Tag: democracy

At our November gen­er­al meet­ing, our guest Monette Richards, pres­i­dent of  CFI Northeast Ohio, gave us some tips and ideas on how to become cit­i­zen lob­by­ists after the recent elec­tion.

Richards explained that you real­ly only need to call the local office of your elect­ed offi­cials and make an appoint­ment to speak to them. Some rep­re­se­n­a­tives hold office hours where they meet peo­ple with­out a for­mal appoint­ment. When you go to the appoint­ment have some talk­ing points to give to the offi­cial or their staff.

The thing she stressed is to do it. Big donor mon­ey gets a lot of atten­tion and our only way to get through that noise is to per­son­al­ly speak to the elect­ed peo­ple or their staffs and let them know what you think.

Richards also said it is good to find estab­lished groups that are work­ing on a issue you feel strong­ly about and join them so you aren’t rein­vent­ing the wheel.

She also sug­gest­ed a book, The Citizen Lobbyist by Amanda Knief and Rev. Barry W. Lynn, as a good primer. And if you need to invent the wheel because there isn’t an estab­lished group, the Skeptical Activism Campaign Manual will help start the ball rolling.

SHoWLE mem­ber Peggy C. also sug­gest­ed a web­site called  5 Calls.

Our next gen­er­al meet­ing is December 8th.