NJADP Director Speaks at St. Teresa’s About Effective Lobbying

Faith based and political grassroots group all across the country seem to be more active than ever as individual take responsibility for the state of their communities and attempt to make a meaningful difference. The question for all these newly minted activists must ask themselves is "where do I begin" and "how can I leverage relationships and resources to make the greatest impact".

These were exactly the concerns of the Pax Christi Summit Chapter and St. Teresa’s Beyond Just Faith Committee as they sat down recently with Celeste Fitzgerald of New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. In seeking the advice of Fitzgerald Pax Christi and Beyond Just Faith were drawing on an invaluable resource. In 1990 Fitzgerald and four other dedicated individuals state New Jerseyans for alternatives to the Death Penalty. Today NJADP has 5 full-time staff over 10,000 members along with the support of numerous secular and religious groups. NJADP can also be credited with helping to author and successfully lobbying to pass the current moratorium on the death penalty in New Jersey (the first legislative moratorium in the United States).

Fitzgerald encouraged members to think strategically in order to educate, and generate publicity and support from voters and legislators. “There are two kinds of lobbying,” Fitzgerald told the group, “ grass roots lobbying and direct lobbying”. Grassroots lobbying is where you encourage others to act on a particular issue including contact elected officials.. Direct lobbying on the other hand is when an advocacy group contacts elected officials through face to face meetings, phone calls, letters, etc.

Fitzgerald broke effective lobbying into its essential elements and provided the group with some basic steps to take as they begin to advocate for specific issues.

1) Expand your membership – there is power in numbers. Once you grow this number to a respectable size make note of your membership in all communications including articles, press releases and correspondence.

2) Do your homework. Know both your issue and your legislators. Research any pending legislation on your issue and find out what bills your legislators are sponsoring and what is of importance to them.

3) Do not make your issue partisan. You will need bi-partisan support to get your legislation passed no matter how great the majority of either party.

4) Use hand written letters whenever possible. These take the longest to produce, but provide the most impact.

5) Say thank you. Send notes and make phone calls to legislators who support your cause. Make them feel good about what they are doing.

6) Tie into national groups. Ask larger groups to provide you with research, speakers, publicity, and member lists.

7) Establish credibility with the media and legislators by knowing your issue and supporting your position with facts while avoiding exhageration.

8) Reach out to other local civic and religious groups to endorse your cause.

9) Keep your communications brief. Whether you are contacting supporters or legislators. Provide simple one page summaries with references to more detailed materials.

10) Keep your message positive. You will gain more support by being in favor of something positive than against something negative.