How to Lobby as a Citizen

By Mitchell Kaidy

With irksome regularity, Congress annually confronts the Middle East peace activist with legislation showering Israel with military hardware gifts. Organizations concerned with the Middle East then traditionally react by urging their members to "write your representative in Congress." Such reflexive recommendations, by themselves, however, barely scratch the surface of a membership group's potential for influencing members of Congress. There are other, better means of using a citizen's leverage.

In order of effectiveness these lobbying techniques are:

Meeting with your elected representative.
Meeting with a responsible member of the elected representative's staff.
Writing a letter to the editor of a local newspaper connecting the issue to the elected official.
Writing the official himself a reasoned, well informed letter, and
Signing a petition.

Organizations automatically assume that only a few individuals have the clout to obtain personal meetings with members of Congress. They shouldn't make that assumption without testing it. While it's true that Senators and Congresspersons are too busy to meet with the overwhelming majority of their constituents, it's also true that the legislators instruct their staffs to arrange meetings with the "right" people.

Gaining Direct Access to Your Representative

It's also axiomatic that while only major contributors can realistically expect unlimited access to their representatives, elected officials are generally looking for opportunities to meet their constituents in a non hostile environment, and particularly when they can meet at one time large numbers of their own constituents. Not unregistered constituents and not registered voters from another district, but registered and active voters from their own district. In short, those who may help or hinder their re-election chances.

The key to obtaining appointments with your representatives is first to recruit four or five other well informed constituents to go along. Must they all be committed to discussing Middle East issues? Not at all. One of your fellow constituents, hypothetically, could air women's issues; another, senior citizen concerns; another, South Africa; and you yourself could take up aid to Israel. If this arrangement is followed, however, you should come to an agreement among yourselves in advance as to the order as well as the duration of each segment, and adhere to it strictly.

If the Senator or Representative is willing to discuss the Middle East exclusively, two or three constituents may suffice. I prefer, however, to establish a presence with as large a group of informed voters as can conveniently be assembled. There is no necessity for all to speak; it is acceptable after the introductions for one or two to handle the discussion. The others, however, should be prepared for questions from the elected official.

The primary object of such a meeting is to provide information in its simplest, most succinct and persuasive form. The intent is to promote dialogue, not to filibuster or vent a diatribe. And the visitors should be prepared in turn to listen to a spirited defense of the official's voting record. The key ingredient of a successful visit is a reasoned and reasonable exchange of views. This can be spoiled by misinformation or emotionalism.

As a former staff assistant to several members of the New York State Senate, I deem lobbying staff assistants to be potentially the second most effective technique. One should observe in this case all the civilities that would accompany a meeting with the elected official. The assistant is usually a wellposted staffer who may specialize in Middle East affairs. He or she may know more about the subject than the legislator. Chances are great, moreover, that constituents meeting with the assistant will feel more relaxed and under fewer time constraints. Keep in mind that the assistant likely will write a summary of your main points. Be clear and emphatic about them.

Wielding the Power of the Pen

The least utilized and most under appreciated lobbying technique is that of writing an op ed article or letter to the editor. Members of Congress are sensitive to what's written about them or their performance in office. They want to be perceived as caring and responsive. A letter to the newspaper that takes a particular position and imputes or ascribes a role to the elected representative without embarrassing him can be surprisingly effective. When it is preceded or followed by a letter or telephone call, it can be doubly effective.

Is your Senator or Representative a member of a key committee or subcommittee concerned with the Middle East? If you don't know, ask. Call the official's home office and you'll be told. If you ask you'll also be told when your representative will hold constituent meetings at home during Congressional recesses. These meetings in the home office are much to be preferred over meetings in Washington. Washington meetings are often dogged by Congressional sessions. At best, such meetings are token; at worst, they appear intrusive. As I see it, those mass invasions of Arab Americans annually to Capitol Hill are less effective than meetings with constituents in the legislator's home town office.

The techniques suggested here are by no means separate or self limiting: they gain by reinforcing one another. No analysis of lobbying would be honest or complete, however, without acknowledging that large political contributions can render academic much of what is recommended here. For the great majority who cannot make large contributions, almost as effective is membership on a local Democratic or Republican committee, attendance at fundraisers and distribution of the representative's literature.

In lobbying, as in other fields, there are no free lunches. One must take the time and energy to master the issue to be discussed. Before undertaking any meeting, citizen lobbyists should contact their national organization and receive a briefing. If the representative's voting record makes it appear that he may have received large contributions from pro Israel individuals or organizations, call and ask your national organization or the publisher of this newsletter. Political Action Committee (PAC) contributions are a matter of public record. Ask questions and read, then speak your own mind.

Should you represent a particular organization when you arrange a meeting? My answer is not necessarily, and, in many cases, no. If you have a strong, clear and just case to propound, the case can and should stand on its own merits.

Mitchell Kaidy, a former journalist, has participated in over 70 political campaigns and has been on the payroll of both the Democratic and Republican parties.