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Send letters and call your Senators and House representatives. Donate to them the maximum you’re legally allowed to and when you get the staffer call asking for

Send letters and call your Senators and House representatives. Donate to them the maximum you’re legally allowed to and when you get the staffer call asking for more money, give them an (respectful) earful. All it takes most of the time is a dozen people pushing the issue for a rep to make up their mind on a bill. On contentious issues, a few hundred persistent constituents will convince even Senators in large states. Seriously it’s not that hard when it’s not a culture war issue. The vast majority of the time our politicians get bought out for a pittance like $10k in contributions. It doesn’t take much to bend them the other way when coming from voters. Speaking from experience.

amelius 3y ago
So what kind of money are we talking about here? Order of magnitude?
- civilitty 3y ago
  $3,300 is the federal maximum per election per candidate but even a $1-2,000 donation will get a House rep’s attention (better donate the max for a senator though).
idlewords 3y ago
None of what you suggest has any impact, and your model of how many people it takes to influence a Senator is frankly delusional. A max donation to a campaign will get you a signed thank-you card if you're lucky. Policy on stuff like tech is set by staffers, most of whom work from material helpfully pre-drafted for them by lobbyists. There are some legislators (like Wyden of Oregon) who have very good in-house people on tech policy, while others have no expertise and have to rely on outside parties. But the idea that anyone can be bought for a donation is heartbreakingly naive (and fortunately false). Large donations at best get your calls answered by the junior staffer whose job it is to protect the Senator/Congressman from ever having to talk to people like you directly. Major legislation on tech is rare, and it's generally much easier to kill something you don't like than to get a provision put into it. The latter course requires being deeply plugged in to the people drafting policy (again, mid-level staff on the Hill, who have zero awareness or interest in which private individuals are making campaign contributions) and enough clout and political ability to shepherd your desired policy through the full sausage-making apparatus of Congress. Look at the current dueling bills on crypto for an example of how the process actually works. None of it is driven by strongly-worded letters from constituents.
- civilitty 3y ago
  I never said you could buy a Senator's vote for the max donation, just that you can get their ear. You should try harder if all you get is a thank you card because a decent sized donation is the easiest way to quickly establish a relationship with their office. YMMV but I've helped several nonprofits in SoCal navigate Congress and I'm constantly surprised by how little coordinated effort it takes to effect legislation, especially the budget (and I have no previous experience in politics, I was just an interested volunteer). We've only just begun collecting sponsors for the first bill drafted by one of the nonprofits so I can't speak to the whole process for a greenfield bill just yet but already we've had help from the Office of the Legislative Counsel to fix up the bill through our House rep so the ball is rolling. So far we've spent far more on travel expenses than any of the orgs have spent on lobbyists or the members have spent on donations. > Large donations at best get your calls answered by the junior staffer whose job it is to protect the Senator/Congressman from ever having to talk to people like you directly. They're there to protect the politician from raving abortion/guns/bullshit-of-the-day lunatics. Offer to send them a short fact sheet in the format that they expect and the doors start to open quickly. Like I said though, I'm in SoCal and YMMV. I have no idea what it's like with the GOP or in states where both Senators are like Feinstein (her office is a black hole). I do agree with the rest of your point about tech bills, my experience is with environmental and social services nonprofits who don't deal with very controversial issues.
  - tptacek 3y ago
    You will not be getting in a senator's ear for the maximum campaign donation. Senate races are nosebleed expensive, and the federal maximum doesn't scale with the kind of race. It has not been my experience that large donations to congressional candidates get you any real airtime either (which is a good thing), and House races cost 1/20th what Senate races cost. Now, if you max out any Democratic race anywhere in the country, Raja Krishnamoorthi will ring you up from Illinois CD8, and you can talk his ear off. But it's a grift. He's not going to do anything for you. With my John Williamson voice activated: he - just - likes - talking - to - donors. As regards affecting legislation, I'd be interested in hearing some specifics about your experience here. What legislation did you see get altered, and what were the tactics that accomplished it?
dragonwriter 3y ago
> On contentious issues, a few hundred persistent constituents will convince even Senators in large states. If there aren't already that on each side of an issue, its not actually that contentious. In reality, it takes large numbers of people coordinating action or a small number of people who each are financially involved orders of magnitude beyond the maximum legal direct donation (either as fundraisers marshalling donations for others, or as well-known contributors to party committees and SuperPACs as well as candidate committees, or whatever) to sway most members of either House of Congress from where they would otherwise be. (Being an existing org that is known to either bring a lot of voters or act as a proxy for a lot of big donors, or better both, also helps.)

amelius 3y ago

So what kind of money are we talking about here? Order of magnitude?

civilitty 3y ago
$3,300 is the federal maximum per election per candidate but even a $1-2,000 donation will get a House rep’s attention (better donate the max for a senator though).

idlewords 3y ago

None of what you suggest has any impact, and your model of how many people it takes to influence a Senator is frankly delusional. A max donation to a campaign will get you a signed thank-you card if you're lucky. Policy on stuff like tech is set by staffers, most of whom work from material helpfully pre-drafted for them by lobbyists. There are some legislators (like Wyden of Oregon) who have very good in-house people on tech policy, while others have no expertise and have to rely on outside parties. But the idea that anyone can be bought for a donation is heartbreakingly naive (and fortunately false). Large donations at best get your calls answered by the junior staffer whose job it is to protect the Senator/Congressman from ever having to talk to people like you directly. Major legislation on tech is rare, and it's generally much easier to kill something you don't like than to get a provision put into it. The latter course requires being deeply plugged in to the people drafting policy (again, mid-level staff on the Hill, who have zero awareness or interest in which private individuals are making campaign contributions) and enough clout and political ability to shepherd your desired policy through the full sausage-making apparatus of Congress. Look at the current dueling bills on crypto for an example of how the process actually works. None of it is driven by strongly-worded letters from constituents.

civilitty 3y ago
I never said you could buy a Senator's vote for the max donation, just that you can get their ear. You should try harder if all you get is a thank you card because a decent sized donation is the easiest way to quickly establish a relationship with their office. YMMV but I've helped several nonprofits in SoCal navigate Congress and I'm constantly surprised by how little coordinated effort it takes to effect legislation, especially the budget (and I have no previous experience in politics, I was just an interested volunteer). We've only just begun collecting sponsors for the first bill drafted by one of the nonprofits so I can't speak to the whole process for a greenfield bill just yet but already we've had help from the Office of the Legislative Counsel to fix up the bill through our House rep so the ball is rolling. So far we've spent far more on travel expenses than any of the orgs have spent on lobbyists or the members have spent on donations. > Large donations at best get your calls answered by the junior staffer whose job it is to protect the Senator/Congressman from ever having to talk to people like you directly. They're there to protect the politician from raving abortion/guns/bullshit-of-the-day lunatics. Offer to send them a short fact sheet in the format that they expect and the doors start to open quickly. Like I said though, I'm in SoCal and YMMV. I have no idea what it's like with the GOP or in states where both Senators are like Feinstein (her office is a black hole). I do agree with the rest of your point about tech bills, my experience is with environmental and social services nonprofits who don't deal with very controversial issues.
- tptacek 3y ago
  You will not be getting in a senator's ear for the maximum campaign donation. Senate races are nosebleed expensive, and the federal maximum doesn't scale with the kind of race. It has not been my experience that large donations to congressional candidates get you any real airtime either (which is a good thing), and House races cost 1/20th what Senate races cost. Now, if you max out any Democratic race anywhere in the country, Raja Krishnamoorthi will ring you up from Illinois CD8, and you can talk his ear off. But it's a grift. He's not going to do anything for you. With my John Williamson voice activated: he - just - likes - talking - to - donors. As regards affecting legislation, I'd be interested in hearing some specifics about your experience here. What legislation did you see get altered, and what were the tactics that accomplished it?

dragonwriter 3y ago

> On contentious issues, a few hundred persistent constituents will convince even Senators in large states. If there aren't already that on each side of an issue, its not actually that contentious. In reality, it takes large numbers of people coordinating action or a small number of people who each are financially involved orders of magnitude beyond the maximum legal direct donation (either as fundraisers marshalling donations for others, or as well-known contributors to party committees and SuperPACs as well as candidate committees, or whatever) to sway most members of either House of Congress from where they would otherwise be. (Being an existing org that is known to either bring a lot of voters or act as a proxy for a lot of big donors, or better both, also helps.)