All Politics is Local

Instructor:

Anne M. Turnerturnera@cruzio.com

An Infopeople Workshop

Fall 2009

This Workshop Is Brought to You By the Infopeople Project

Infopeople is a federally-funded grant project supported by the California State Library. It provides a wide variety of training to California libraries. Infopeople workshops are offered around the state and are open registration on a first-come, first-served basis.

For a complete list of workshops, and for other information about the project, go to the Infopeople website at infopeople.org.

Introductions

• Name

• Library

• Position

First:

• Let’s Play Political Bingo

Today We Will Talk About

• Creating a Strategic Political Plan• Profiling Elected Officials, Opinion Leaders, and

Organizations• Talking to Elected officials and Opinion Leaders• Opinion Polling• Building Coalitions• Being There• Going to the Voters

The Scenario• Dry Creek and the Dry Creek Library

may face serious trouble.

• A Task Force of Library Supporters wants to do something about it.

Can Library Support Organizations be “Political”?

Yes, and they must be if our libraries are to survive

and flourish.

Being Political vs. Lobbying

• Being Political = being actively engaged in the public policy discussions of one’s community

• Lobbying = advocating for specific pieces of legislation

IRS Makes the Rules and Defines Two Types of Lobbying

• Direct Lobbying:

An attempt to influence a specific piece of legislation by contacting a legislator, his/her staff, or another government official

• Grassroots Lobbying:

Attempting to affect the opinion of others on a specific piece of legislation, urging them to contact a legislator, including her name/address/phone number, or including a petition or post card.

Lobbying is not Illegal, but. . .

• The amount of money that can be spent on it is specified by the IRS:– Budget of less than $500,000: no

more than 20%, or $100,000 can be spent.

– Of that, only 25%, or $25,000, can be spent on grassroots lobbying.

Some Important Things To Remember About Political Action

• No participation in campaigns for office

• No using government funds

• Reporting to the IRS is required

• Work by volunteers doesn’t count

• Self defense is not lobbyingSee the Handout from Center for

Nonprofit Advancement

What Are Some “Political” Not “Lobbying” Activities?

Forming a Planning Task Force:• Build the Task Force outside the

structure of the Friends Board or the Library Board– Two people from each board– Interested others

Creating a Strategic Political Plan

Goals: a vision of what we’d like

For example:

A Dry Creek Library with the funds to meet the information, recreation, and cultural needs of the people of Dry Creek.

Or

• Public support such that the City politicians find it politically impossible to cut the library

• The library advocates are so well known for their effectiveness that other groups want their support

Objectives Achieve Goals

• Concrete and measurable

• For example:– Double the membership of the Friends

organization– Train 20 new library advocates

Who Runs Dry Creek?

• Elected officials of course

• But also, Opinion Leaders

From out of the past---Power Structure Analysis!!!

Exercise # 1Creating Political Profiles

A Good Rule to Remember

• Never be afraid to ask questions

Which Are The Important Organizations?

• And who sits on their Boards?

Exercise # 2

Profiling Organizations

Putting the Profiles Together

• Cross tabulate to figure out, e.g.,– Which Opinion Leaders supported

which Councilmembers

-- Which Boards elected officials and Opinion Leaders sit on

For example:• Richard Hurlburt

– Chief Ex Officer of Westco Seeds– Member of Republican Central Committee– On the United Way Board– A Director of Liberty Mutual Bank– Belongs to Sunrise Rotary– Gave $1,500 to Mark Shaffer’s City

Council Campaign

Targeting• A target is the person who has the

power to give you what you want, or

has power over the person who has the power (a secondary target)

Caveat: Don’t waste time trying to convert the diehard opposition

Targeting Elected Officials• Annual visits by the liaison

• Make noise by being visible

• Remind the official that supporting the library is popular

• Relate library services to her/his interests

• Keep at it

Picking the Elected Official Visitors

• Same political party as the official

• Lives in the District or neighborhood

• Not a close friend

• Able to link library issues to what the official views as important

Targeting Opinion Leaders• Opinion leaders don’t owe the library

anything

• Plant seeds of interest

• Assure them you are NOT asking for money

• Ask for advice

• What can we do for you?

Who Should Visit Opinion Leaders?

• An officer of the library support organization

• Acquainted with the opinion leader

• Has read the profile and knows what interests the Opinion Leader

• Can tie library services to Opinion Leader’s interests

Another Rule to Remember:

• If you want money, ask for advice.

• If you want advice, ask for money.

Lunch Break

Public Opinion Polling

Why Poll Public Opinion?

• To find out what voters think

• To find out what kind of tax they might support

• To find out how much they might pay

• To find out what particular library interests will persuade them to vote yes

The Best Reason:• Because opinion polling is something

elected officials understand.

• 750,000 checkouts last year? “So what?”

[Or worse: “That’s all?”]

• 75% of registered voters view library cuts as an important public issue? Really!

Exercise 3What’s Wrong With This Opinion Poll?

What Does A Telephone Poll Cost?

• You are paying for five things:

1. The Pollster’s time and expertise

2. The Pollster’s office overhead

3. The size and type of the sample purchased

4. The Pollster’s professional interviewing service

5. Data processing costs

Who Do You Hire?• Easy to check credentials

• Hard part is finding somebody you like

• Check other libraries

• Ask your favorite elected official– Party affiliation, local experience and

knowledge

What Does The Consultant Do?

• Helps clarify what the poll is about

• Makes sure the poll is asking questions that will provide answers

• Helps negotiate the questions through all the people who think they know a lot about polling

The Sample Purchased

• 500 randomly selected county residents?

• 500 randomly selected active voters?

The Professional Interviewing Service

• The polling consultant hires a job shop to do the interviewing.

• The interviewers sit at telephones, and try to get the poll conducted within a short time period.

• They enter data directly on a computer, which saves time and work for everyone

What You Get From A Poll

• First, top line results– “Frequency distributions”—how many

respondents say yes or no and the percent of the total sample.

What You Get From A Poll

• Cross tabs– Answers based on demographic data– Knowing that 52% of respondents over 65

would vote for a library tax tells you something useful about how the campaign should be targeted.

Report and Recommendationsfrom the Polling Consultant

• The consultant provides detailed analysis of the cross tabs

• Makes recommendations based on the results and what you wanted to know

• “Yours to lose”• “Go for it”• “Go now, not later—you’ll never have

numbers as good as these again.”

Maybe Not What You Want To Hear

• BUT: better to know now than after you’ve lost the election.

• And a reason to pay serious attention to the polling questionnaire—so at the end of the day you know WHY people won’t support the library measure.

Polls…

• Can test opinion about what issues are most attractive active voters

• Are NOT a vote for or against a library service. It measures what active voters think, and they are only a small part of the library user base.

Building An Organization• Caveat: This isn’t your job, but you

need to help the people whose job it is

So let’s talk about recruiting volunteers

Two Types Are Needed

• People with special skills for research and for elected official visiting

• Members for the organization

Exercise # 4

Each table take five minutes to come up with three ideas for how to recruit volunteers with special skills [No Exercise #4 handout]

Tips On Managing Volunteers• Know and say exactly what the job is

• Explain the time commitment (two hours per week? Etc.)

• Explain there will be a training session

• Write a note thanking the volunteer and telling the date/time/location of the training session

Building A Mass Organization

• What is the objective of the Friends organization?

• If it is book sales and fundraising, then

a smallish group may be okay

• If the Friends objective is also advocacy, then it needs members

—a lot of them—or at least, the appearance of a lot of members

• And the next question becomes, what do you do with them when you have them?

• Answer: keep them entertained and

interested.

Building Coalitions

• A Coalition is a temporary alliance of distinct parties, persons, or states for joint action.

• A.K.A. an Alliance

• Can be short of long term, depending on the objective

Short Term Coalitions• Groups that combine resources to

advocate for a special issue, e.g. return water services to local control

• Single objective– eventually they will win (or not) and

dissolve

Long Term Coalitions• Should be part of long term strategic

political plan

• Four parts to forming a coalition

Coalitions Need To Be Carefully Considered

• Coalitions are formed to build political power

• Coalitions take time and energy, so don’t invest unless your organization has the resources available

• Coalitions can be short or long term

What Do We Need?

• Support at budget time

• Support for the tax election

• To be not forgotten

• Access to Opinion Leader Joe Blow

• Money or access to money`

Which Groups Have It?• The universe of potential allies is large

• Look for groups with broad community concerns (like the library)– Home schoolers?– Farmland preservation organizations?

What Does the Target Group Need?

– Alliances are a two way street

– Try to find groups that also have needs, and figure out what they are• A mailing list of people on the Westside• Volunteers for a phone bank?

What Can We Offer?

• Volunteers for a telephone bank

• A mailing list

• Geographical diversity

• Experienced volunteers

• Special expertise of members

Summarizing:• Coalitions rest on good relationships

• There must be accountability between the partners

• There must be rewards for both parties

Exercise # 5 Which Group is the Best Bet?

Rank the six groups on the list as the

best bets for establishing a long term coalition or alliance with the Library support organization

Being There, or

“Half of Life is Showing Up”

A Word About Money

Political and Other Events• Take a partner from the Friends or the

Board

• Resist the temptation to sit in the back of the room

• The spouses of elected officials are taken for granted and frequently forgotten

• Support group members should take the Director to organization annual dinners

• What are the unique events in your community? Attend them!

Joining Organizations• Make the decision about which one

pragmatically: which group offers the most visibility and contacts

• Likely groups:– The League of Women Voters– Rotary International– Whatever is unique to your community– Ethnic community groups

• Budget scant resources for social or political affairs based on political criteria: who will be there that you might not get to talk with otherwise.

Going to the Voters• What you need before you start

– Polling Data– A Good Plan– Money– A Disciplined Committee– Allies– Willingness to Risk Loosing– More Money

Questions and Closure

Are We Done Yet?• Nope, not until you have filled out the

Evaluation Form