Advocacy can be very
complicated, and some of what professional advocates do requires a lot of
experience and sophistication. But
there are some basic rules that anyone can follow, and everyone -- including the
least experienced -- can learn to be effective.
Rule # 1:
Advocacy just means “Speaking
Up.”
Advocacy can include activities
like organizing a mass demonstration on the Capitol steps, or filing a lawsuit
in court, but the most basic form of advocacy is just plain “Speaking
Up.” Even if you are terribly
shy, you can “speak up”-- e.g., by putting the name of your program or issue
in bold letters on the back of the folder you carry to the Capitol, and then
just make sure it faces out! Or you
can leave a hand-written note at your legislator’s office...
or you can call and leave a Voice Mail message on a machine. Or you can
tell your story. The only thing you
CAN’T do is not communicate. You
can do whatever feels best for you so long as you:
WRITE
CALL
VISIT.
Rule # 2:
Learn to think in terms of 51%.
Elected officials have to think in
terms of 51% and so should we. They
know they need 51% of the voters in their district to get/stay in office; they
need 51% of their colleagues on a Committee to get their bills moving through
the process; and they’ll need 51% of the members of the full House or Senate
to get something passed. When we
come to them with an idea or a request, they wonder:
is this something 51% of the voters (my Committee colleagues, the
legislature) could go along with? In
other words, they’ll want to know whether anybody else supports what we want.
One way to convey that our issues
are supported by more than just us is by mentioning the groups we belong to --
because groups convey numbers. Even
bigger numbers are conveyed when our issue is supported by a Coalition,
which is just: “an organization
of organizations.” And if we have
taken the trouble to build our Coalitions with all of our likely allies PLUS
some unlikely allies, they will quickly understand that our issues have the
potential to attract broad voter support -- that critical 51%.
Rule # 3.
Always keep three audiences in
mind: a)
elected officials/their staff,
b)
other voters, and c) the
media.
It is essential to let your
elected officials and their staff know how you feel and the reasons.
But one lone voice probably won’t cause them to vote a particular way. However, if enough of the voters in their district feel as
you do -- and let them know it -- that can be very persuasive.
So our job includes informing other voters as well as our legislators.
I’ve seen some very effective advocacy by people who use the simple
device of carrying on a conversation with a friend, out loud, in public. “Did you hear what they’re proposing to do down at the
Capitol? It’s going to affect
every family in this state and I’ll bet most people don’t even know about it
yet....” You can do that in the
grocery store, after worship services, across a crowded playing field.
One woman said she especially liked using this form of advocacy in
elevators: “You know they can’t
get off!”
Using the media helps us reach
even more of those “other voters.”
Rule # 4:
Be sure THEY hear YOU.
The first three rules are easy;
this one is a bit tricky. That’s partly because elected officials have a lot more
practice doing the talking -- and will dominate a conversation if we give them
half a chance, and partly because sometimes when we finally meet our
legislators, we freeze up. Something
about the process and the setting can be intimidating, it’s true. But here are three good techniques for getting past the
freeze point:
Bring
something with you that you have
to explain
(a photo, a small album that tells about your program, a fact sheet to
explain); that way you’ll do the talking and they’ll listen;
Memorize
a little speech, just a minute-and-a-half or two minutes long. It
should include: your name; that
you live/vote in their district; any organization or coalition that you
represent; what you’re there to talk about; what you want them to do (“I
want you to vote FOR.....”); and hand over a one or two-page fact sheet
that includes a name, address, and phone #.
That would make a good visit. If
you have time, go into more detail –e.g., how the Legislator’s District
is/will be affected by the issue or bill.
Invite
your legislator(s) to moderate a panel, not to give a speech. When
you
invite your legislators to give a speech to your group, you will hear them,
but not the other way around. However,
if you ask them to moderate a panel, and put on that panel individuals
you’d like the legislator to hear, the listening goes in a different
direction.
Rule # 5:
Always keep the door open for the
next time.
Some people will tell you not to
worry about the legislators who are your “friends,” and not to waste time on
your opponents. Just concentrate on
the “swing” votes who might go either way, they say.
I think that’s poor advice on all counts.
First, our “friends”
need to hear from us. They need to
hear us say “thank you,” and they need to hear our newest, best information
and arguments. Second, it is
very difficult to predict how someone is going to vote; few votes are certain in
advance.
Third, the surest rule of politics is that today’s
opponent is tomorrow’s potential ally -- and vice-versa.
Don’t ever write anyone off. The
people you are speaking for can’t afford to alienate anyone, and as their
advocates, neither can we.
Prepared by Nancy Amidei