How to Influence Lawmakers: Insider Tips from Rep. Marie Newman

Understanding Political Influence

• 💡 The core of the revolution is fighting against the obvious corruption of politicians who serve donors over constituents.
• 🎯 The goal is to push politicians from the outside to do the right thing, with a focus on peaceful, democratic revolution.

Strategies for Contacting Congress

• 📌 In-person visits to congressional offices are the most effective way to influence lawmakers.
• 📞 If in-person visits aren't possible, phone calls are more effective than emails, and emails are better than social media.
• 🏛️ District offices are often more accessible and a better place to engage than DC offices, especially for Republican representatives.
• 💬 Chiefs of staff are public servants who genuinely want to help and can relay concerns to the representative.
• 🗣️ Being a "pleasant nuisance" by being respectfully persistent, like a "frequent flyer," can be effective.

Project Paper Trail and URL Voting

• 📊 A new initiative, "Project Paper Trail," aims to build a public tracker correlating voting records with campaign contributions.
• 💻 The goal is to make it simple to see what percentage of a politician's funding comes from specific lobbies and how that aligns with their votes.
• 🗳️ Viewers are asked to vote on potential URLs for this project, including boughtbills.com, corruptionwatch.us, trackcongress.com, trackdonors.com, and trackcorruption.us.
• 📧 Coordination for building these sites can be done by emailing [email protected].

The Role of PAC Money and Media

• 💰 PAC money from healthcare and pharmaceutical companies is a primary reason why some Democrats may not support bills for lower drug prices.
• 📢 While social media and large podcasters have impact, they serve as a secondary route to motivate constituents who then contact their representatives.
• 📰 Media organizations and podcasters can motivate listeners, who then activate and put pressure on lawmakers.

Historical Successes and Analogies

• ✉️ Historically, letters to politicians and CEOs were effective, as demonstrated by Cenk Uygur's father's success in getting a governor to implement an idea for wildflowers on roadsides.
• 🌸 The idea of having "honest politicians" is compared to the beauty of wildflowers, representing an improbable but spectacular goal.
• ✊ Organizations like Mom's Demand Action have used in-person tactics effectively to lobby elected officials.
• 🇺🇸 The courage of former Congresswoman Marie Newman in voting against certain funding bills and facing backlash is highlighted as an example of principled action.