have long argued that the most important reason to vote is that it gives you the right to whine about the outsome. Given the high and, in some cases, record turnouts in the recent primaries, we're going to see a whole lot of whining come 2009.

It's great to see so many people getting out there to vote -- now if we could get them to extend their involvement to encompass ongoing communication with government then I, as the Advocacy Guru, would be happy. Maybe we should get little buttons that look like those "I Voted" buttons that say "I Advocated" and give them to everyone who visits with, writes, calls or otherwise expresses an opinion to their elected officials.

Hmmm, that actually sounds like an interesting idea. I'm on it...

In the meantime, while you're waiting for the buttons, if you want to keep an eye on delegate counts, check out the CNN Election Board It will keep you entertained at least through March.

New Year New Advocacy Podcast

Our new podcast "New Year New Advocacy" is now available for download

In this podcast from Stephanie Vance, the Advocacy Guru at Advocacy Associates, we offer three New Year's Resolutions for more effective grassroots in 2008.

Repeat after me...

I resolve to focus your efforts on fewer personalized communications (vs. form e-mails);
I resolve to utilize grassroots advocacy techniques effectively during the election cycle;
I resolve to learn more about effective advocacy techniques.

Listen and feel rejuvenated, refreshed and ready to make the world a better place for your issues!

(Oh, and if you're old fashioned, you can read the podcast transcript online)

Follow the Dollars

There's a fun new website that just launched today at: http://www.usaspending.gov/

What is it? It's one stop shopping for digging up information on who gets what from the Federal Government. Want to know who the top 100 contractors are? You'll find it here AND how much they were awarded (Boeing, incidentally is number one). It's broken down by state and Congressional district as well, so you can get a sense of which areas of the country are enjoying their fair share (or more) of federal funds.

Check it out -

The Silly Season for Congress

With the writer's strike in Hollywood, you're probably starved for good drama and comedy. Well have no fear! All you have to do is tune in to C-SPAN, the network that covers Congress. The Congress and the White House are mad at each other. The Republicans and the Democrats are mad at each other. The House and the Senate are mad at each other.

The potential result? Another government shut down if Congress can't reach an agreement on spending for 2008.

In the latest episode (i.e., as of this evening), it appears that a spending agreement has been reached, although nothing has been passed yet. As is usual, neither side is overjoyed. The House Democrats have to give in to spending on the war in Iraq, while the Republicans have to agree to a higher level of overall spending. A continuing resolution (designed to keep the government functioning) has been passed which means a shut down isn't imminent.

If you're looking for more information on what's happening, check out the following resources:

Washington Post Article on the latest agreement
Library of Congress chart on appropriations bills

Boy, Did November Get Away from Me!

Over two weeks and I haven't posted? What is up with that? Well, between a very large lobby day and several out of town presentations, I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off (or would that be turkey?)

At any rate, I wanted to share a few items that have come out in recent weeks that might be of interest:

Article from ASAE's GR Newsletter on Social Networks (written by yours truly)

"Why the Legislative Process is Like Thanksgiving Dinner" (the November tipsheet, a perennial favorite)

New resources from the Advocacy Guru's Advocacy Roundtable program:

• Worksheet on setting up an advocacy traning program
• Legislator Profile Worksheet

More soon! Happy TDay!