Guide for February Recess Organizing
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Materials You'll NeedEvent BOB for town hall events Event BOB for district meetings Talking Points Questions to Ask Your Target Handout for reporters Signs: District Meetings: Other Resources: Need help? Check with your Organizer or Regional Coordinator. | ||
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Political Context:
Last August's congressional recess was a critical moment in the health care fight. Right-wing "tea party" activists stormed town hall meetings and for several days, they dominated mainstream news coverage with the story that members of Congress were hearing from huge numbers of angry constituents opposed to health care. Now, from Feb. 12-24th, we have another congressional recess in the middle of big fights for health care reform and other policies to benefit working families &mdash so we need to be ready.
We're going big during the recess:
- We'll have sit-down district meetings with members of Congress. Every Council should request a meeting with their target while the member is home on recess or before the bipartisan health care summit on February 25th. These take time to schedule so you should request a district meeting immediately, even if you're not sure yet who will be able to attend. If a target's office gives a firm no, you can settle for a meeting with a staffer. But member meetings (i.e. with members of Congress) often take a while to schedule, so if they're still thinking about it, keep pushing at least until Feb 17th to get a meeting with the rep or senator.
- We'll mobilize progressives to turn out to town hall meetings and other events organized by members of Congress. We'll recruit MoveOn members by email and Councils will phonebank their whole membership to attend. We'll also work to earn media coverage by rallying outside those events. In addition to town halls, where we find other, smaller events that members of Congress are doing (e.g. speeches or fundraisers), we can also "bird-dog" &mdash attend and try to buttonhole the congressional targets and any reporters in attendance.
- And in places without many Town Halls coming up or opportunities for bird-dogging at public events, Councils will plan other public-facing events. Councils should keep following up with offices about town halls and other public events, but it's possible there aren't many of them the target is attending. So Councils with capacity should start planning events like rallies outside of the offices of members of Congress, letter-to-the-editor (LTE) parties, canvassing, and other ideas that feel compelling locally! Basically, a "public-facing event" is virtually any advocacy or earned media action that will pressure the target and influence them, so Councils can be creative in doing the thing that they think will work best.
Our Goals:
We've set a goal of every Council scheduling 1 District Meeting and attending at least 1 Town Hall with their target (or planning 1 other public event) during the February recess.
Step-by-Step Guide
Step one: Request a District Meeting
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Step two: Find Town Halls and Public Events
Call your representative's and senators' local offices. Ask them for details about any public events the legislator is planning to
attend during next week's recess. Events could include Town Hall forums,
Presidents' Day celebrations, or any other activities that are open to the
public.
Step three: Post Your Events in the BOB Tool
Step four: Prepare for Your Event
Even if you're not sure yet who from your Council will be able to attend, you should request a district meeting with your target immediately. To get started, check in with your Regional Coordinator and Council Coordinator to figure out your primary target for the recess.
Make a phone call to your legislator's office to request a meeting time as soon as possible (you can download a sample call script here). Then follow up and have your Council submit a district meeting request letter (download a sample district meeting request letter here).
Be sure to get the complete details and contact information for the event so you can start planning your bird-dogging actions. And it's a good idea to follow up frequently (up to and including the day of the event) as last-minute scheduling changes may occur and other events could still be added to your legislator's schedule.
Note: It's also a good idea to keep an eye on local newspaper, blog, and candidate web sites for other possible public events. For example, your representative may also be holding a fundraising event for his/her re-election campaign which may be posted on their electoral website, or an event to celebrate the opening of a new road in your town which could be in the local paper.
As soon as you learn about Town Halls and other bird-dogging events, you can begin posting them in the event tool at http://pol.moveon.org/event/standforhealthcare.
Once you have a District Meeting time and location confirmed with your Member of Congress, you should post your event in the tool at http://pol.moveon.org/event/februarymeetings.
This will help us keep track of how many events are being organized. We'll invite other MoveOn members to your bird-dogging if you register it and it meets some basic guidelines &mdash and posting the event in the BOB tool will let you invite members to attend, track RSVPs, and stay in touch with everyone who has RSVPd for your event.
We've also posted resources to help you organize the most powerful events possible. For District Meetings, it's a good idea to watch the Video training and read over the guide to holding effective district meetings.
All the other materials you'll need for your recess events are posted at the top of this page in the "Materials You'll Need" section. Be sure to look over and print out all of the media materials, signs, and handouts for your events.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Q. When is the congressional recess?
A. Roughly from Fri. Feb. 12 through Sun. Feb. 21. Some members of Congress may come home earlier and they may not return to DC until Tuesday, Feb. 23. Some members may not come home at all.
Q. Is this about the House or the Senate?
A. Both. The House and the Senate both are on recess that week. We need to make sure we're urging every Democrat to fight for change, and that every member of Congress hears our call for policies that help working families instead of Wall Street. And we'll demand that Republicans stop standing in the way of the change Americans overwhelmingly voted for in 2008.
Q. Who should we prioritize targeting?
A. In addition to House and Senate leadership, our top priority will be to target a number of Senate moderates (those whose votes may not have been in the final few that got us to 60 but who are important to get us over the 51-vote threshold) &mdash as well as Senate champs whom we need to keep fighting for reform. It's also critical to target any other Senate Democrat or House Democrat to deliver our message that we need them to fight for real change. And if you only have Republican senators and representatives in your area, we need to turn out to their events too to make sure they're held accountable for standing in the way of the change we seek. NOTE: This may change depending on how events unfold.
Senate Moderate Democrats:
McCaskill
Hagan
Webb
Tester
Warner
Wyden
Dorgan
Baucus
Carper
Nelson FL
Begich
Pryor
Conrad
Landrieu
Q. When are the town halls?
A. Most aren't scheduled yet. You can find out about them by searching local newspapers and websites or calling your congressional targets' district offices. If we learn of a town hall in your area, we'll let you know.
Q. What materials will MoveOn provide, and when?
A. You can begin posting town meeting and bird-dogging events as soon as you learn about them in the event tool at http://pol.moveon.org/event/standforhealthcare/. We have also posted instructions on requesting a district meeting and a sample meeting request letter you can customize and send, since those requests need to be made as soon as possible. You can post district meetings in the event tool at http://pol.moveon.org/event/februarymeetings, though we won't do recruitment emails for those.
Q. How do we request a district meeting?
A. Make a phone call to the target's district office, using the call script. Then, follow up and customize and send the sample meeting request letter to your target's office.
Q. What if I can't get a firm commitment for a District Meeting with our rep?
A. Meetings with the target rep or senator through Feb. 24 are still critically strategic and politically relevant, as they'll happen before the bipartisan health care summit. If a target's office gives a firm "no", you can settle for a meeting with a staffer. But member meetings (i.e., with members of Congress) often take a while to schedule, so if they're still thinking about it, keep pushing at least until the 17th to get a meeting with your rep or senator.
Q. What kind of events qualify for central email recruitment support?
A. Generally, public-facing events (like rallies outside of the offices of members of Congress, bird-dogging, town hall events or canvassing) targeting your representative or senator between Feb 12th and Feb 21st (8 am to 8 pm) and focusing on health care reform can get email support. Other less public and target-focused events (flyering outside a grocery store, letter-to-the-editor parties, etc.) generally won't be eligible for central recruitment support. Please check with your Field Organizer if you have questions or for details about your event. Note: District meetings will not get email support because these often work best in a small group.
Q. What are the deadlines?
A. Generally, events will need to be posted online in the event tool by the afternoon three days before the event will take place. However, if the event is on a Monday or Tuesday, it will generally need to be posted by the previous Thursday afternoon. Please check with your Field Organizer for detailed deadlines and guidelines for posting your event.
Q. What if there's no town hall meeting scheduled near me?
A. Keep checking with your targets' offices, as they're often scheduled only a couple days ahead of time. If there's none scheduled, you can bird-dog your target at other events you may learn about, or you can plan your own earned media event during the recess week.
