February 9, 2010 3:05 PM
When I first came to town in the early 90’s, the newest “advocacy” method was solid grassroots campaigns. And I am not referring to postcard bombardment of the Hill. I worked at a small grassroots firm that has now become a household name in the business. Even back then the “gray hairs” didn’t get grassroots and most direct lobbyists shunned it as not needed. Nowadays, most everyone incorporates grassroots and grasstops strategies in every big campaign.
Now that I am one of the “gray hairs,” I stand amazed (and try to keep up) at how important social media tools are making democracy more available to the masses. Obama used it to mobilize the masses and tools like Twitter, Facebook, You Tube and many others are changing the ways campaigns are run and how money is raised. I am still on the fence about the ultimate value it brings to the process because everybody is now an armchair quarterback and believes in the Michael Moore mentality of gotcha politics. One thing that is for certain thought is that social media is not goin...
Political activism shouldn't be limited to the people who want to write a letter and mail it in. Lawmakers need to understand that social media campaigns have the backing of real voters and they ignore them at their own peril. Last month’s win by Republican Scott Brown in the Massachusetts special Senate election is just the latest example of this reality of 21st century politicking. One year ago, President Barack Obama’s successful bid for the White House revolutionized the political process and since that time, Democrats and Republicans alike have raced to embrace social media. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube give more people than ever before an opportunity to become involved in issues they care about and share that passion with family members, friends, and the broader, Internet-connected populace. That opportunity extends beyond political candidates and has proven extremely effective for issue-oriented campaigns as well. And so long as the hundreds -- and sometimes thousands -- of people involved in these dynamic conversations are real...
At the Sunlight Foundation, our mission is to promote government transparency, taking advantage of the latest Internet technology. We push to get more information on-line, in real time, whether it’s lobbying disclosure and campaign finance information (look here for details), or earmarks or more transparent agencies—and more. Social networking is at the core of everything we do.
For example, I soon found out after signing on at the Sunlight Foundation that if I wanted to know about what our executive director and founder, Ellen Miller, is thinking, reading, and advocating, the best way to find to find out is via twitter @EllnMllr. Our @bill_allison tweets the latest investigations from our reporting group; @cjoh, the exploits of Sunlight Labs, our corps of developers; @jakebrewer our advoc...
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "As most of Washington, D.C., spent Monday digging out from the weekend's blizzard," "lobbyists continued to press ahead even though some of their signature issues are hanging in limbo," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
• "With its global reach, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee attracts as wide a swath of special interests as any on Capitol Hill," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
• "A group advocating the rights of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are on the Hill this week to press lawmakers on issues ranging from disability care to high rates of unemployment," Politico reports.
First, an attempted definition of D.C. astroturf: when a corporation or advocacy group attempts to manufacture fake grassroots support because real, genuine, broad citizen support is lacking for their cause.
Let's face it: it is a very difficult thing to secure that kind of true voter support for an issue in Washington. The best kind of grassroots involves educating voters about an issue and providing a light organizing touch to help them weigh in with policymakers or regulators in a unified way.
Very few issues inspire the kinds of strong feelings in voters that make them want to weigh in with their elected officials. And unfortunately, when companies lack that kind of genuine support, they often attempt to manufacture it.
There are countless ways to do this -- "buying" or "renting" supportive third party groups; creating "coalitions" that sound as if they have a broad membership but in reality have few paying members; ghostwriting op-eds to be bylined by former Cabinet secretaries. Increasingly I have to believe (or maybe ...
Monday, February 8, 2010
From the Associated Press:
WASHINGTON - The lawmakers now investigating Toyota's recall include a senator who was so eager to lure the Japanese automaker to his state that he tramped along through fields as its executives scouted plant sites, and a congresswoman who owes much of her wealth to a Toyota supplier.
They and others on the congressional committees investigating Toyota's massive recall represent states where Toyota has factories and the coveted well-paying manufacturing jobs they bring. Some members of Congress have been such cheerleaders for Toyota that the public may wonder how they can act objectively as government watchdogs for auto safety and oversight. The company's executives include a former employee of the federal agency that is supposed to oversee the automaker.
You can read the full story here.
Admittedly, I've never worked on the Hill, but it has always struck me that if a member of Congress couldn't figure out if there was an organized effort to generate letters, calls, emails and such on an issue, he or she probably had no business being in Congress. Once the Representative has figured that out, it's simple: a grassroots campaign is when you like the message; an astroturf campaign is when you don't.
Getting a large mass of people to put pressure on Congress always requires organization, and that requires either money or massive free media. But it really doesn't matter, because the entire point of such a campaign is to get constituents to decide that an issue is important enough to contact their representatives. It doesn't matter if those constituents learned of the issue from a neighbor, a paid phone call, the New York Times, a congressional speech, an interest group, a college professor, or Glen Beck - the citizen has decided that he or she agrees with a point of view, has decided it is important enough to act, and has made the contact. Voters are not d...
Campaigns (no matter what type) need to have a social media component to be successful. It should be in addition to and not at the expense of other key parts of the campaign (advertising, research, message development, grassroots, etc). Social media is just another avenue to get your message out and moblize people who are important to your effort. Much like telephones and TV revolutionized campaigns, social media will also have a growing impact on how campaigns are conducted, especially as more people spend more time online than they do watching TV.
I don't Tweet so feel Facebook is a more effective tool to generate support (or opposition) to an issue or individual candidate. It is also more transparent to see the individuals who have signed up for the cause.
Grassroots, if done correctly, shouldn't be considered "astroturf." If you are engaging people on an issue that impacts them (job, family, personal cause), they understand the issue and want to take an action then it is a legitimate effort. ...
We all know that social media and the Internet have had a tremendous impact on recent elections - Scott Brown's Senate election in Massachusetts is the freshest example. To what extent have your advocacy and lobbying campaigns embraced social media? What technology tools do you find the most useful? Do you use Facebook or Twitter? How can lawmakers and their staffs tell the real grassroots campaigns from "Astroturf" campaigns? If a grassroots campaign is generated by corporate or union dollars, does that make it an "astroturf" campaign?
6 responses: Dave Wenhold, Andrew Noyes, Nancy Watzman, Adam Kovacevich, Bradley A. Smith, Connie Partoyan
Monday, February 8, 2010
Having thoroughly ticked off the K Street crowd with a string of controversial lobbying restrictions last year, President Obama has signaled that he's not done yet -- either with anti-lobbyist rhetoric or with complex new rules.
Obama outlined sweeping new reporting requirements and campaign contribution limits for lobbyists in his State of the Union address. Norm Eisen, the White House special counsel for ethics and government reform, posted details on the White House blog of the administration's agenda for cracking down on special interests.
This includes new rules requiring lobbyists to report all contact with lawmakers or administration officials; new bundling restrictions on lobbyists; and a ban on lobbyist campaign contributions. Eisen also ticks off new campaign finance and earmark reforms.
On Capitol Hill, plans for a fresh lobbyist crackdown have largely fallen flat. Instead, members of Congress have zeroed in on campaign finance changes following the Supreme Court's landmark Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling. Lawmakers held three congressional hearings last week to air proposals responding to the ruling, which ended the longstanding ban on direct corporate political spending.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• The New York Times reports on how Wall Street has shifted its lobbying spending from Democrats to Republicans in light of President Obama's "proposals for tighter financial regulations."
• "Lobbyists for healthcare interests are eyeing the Senate jobs bill as a vehicle for several key priorities left behind when healthcare reform stalled," The Hill reports.
• "With renewed White House support but tough midterm elections expected this fall, the business community says this year's legislative window is closing quickly for a trio of trade deals still awaiting Congressional approval," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
• "Republicans are hammering away at the Census Bureau's $340 million ad campaign, calling the 30-second $2.5 million Super Bowl Sunday commercial spot 'wasted money,'" The Hill reports. "But congressional Democrats and U.S. Census Bureau officials defended the ad campaign as necessary for outreach and saving money in the end, with some saying that even more money may be needed."
• AP reports on Toyota's ties to some of the lawmakers investigating the automaker's recalls.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
The cuts included Elizabeth "E.R." Anderson, regional media director, and Sheila Greenwood, director of federal government relations. Greenwood had just joined Wal-Mart in the fall. She previously was an assistant secretary for congressional and intergovernmental relations and a deputy chief of staff at the Housing and Urban Development Department for President George W. Bush.
"There were 300 positions in northwest Arkansas eliminated," a Wal-Mart spokesman said, as well as "a few positions at other offices." He declined to confirm the names of those who lost their jobs.
Wal-Mart also recently reshuffled positions in its D.C. office. Raymond Bracy, who had led the office, is now focusing on international policy issues; Ivan Zapien is now in charge. Bracy was previously head of Boeing's China division. Zapien is a former chief of staff to Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J.
Friday, February 5, 2010
The retrial of former Jack Abramoff lobbying associate Kevin Ring has been postponed until July 26, after concerns about the Supreme Court's review of the honest services fraud statute delayed the retrial from its planned June 21 start date.
At a hearing today, Judge Ellen Huvelle suggested, as she has in the past, that the government may need to revise its case against Ring after the Supreme Court hands down its decision on honest services fraud. Legal experts expect the court to either throw out the statute altogether or provide clearer limitations on what it entails. Ring was tried on six counts of honest services fraud, along with one count of illegal gratuities and one count of conspiracy to commit both crimes, but his first trial ended in a mistrial after the jury hung on all counts in October.
"I'm assuming [the government] is going to lose their 'honest services'" and "cut back their case dramatically," Huvelle said. She has previously suggested that Ring could be charged with bribery, which is harder to prosecute than honest services fraud because it requires evidence of quid pro quo.
Justice Department attorney Nathaniel Edmonds responded that the government may "revise the indictment" based on the Court's ruling, but it does "not anticipate doing so."
Friday, February 5, 2010
Think that the Supreme Court's January decision in Citizens United v Federal Election Commission will send torrents of corporate political money coursing anonymously through business groups and into campaign advertising? Not US Chamber of Commerce CEO Tom Donahue.
The group does plan to spent money "in a more significant way" in this year's election, he told National Journal in an interview this week, "and of course we will be able to be a little more specific because of the recent decision of the Supreme Court," he said. True, lifting the ban on corporate ads mentioning candidates 60-to 90 days before elections means "you can spend a few more dollars there," Donahue allows. "But you're not going to bring more money in just because you can change what you said" in advertisements under the old regime.
Translation: Corporations and unions had already found ways to effectively sidestep the rules overturned by the Roberts Court.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Advocacy and lobbying stories from this week's National Journal: (subscription)
- "When
Lobbying Goes Wrong:" Not all influence-industry representatives are
smooth operators, Joseph Gibson writes in his new book "Persuading
Congress."
- "No Room At The Inn For Online Travel:" Online travel companies, hotels and states are in a lobbying battle over a tax provision that may be attached to the Senate's job bill.
- "On The Move:" Rey Ramsey has joined the lobbying group TechNet, a consortium of CEOs of major technology companies, as president and chief executive officer; Carl Thorsen has launched a one-man lobbying shop, the Thorsen Group. He most recently was a director and partner at the American Continental Group, a government-affairs and strategic; Ogilvy Government Relations has a new senior vice president, John O'Neill, who arrives from the law firm Venable, where he was a partner.consulting firm; Also joining Ogilvy as a senior vice president is Justin Daly, who most recently was counsel to Securities and Exchange Commissioner Kathleen Casey.
In response to Bara Vaida
Tweet Me! Gray hairs adapt or perish.
By Dave Wenhold