ABATE of Wisconsin Lobby Day Planning 2008 Lobby Day Planning Motivating the Citizen Lobbyist hidden in every member…

ABATE of Wisconsin Lobby Day Planning 2008

Lobby Day Lobby Day PlanningPlanning

Motivating the Citizen Motivating the Citizen LobbyistLobbyist

hidden in every member…hidden in every member…


Lobby Day Planning

How

ABATE of Wisconsin

brought 500+ bikers to

Madison on a cold

March day in 2008.

Not on motorcycles, but in chartered buses. Not to chant and circle the Capitol, but to walk the

halls and visit with their legislators as true Citizen Lobbyists.


Historical Considerations• 1977 50,000+ motorcyclists

gridlock Madison WI, both houses vote to repeal the WI Adult Helmet Law. After bikers fought to override the Governor’s Veto, the new law goes into effect in 1978.

• Since 1978 Wisconsin Riders have not been faced with an adult helmet threat that has made it out of committee.

• Complacency sets in…

• In recent years our Annual Lobby Day would draw an average of 60-120 members.

• Our Legislative Committee wanted to find a way to both fire up our membership and remind them of why we exist…

• …and to remind the legislators that the ABATE of WI State Officers that they see on a frequent basis are not alone: those officers represent thousands of bikers who believe in the mission of ABATE of WI and will come to Madison when called upon.


Initial Planning StageSeptember 2007 - The decision to increase attendance at out Lobby Day was initially made within our Legislative Committee which meets prior to monthly Board Meetings and reports directly to the Board through our Legislative Coordinator

The committee’s initial projected budget was $7,000, roughly $1 per member, which would cover the following costs

Bus Contracts Publications

Patches Command Center

A Date was determined and the committee’s budget and plan was taken to the full Board for Approval


After Board Approval Early Steps up to December 2007

• Study Map and determine route

• Chose Coordinator• Bus Leaders• Inform Membership• Develop Handouts &

Supplies • Public Promotion




• Chose Coordinator

• Bus Leaders

• Inform Membership

• Develop Handouts & Supplies

• Public Promotion




• Chose Coordinator

• Bus Leaders• Inform Membership• Develop Handouts & Supplies • Public Promotion

COORDINATOR: coordinate the event team, facilitate information flow, manage the command center, identify and supervise the

BUS LEADERS: At beginning of the route, manage bus availability/contracts, determine stop locations, local promotion, training and information on the buses, fundraisers



• Study Map and determine route• Chose Coordinator• Bus Leaders

• Inform Membership• Develop Handouts & Supplies • Public Promotion

Nov 07 – Date Published in Newsletter along with “no experience necessary info”

•How to make an appointment

•Command Center Info

•What to wear

•Bus routes/who to contact

•Work with other publications

•Attend club meetings



• Study Map and determine route• Chose Coordinator• Bus Leaders

• Inform Membership

• Develop Handouts & Supplies • Public Promotion

•Professionally Printed “Talking Points” fact sheets

•Coordination with other Wisconsin Motorcycle Publications

•State Officers attend meetings of Clubs and other MC Groups

•Legislative Agenda

•Lobby Day Facts “Who, When, What”

•Invitation to Join Us Member or Not

•Sign up for Email Alerts


The Push is On – January 08- March 4, 2008

• Officers’ Training – our regional officers received:

• Bus reservation information, numbers were due to coordinator by 2/15 which would give us time to finalize bus size by route

• Tips for Helping Members make their own or group appointments with their Legislator(s)

• Fund Raising Ideas to use at meetings and on the buses to help us pay for all this


Initial Email Alert• CALL TO ACTION• ABATE of Wisconsin Lobby Day 2008- Tuesday March 4th

Contact: Dave Dwyer, ABATE of WI Legislative Committee Chair [email protected]

• ABATE of Wisconsin will be hosting a lobby day for all bikers at the State Capitol in Madison. We will be assembling between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. at the Inn on the Park prior to walking across the street to meet with our legislators in the Capitol.

• Information and hand-outs for legislators will be available at our meeting area.• The legislative issues of current concern to ABATE of WI are:• -NTSB safety recommendations and their lobbying efforts in Wisconsin• -Enhancement of the rules concerning right of way violations defined in Wisconsin Act 466• -Health Care Benefits Denial; while we have worked on lobbying for a HIPAA correction at the

federal level, ABATE of WI now believes it’s time to introduce this in our state.• Bus routes have been planned to promote attendance at this event. Check out the routes in our

current ABATE of WI newsletter or contact your ABATE regional representative. While we are not charging participants for the bus ride, donations will be accepted to help cover the cost.”

• No experience necessary. Someone will be available to join you when meeting your legislators. Appointments are your responsibility. Please check with your ABATE regional rep to see if an appointment has already been made with your legislator. To find out who your legislators are, please visit our website at www.abatewis.org and click on the resources link.

• Broadcast to 1120 people on January 17, 2008

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.abatewis.org/


Second Email Alert• LOBBY DAY• Tuesday March 4th, 2008• ABATE of Wisconsin will be hosting a lobby day for all bikers at the State Capitol in Madison. We will be

assembling between 8 a.m. and 4:30p.m. at the Inn on the Park prior to walking across the street to meet with our legislators in the Capitol.

• Information and hand-outs for legislators will be available at our meeting area.• The legislative issues of current concern to ABATE of WI are:• -NTSB safety recommendations and their lobbying efforts in Wisconsin• -Enhancement of the rules concerning right of way violations defined in Wisconsin Act 466• -Health Care Benefits Denial; while we have worked on lobbying for a HIPAA correction at the federal level,

ABATE of WI now believes it’s time to introduce this in our state.•• Bus routes have been planned to promote attendance at this event. At this time most buses are full. Check out

the routes in our current ABATE of WI newsletter or contact your ABATE regional representative for more information.

• People not riding the buses are welcomed to park their cars at the CC Rider’s MC Clubhouse on Parkside Dr (turn off of East Washington at the corner of E Washington and Lien Road (Wendy’s in on the corner) go one block to Parkside Dr, turn right, and the Clubhouse is at the end of the block.) We will be operating a shuttle from the Clubhouse to the Inn on the Park every half hour from 8 am to 4:30 pm.

• No experience necessary. Someone will be available to join you when meeting your legislators. Making the appointments with your legislator(s) is your responsibility. Please check with your ABATE regional rep to see if an appointment has already been made with your legislator. To find out who your legislators are, please visit our website at www.abatewis.org and click on the resources link. For more information about our March 4th Lobby Day and bus routes go to http://www.abatewis.org/page.php?section=4&subsection=1&alert_id=97

• Broadcast to 1268 people on 2/27/08

http://www.abatewis.org/

http://www.abatewis.org/page.php?section=4&subsection=1&alert_id=97


Appointment Tips

Although our members/attendees were asked to “make their own appointments” the following procedures and options were used to assist the Coordinator and her staff in the Command Center to determine that all Legislators would receive a visit on Lobby Day 2008.•members were asked to state that they were with ABATE Lobby Day and would be willing to sit in on another appointment if one had already been made.

•Web Form for Tracking•Many of our Regional Reps made group visit appointments •Rural Considerations•Urban Considerations•Clubs and Other Groups


Appointment Tracking•– Making sure all Legislative Offices are covered

•A form was posted on our webpage allowing members to fill in the blanks with their appointment information and the form would automatically go to our Coordinator who kept an Excel File of appointments listing – Appointment list excel.xls

•Attendee’s Name, cell phone number for contact in Madison, email address for contact prior to the event•Legislator(s) they were visiting and time(s) of the appointment•Number of people in the appointment group

People without web access could relay this

information to the Coordinator by using the

toll-free number at our office or by contacting

their local Regional Rep who would relay it

on to the Coordinator

How did we use this information?...


Appointment Tracking On SiteMaking Certain ALL Legislators Are Visited

Legislator’s Name &

Party

Room # Who is Visiting Appt.

timePacket given to

Rep. Sample (R)

24W

Listing of the people pre-registered with appointments

Time of appt.

Who we gave the packet to at the registration table

Sen. Madeup (D)

We prepared folders in advance labeled for each Legislative Office to be picked up at the Command Center when people registered


Make Sure

Your Room is

BIG ENOUGH

And other mistakes we made…


We WERE NOT PREPARED!For the number of people that did not have appointments

And/or those

Who didn’t know who their legislator was or even what District they lived in


Our “Command Center”

Check In Here S-Z.doc

Need Help Before Your Appointments.doc


How Did we Pay for all this?•Initial Budget from the Board of $7,000 from General Operating funds was off-set by…

•Donated Buses

•Fundraising by the Regions/members locally and on the buses

•Raffles on site in the Registration Room

•Cash Donations from members who could not attend

•Cooperation of CC Riders MC


Expenses and IncomeOriginal Budget $7,000

Actual Expenses:

Buses $5,448

Room Rental $ 237

Printing and Publications $600.00

INCOME: Three buses and two vans were paid for by outside sources

CC Riders Clubhouse parking/shuttle service eliminated downtown parking fees and bus parking fees

$459 cash donations 50/50 Raffles on Buses $1,032

Membership Raffle on site $234 Other $308



Lobby Day Questionnaire – March 4, 2008Results

There were 386 filled out.Question 1How can the legislative committee improve your Lobby Day experience?Comments to follow…….

Question 2Were the busses helpful in getting you to attend?Of the 386, aprox 15 said they drove, every other form said yes, absolutely yes, I would not have come if not for the busses, ect…..

Question 3Was this your first time attending Lobby Day?Aprox 350 said yes, aprox 40 said no

Question 4Will you attend next year? If no, why not?Aprox 370 said yes, probably, absolutely, without a doubt, etc. 1 person said NOAprox 10 said maybe, depends on day & work schedules


Question 5Who did you visit and please put down any thoughts or comments they may have had regarding our issues.These were the most outstanding and possibly useful comments……….Neal Kedzie – won’t support our health issuesRep Nygrens – expressed interest in sponsoring HIPAA if on state levelRep Ott – said if Dems introduce helmet law he would vote yesMarlin Schneider – will sponsor anything against insurance companiesSen Fred Risser – agreed to disagree about helmet legislation but would support health insurance exclusionsMost others in agreement with our position, staff will pass info to Representative or Sen., or just took info

Question 6Are you an ABATE of WI Member? - aprox 300 - yesIf yes, which region? - almost all regions covered only a few checked No. If no, is there a reason you would like to share with us.I will become a member, just not today, unable to join but will be shortly, no money right now


CommentsThese are all exact quotes. Enjoy!!

7D I felt you did a wonderful job and think anything more would not improve the effectiveness of Lobby Day.7D In the end, it’s the members meeting with all the lawmakers that really count. On that

basis AAA +++6B It is our duty to be here and make it a good experience.2H Everything went well except some friggin coffee!! (It ran out)

I was impressed with the committee’s organization.4A Everything was good – direction signs would be helpful finding the way around the

capitol.3A Thanks for the bus ride, let’s do it again next year.2E Appts were not always scheduled.1H/7B Larger sign up room2H Have more Reps available3A I would have attended either way.3A Website was well maintained & updated, good articles & info3A Give more detailed info and history of the issues2H Good camaraderie2H Young people took notes – will they get our info??2E Make sure legislators are available & current room #’s1I More time so those that work can have appointments3A If we can keep attendance like this year we will keep our contacts informed on our

issues


7B Keep having these4C I’m already getting excited for next year.3A It would have been beneficial for ABATE to stress the importance of the Representatives meeting their customer. We put them in office we deserve the respect of being heard by the representative not some aide.3A The handouts and assistance for NEW participants were outstanding. Keep it up!13A Well organized & informative2E Map of Capitol – but managed4C Best ever in my 8-10 years of attending7B Make it easier to understand

Inform people beforehand of appointments2E Better directions to rooms7B Don’t need to be there 3 hours before first meeting.7B Bus was cold7B Have a larger group with seating7B Have 1 meeting for all legislators in area4A/7B Make it in the summer so we can ride3A More Busses1H More handouts on issues to be discussed2B Coffee & Donuts2B Better talking points2B Give times to who we are seeing in case we get lost with the group


1J Get Rep. to the meeting2E Improve Communication – leaders of groups, schedule lunchtime, gather info, sign in’s, missed a meeting so we could eat.2A Would have been lost at the capitol but Bug kept me in tow.4A Group meeting before and after4A More training in regions so each person can share views4B Prior contact with rep so they are actually at meeting1H The legislative reps were all young and I doubt that these young members don’t know the stats of motorcycle issues faced against our rights.

The committee did a great job working with the volunteers that were slow.2J Free Beer6B Specific talking points so we don’t have to keep looking at the ‘leave behinds’5B Promotes unity – someone already dropped off the packet and it discouraged those

of us who waited for the 3:00 appt1J Did not like ‘sharing the day’ with the anti-smoking zealots – maybe can find out who’s going to be there the same day1J Notification when emergency caucus are made so meetings can be re-scheduled1A More time after arrival to coordinate the group3A/1A Bus from clubhouse was good

Combine some meetings6A Keep us informed as to where we can help7B One meeting with all would work better instead of 7 different appts1A My first Lobby Day and would like to get more information for future lobbing


1A The legislative committee had it together, the only improvement would be to get more people involved.Need to be more organized – who to see & what to do.

8D Being more informed7E Have a short group meeting beforehand so we are all on the same agenda7D For 1st time attendees an explanation of how this works would be helpful in advance.

(small handout)3A I was impressed with the level of organization and how helpful everyone was.1F It was a learning experience, I tend to be very cynical about our politicians6B Have our Rep there or be able to give a true good reason why not.3A Free food, Valet service, Pole dancing, (just joking everything was very well done)7B Need an appointed person to give better time & who should see our Representatives.6B I will recommend this to others who didn’t attend1C I had an excellent first experience (other than being lost a few times). So many were

here (camaraderie) and union, and thought, & purpose. Good turn out.2J Quite the experience I must say.2J It was awesome to see the amount of brothers & sisters that came.8A Gets better every year.8A Make sure we don’t have to wait so long in-between. Make all appts at once – 4 meetings8A Bus timing could use improvements8A Have all Reps available to meet with us8A Did they know we were coming??8A I am impressed – last year 3 people – today 2 dozen1A Busses were a very good idea


7D I believe just your work in getting as large a number of members here as possible is commendable & important. You did your job (Our job)

1H Have a map/list of eating establishments in the area1H Great overall experience7B One meeting would be better instead of walking all over for ‘chance meetings’ with

aides instead of the ‘Real McCoy’7B Less meetings and larger rooms scheduled

More time scheduled with Rep1F Let us know as early as possible again.1B Well done2E Let people know that even if it seems that they didn’t talk to anyone that their presence was very important

Comments from non-members

* Wasn’t sure who they were supposed to see or what my function was to be. A 1 page handout with brief explanation would have been helpful

* Listen to our demands – Hupy led us around* Improve knowledge of biker questions* Went well for my group* Good Work* Very informative day – you did a great job* Capitol staff (police) still remembers a biker gathering in the early 90’s with respect to bikers for

their attitude and helpfulness in a storm!!* The legislators should be the ones asking the questions about our statements. We proved our beliefs and ‘The MAN’ didn’t.* My first time attending, I thought ABATE should have gotten the word out a little more.* Very good that ABATE sponsors these rights* Be more prepared for visit

Documents

ABATE of Wisconsin Lobby Day Planning 2008 Lobby Day Planning Motivating the Citizen Lobbyist hidden in every member…