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GRASSROOTS ACTIVISM
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(718) 569-0921
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CURRENT ISSUE: GRASSROOTS COUNTER-TERRORISM: CUTTING OFF U.S. FUNDING OF TERRRORISM
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Click here to read a letter from Cong. Wittman in response from a visit to his office by ConstituentPAC.com members.
ABOUT CONSTITUENTPAC.COM
ConstituentPAC.com is a PAC: A Political Action Committee. For those unfamiliar with PAC's here's a link to Wikipedia that explains what they are.
ConstituentPAC.com invites you to join ConstituentPAC.com and become part of a true grassroots lobbying team.
First, let's explore the concept of lobbying, and then we'll explain how you can join the ConstituentPAC.com team.
A lobbyist is someone who goes to the Congress and advocates for an issue. For example, say that textile companies in the U.S. realize that they are losing business to foreign companies. The textile companies hire a lobbyist to do research on the issue, and the lobbyist determines that some of the foreign companies are using "sweat shops" to manufacture their goods. This gives these foreign companies an advantage, since the foreign labor costs are below the labor costs of the U.S. companies. Thus, the foreign companies are able to undersell the U.S. companies.
Next, the lobbyist comes up with a strategy: he decides that he will ask the Congress to make a law restricting the import of textiles produced under near slave labor conditions.
The lobbyist also formulates tactics:
(1) The lobbyist will appeal to the Congressmen on humanitarian grounds that by restricting the import of sweat shops, the sweat shop owners will be forced to pay their employees more, or lose the right to sell in the U.S.
(2) The lobbyist will appeal to the Congress that restricting unfair competition strenghthens U.S. companies, companies that pay taxes in the U.S. and employ U.S. citizens.
(3) The lobbyist appeals to individual Congressmen regarding each Congressman's self-interest: if the Congressman votes to exclude manufacturers that endanger their employees from selling in the U.S., the Congressman stands to gain campaign contributions from ConstituentPAC.com members. (This step is implied rather than articulated. It is understood that if the Congressman signs on to this issue that ConstituentPAC.com will contact its members and encourage them to support the Congressman.)
(4) The lobbyist explains that the issue of restricting imports from companies that mistreat their employees is a popular issue in the U.S. By supporting legislation to strengthen U.S. companies and raise working conditions for foreign laborers, the Congressman will gain voter support during the next election.
JOIN CONSTITUENTPAC.COM
Please consider joining the the ConstituentPAC.com team. When you join, you give us permission to represent you before your Congressman.
For example, let us use our example above of the issue of preventing the importation of textiles produces under poor working conditions.
Say you want to make sure that t-shirts you buy are not made under sweat shop conditions. You contact ConstituentPAC.com and tell us that you are located in Maryland and give us your exact address which allows us to determine that you are in the 1st Congressional District and that your Congressman is The Honorable Wayne Gilchrest. (We determine who your Congressman is by using these links: http://www.house.gov or http://www.house.gov/writerep/)
You give ConstituentPAC.com permission to represent you to your Representative. ConstituentPAC.com makes an appointment with Cong. Gilchrest's office and then goes there to speak with one of the Congressman's aides about the issue of preventing the import of sweat shop t-shirts. ConstituentPAC.com may urge the Congressman to sponsor legislation, support existing legislation, and/or hold hearings, etc. on the issue at hand.
Of course, ConstituentPAC.com could have made the appointment and visited
Cong. Gilchrest's office without your contacting us. However, think about it:
why would Congressman Gilchrest want to pay attention to us? Yes, the issue may
be of interest to him on humanitarian grounds and in terms of strengthening U.S.
companies.
But ConstituentPAC.com cannot make a credible case to
the Congressman that supporting this issue will help him at the polls unless we
represent people in his district.
When you're ready to join, call or email Joe Orlow joe@constituentpac.com (718) 569-0921
ConstituentPAC.com is a true grassroots organization. We have volunteers around the country who coordinate by using the telephone and the Internet. Members are listed according to their Congressional Districts.
(Some of the email addresses below are purposefully written with "at" substituted for the "@" sign in order to prevent misuse of the email address. To contact the people with email addresses with this substitution, copy the email address and paste it in your email program then subsitute back the "@" sign.)
MD 8th
Joe Orlow
(718) 569-0921
joe@constituentpac.com
NY 13th
Izzy Broker
caringjew at
aol.com
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