Grassroots Legislative Training

1. Grassroots Legislative Training National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association Washington By Dan Adcock Assistant Legislative Director

2. Advocacy: The Big Picture • All Politics Are Local • Appreciating Grassroots Clout • How Laws Are Really Made • Building Rapport • Talking the Path of Least Resistance • Strength in Numbers • Fundamentals of Negotiation • Persistence

3. All Politics Are Local • Over-estimation of Lobbyists’ clout • Under appreciation of grassroots clout • You have the power. • You decided whether they stay or go. • Rank-and-File Members need to understand this too.

4. Is This How Laws Are Made?

5. Or Is This How Laws Are Made? How many letters has this woman’s boss received on GPO/WEP? A chapter legislative officer talks to this man on a regular basis. Has this guy ever heard from a NARFE federation officer?

6. How Laws Are Made: But this shows the importance of building rapport with lawmakers & staff. Everyone Should Know This.

7. Taking the path of least resistance. NO! No Resistance Here.

8. Talking the Path of Least Resistance. YES! Or making it hard to say NO.

9. Fundamentals of Negotiating • Biggest Mistake: Taking NO for an answer. • NO only means NO now, it does not mean NO three months, six months or a year from now.

10. Step-By-Step Grassroots Advocacy • Education • Meeting with Your Lawmaker • Rank-and-File Letters/Calls to Lawmakers • Action Alerts • Local Coalition Building

11. Education • You can’t persuade your lawmaker on the merits of our bills if you don’t know them yourself. • Educate yourself! • Issue Briefs and Fact Sheets • NARFE Web Page • Washington Newsletter • NARFE Magazine • Legislative Hotline • Call 703/838-7760 or E-Mail leg@narfe.org us.

12. Preparing to Meet With Your Lawmaker • Make an Appointment: • Chapters Call District Office Scheduler • Federation Call State Office Scheduler • Follow-Up To Check Status of Request • Timing: • Prime Time: Congressional Recesses • Call Well in Advance of Recess • MLK, Presidents, Easter/Passover, Memorial, 4th of July, August/Labor Day.

13. Preparing to Meet With Your Lawmaker • Be Flexible • Work Around Your Lawmaker’s Schedule. • Troubleshooting: • Get Help from a 3rd Party • Campaign Workers • Party Activists • A Friend of the lawmaker from high school, college, business or community.

14. Preparing to Meet With Your Lawmaker • Meeting with Staff • Not the end of the world. • Staff Often Know More Than Their Boss • They go on to do Bigger and Better things. • Find Out Which Staff Covers our Issues.

15. Preparing to Meet With Your Lawmaker • Confirm Your Appointment • Call or Write to confirm appointment before meeting date. • Assemble A Group • Federation/Chapter Legislative Committee. • Representatives from all Chapters within the District or State. • Provide Issue Briefs and Fact Sheets to Group Members in Advance of Meeting

16. Preparing to Meet With Your Lawmaker • Group Game Plan: • Meet in Advance of Appointment • Thoroughly Review and Organize Arguments for Our Bills. • Discuss previous experiences with legislator and staff. • Have they cosponsored our bills in the 109th or 108th Congresses? • Discuss whether your lawmaker is a member of a key committee.

17. Key Committees: • House Government Reform & Senate Governmental Affairs: • CSRS, FERS, FEHBP, TSP, FLTCIP etc. • House Ways and Means & Senate Finance: • Premium Conversion, GPO/WEP, Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid. • House & Senate Budget: • Annual Budget Resolution

18. Lesser Key Committees • House & Senate Appropriations: • Sets Discretionary Spending • Annual Salary Fight • NOT Civil Service Retirement • Can Intervene with “Riders” • House Energy and Commerce • Medicare and Medicaid

19. Key Legislators In Washington • Ways and Means • Rep. Jim McDermott • Government Reform • None • House Budget • Rep. Brian Baird

20. Key Legislators In Washington • House Appropriations • Rep. Norman Dicks • Energy and Commerce • Rep. Jay Inslee

21. Key Legislators In Washington • Senate Finance • Senator Maria Cantwell • Senate Governmental Affairs • None • Senate Budget & Appropriations • Senator Patty Murray

22. Preparing to Meet With Your Lawmaker • Extra Fact Sheets for Your Lawmaker • Notes: • Helps Group Keep Discussion on Track. • Ask Specific Group Members to Discuss Different Points. • Focus on Top Issues: • Premium Conversion (H.R. 1110 & S. 773) • GPO/WEP (H.R. 82, S. 206 & H.R. 726)

23. Meeting With Your Lawmaker • Introductions • Name, Chapter Affiliation & Title • Purpose of Meeting • Cosponsor premium conversion, GPO/WEP bills. • Ask “Lapsed” Cosponsors to Reaffirm Their Support.

24. Meeting With Your Lawmaker • Beyond Cosponsoring: • Ask Representatives to Urge Chairman Rangel and Ranking Member McCrery to Approve the Premium Conversion, GPO/WEP Bills. Jim McCrery (R-LA) Ranking Member Charles Rangel (D-NY), Chairman

25. Meeting With Your Lawmaker • Beyond Cosponsoring: • Ask Senators to Urge Chairman Baucus and Ranking Member Grassley to Approve the Premium Conversion, GPO/WEP Bills. Max Baucus (D-MT), Chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA), Ranking Member

26. Meeting With Your Lawmaker • Educate with Basic Facts: • Avoid Using Abbreviations or Jargon • Assume Your Lawmakers Know Nothing • Discuss Fundamentals of Our Bills. • Relate Personal Stories About the Effects of Raising Premiums and GPO/WEP.

27. Meeting With Your Lawmaker • Stay on Message: • Keep Lawmakers and Group Members on Subject. • Off-Topic Issues Can Get You in Trouble (Abortion, Global Warming, Guns, etc.) • Follow-Up Questions: • If You Don’t Know the Answer – Provide the Correct Information Later.

28. Meeting With Your Lawmaker • Don’t get nasty: • Don’t get mad • Don’t Make Threats • Be polite: • Agree to Disagree when lawmaker isn’t persuaded.

29. Meeting With Your Lawmaker • Try To Get a Firm Commitment • Or Repeat Your Request with the “hope” that they would cosponsor __________. • Leave Fact Sheets • Follow-Up With A Thank You Note. • Provide any Information They Requested.

30. Meeting With Your Lawmaker • Other Opportunities • Town Hall Meetings • Call State or District Office for Schedule. • Fundraisers • Check with Your NARFE-PAC Coordinator First. • Chance Occurrence

31. Communication From Rank-and-File Members to Lawmakers

32. Communication From Rank-and-File Members to Lawmakers • Large Numbers of Annuitants Are Meaningless Unless They Hear From Them. • If You Take The Time To Write – Then You Take the Time to Vote • Federation and Chapter Officers Must Motivate Rank-and-File NARFE Members.

33. One of The Biggest Mistakes Chapter Officers • Only Chapter Officers Write (7) and Rank-and-File Members (200) Do Not. • That Means 96.5% of Your Grassroots Resources are Unused. • Never Going to Get 100%. • But What About 50%, 75% or even 90%? • Maximize Our Potential Grassroots

34. Letters to Legislators

35. Personal Letters • Pros: • Most Effective • Appear To Be Spontaneous and Genuine • Not Necessarily Generated From Outside Group. • Cons: • Members Don’t Always Take The Time To Write

36. Form Letters • Pros: • Don’t Have to Write Your Own Letter. • Easy To Send Mass Mailing. • Cons: • Organized Mailing From Outside Group. • How to Improve: • Add Personal Comments. • Transcribe Text in Your Own Handwriting.

37. Petitions • Pros: • None • Cons: • Demonstrates Lack of Commitment on Issue. • If You Are Not Willing To Write – Then You Might Not Bother Voting.

38. Rank-and-File Participation • Leave Nothing To Chance: • Copy Enough Form Letters For Your Next Chapter Meeting. • Have Members Sign Them and Add Their Mailing Address. • Supply Pre-Addressed and Stamped Envelops. • Collect Them At End of Meeting. • Mail Them Yourself.

39. Mailing Instructions • Send Regular Mail to Local Offices Only • Contact Information: • NARFE Legislative Action Center • NARFE U.S. Congress Handbooks • Blue Pages of Phone Book • www.house.gov • www.senate.gov

40. Mailing Instructions • Faxing or E-Mailing Letters is Okay • Mail Only To Your Own Lawmakers • Outside State or District Letters are: • Trashed • Referred to Your Own Lawmaker • Shows Why Letters From NARFE Members Represented By Key Lawmakers are Vital.

41. Mailing Instructions • Limit Letter to Two Subjects. • Use Bill Numbers, If Available. • Personalize Your Letter • Example: How Does GPO Affect You? • Finally, Be Polite, But Firm.

42. Phone Calls to Lawmakers

43. Phone Calls By Rank-and-File Members to Lawmakers • Keep message simply, clear and concise: • [To Rep. Jim McDermott :] “I ask you to urge Chairman Rangel to approve H.R. 1110, to allow federal civilian and military retirees to pay for their share of health insurance premiums with pre-tax earnings ”

44. Phone Calls By Rank-and-File Members to Lawmakers • Capitol Hill Switchboard: 202/224-3121 or Toll Free at 1-866-220-0044 • Blue Pages of Phone Book: Local Office Numbers. • NARFE Legislative Action Center: www.narfe.org • NARFE U.S. Congress Handbook

45. Action Alerts • Conference Calls with Fed Presidents • Achieves Better Coordination • Underscores Importance of Alert • Refresher on Grassroots Basics

46. Action Alerts • Rapid Grassroots Response Is Sometimes Necessary. • No Time For Conference Call with Field • Short Notice • Short Turn Around Time for Rank-and-File To Call or E-Mail Lawmaker.

47. How To Initiate An Action Alert • Instructions and Message Provided by National Headquarters. • Only 50,000 Members Can be Reached by E-Mail. • Urge Your Members to Add Their E-Mail Address to Their Membership Record! • www.narfe.org • 1-800-456-8410

48. How To Initiate An Action Alert • Reaching 350,000 Members without E-mail: • Each Chapter Should Have Either: • Telephone Tree, or • Calling Committee • Calling Volunteers Should Be Available Whenever Congress is in Session.

49. Telephone Tree

50. Coalition Building • Coalition Building Isn’t Limited To National Level. • State/Local Coalitions Built Around State Tax Refund Court Cases.