NVFC's Grassroots Lobbying Network

Be an NVFC Partner in Action: Become a part of the Grassroots Lobbying Network

In recent years, grassroots lobbying has become the most important and effective means of actually affecting the votes cast by Members of Congress on pending legislation. Members always keep an eye on reelection and how the people back in their district react to issues. Communication from constituents, especially voters, is the most effective lobbying technique today.

What is a Grassroots Lobbying Network?

Grassroots lobbying is simply citizen participation in government. It's your right and obligation to let your elected Representatives know your concerns and ideas. Members of Congress are more receptive than ever before to grassroots lobbying and their constituent's opinions.

Grassroots Lobbying Network is an organized approach in utilizing constituents and voters to educate and influence Members of Congress on various issues. Generally speaking, grassroots programs are characteristically quantitative or qualitative in nature.

Quantitative, or broad-based grassroots programs, emphasize the number of participants. Associations that use this approach seek to involve as many members as they can who are willing to call or write their legislators. Firsthand knowledge of, or relationship to, the elected official is inconsequential. The key element is members' willingness to communicate with their elected officials when asked.

Qualitative grassroots programs, often called "Key Person" programs, emphasize the establishment of quality relations between an association member and each legislator. Key-person programs are not necessarily restricted to one member per legislator. In some cases, several members may have excellent relationships with a particular legislator.

In this type of program, communication between a member and a legislator takes place regularly. Personal relationships with legislator and his or her staff are cultivated. Thus, when there is a need to communicate on a particular legislative issue, there is greater receptivity and response from the legislator.

The NVFC Grassroots Lobbying Network is primarily a qualitative program, but will include quantitative aspects when necessary. The network is comprised of a group of key NVFC members who have established either personal or business contacts on Capitol Hill and who volunteer to use their Capitol Hill contacts to assist the NVFC with their legislative and regulatory agenda.

Members of the grassroots network will be called upon and will be responsible for educating members of Congress about issues of concern to the fire and emergency services and enlisting their support. In doing so, the NVFC's political efforts are strengthened and become more visible. As we've all heard before, "all politics are local" and "it's not what you know, it's who you know."

The NVFC's grassroots lobbying network takes advantage of the organizations widely distributed membership and is aimed at having at least one NVFC member matched to every Member of Congress.

*** Why Does the NVFC Need A grassroots Lobbying Network?***

If the NVFC is to succeed in representing you on Capitol Hill, then Congress must first know who we are as a group, what we do, and why it is important for them to support our issues. With more new members in office then ever, our work; is more than cut out for us. If this still seems like a simple task to you, consider this. Today there are more than 6,000 associations and special interest groups flourishing in Washington D.C. alone. This means there are more participants than ever in the political arena who are competing to influence the same 435 legislators. If the NVFC's agenda is not elevated or separated from the others, the fire and emergency services will lose the attention and support of policy makers needed to advance our mission.

The time has come to assemble an organized effort to supplement the NVFC's National Office Team initiatives. For this reason, the NVFC has launched a Grassroots Lobbying Network to increase the political action efforts of its members.

Having NVFC members with personal (neighbor, classmate, attend same church. etc.) and business contacts on Capitol Hill is a very important asset. It is this type of tool that can elevate or separate NVFC's interest from the 6,000+ others. The grassroots network is designed to coordinate and make optimal use of this asset and tool.

Another important reason why this grassroots network is needed is simply because many NVFC members are not committed to the fire and emergency services on the level needed to effect change. Unfortunately, when the NVFC encourages its members to contact their legislators to support a specific piece of legislation, many don't follow through. Instead, members seem content to let their fellow colleagues do their work or rely singularly on the NVFC as an organization to solve all the problems that we face as an industry.

In reality, this way of functioning hurts us more then helps us. This grassroots network is designed to identify those members whom the NVFC can rely upon to assist in carrying out the association's agenda. This network is in no way intended to discourage those members who already do participate in the NVFC's legislative agenda or to keep those who don't from joining the ranks. However, this network is intended to lead by example, that commitment and an organized effort is what's needed to forge the NVFC and the fire and emergency services ahead.

While professional legislative staff, political action committees, position papers, and media campaigns are all important facets of a government relations program, none of them can replace the power of constituents, people who vote and their effect on elected officials.

How Does the Grassroots Network Operate?

The NVFC's National Office is the clearinghouse for the grassroots lobbying network. The National Office will manage the network database which contains information on each key NVFC member who has volunteered to take part in this program. Examples of the type of information maintained for each member of the network includes: the member's district number, names of each congressional contact, and names of each members Representatives and Senators. Each category of information can be sorted to identify NVFC members in a number of ways, such as who knows a certain Congressional Member or which NVFC member lives in a particular city.

When the NVFC identifies an issue that needs action, all or portions of the network will be activated. In the event of an activation, network members will be contacted with a legislative alert. The alert will outline the particular issue which needs immediate attention. It will also give guidelines and other pertinent information on what specific action each network member needs to take (writing letters, making telephone calls, sending telegrams or faxes or participating in meetings with a Member of Congress), on behalf of the NVFC, to address that particular issue.

If the NVFC activates a quantitative grassroots movement, in addition to sending an alert through the grassroots network, all members of the NVFC will be notified through The Dispatch, the official association newsletter. You have probably already read various articles in The Dispatch encouraging its members to write or call their legislators on a particular issue. This will ensure that as many members as possible join the effort.

What Kind of Results Can We Expect From The Grassroots Network?

When the NVFC carries out its political agenda, it does so on behalf of its 10,000 members. Although as a large organization the NVFC can make a powerful and prominent statement: there are several key things that the NVFC cannot achieve.

As a U.S. citizen, you hold the most powerful tool on Capitol Hill, your vote. Your ability to cast a vote for a congressional member in your district gives you the power to hold that individual accountable and responsible to you as a constituent. Legislators know and respect this. Without you and your vote, they would not be in office.

One of the most critical considerations for legislators is the perspective of their states or districts. Hearing from "back home" is, in most instances, more effective than hearing from a lobbyist. Your concerns, problems, interests and achievements are of utmost importance to your legislator. Congressional members listen and support their constituents. Because of this, one constituent's recommendation alone can be a deciding factor in a member's decision to vote for or against a bill.

Without hearing from you, the constituent, on a particular issue, Members sometimes hesitate to act on an issue brought forth by a single organization, such as the NVFC. Remember, all politics are local. If an issue doesn't hit home for a member, there is a greater chance they won t address it.

In addition, volunteers enjoy almost universal respect and admiration for the duty they perform in their community. They are looked upon as exemplary civil servants willing to risk their own Lives to protect the life and property of others, and as individuals willing to sacrifice personal gain for the overall public welfare.

Furthermore, the nature of the occupation lends itself to opportunities for frequent contacts with Members of Congress when they are back in the state or district. Volunteers usually work; with city managers, mayors, governors, fire commissioners and other city officials and have become a valuable resource to a Member's political apparatus in the state or district.

The goal of the NVFC's grassroots network is to coordinate and promote activity on the local level, from voting constituents, to educate legislators on various issues that affect the fire and emergency services. In doing so, those same efforts conducted by the NVFC will gain strength and validity.

The results we expect will be increased support for fire service legislation, more sensitivity to issues that address the fire and EMS community and more commitment from Members to champion the fire and emergency services interest.

We can expect a bigger and better Congressional Fire Service Caucus and an increase in fire service presence on Capitol Hill. We can expect a more educated and aware Congress on fire safety issues along with additional funding to support those efforts. We can expect this and more, but how much or how little depends on the effort we put forth, both as an organization and individual volunteers and constituents.

Does Grassroots Lobbying Work?

Yes! And often, surprisingly well. Grassroots lobbying probably works even better today than it did in the past, partly because Congress has changed. Today, the average time a Member stays in office has decreased. Less than one-half of elected Representatives now serving in Congress have held office for more than three tams As a result, Members now are aware that reelection is no longer a sure thing so they listen more closely when voters speak their minds.

Because Members of Congress are always thinking about re-election, they tend to spend more time back home in their districts, meeting and listening to the concerns of constituents. This is done partly to combat any future campaign attack from being "out of touch" with the people who elected them. At the same time, this affords organizations like the NVFC to have volunteers educate the elected Representatives on legislative issues of relative importance.