Bradford Fitch talked about his book Citizen’s Handbook
to Influencing Elected Officials. Despite conventional wisdom about the power lobbyists have in Washington DC, Mr. Fitch believes that a well-informed constituency can be a driving force in swaying elected officials. The book offers advice on how to approach members of Congress, the value of being informed and more importantly how to inform members about the impact of their decisions and how to deal with a Congressperson’s support staff. He also responded to telephone calls and electronic communications.
Citizen’s Handbook to Influencing Elected Officials, C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, November 26, 2010
From a reader:
If you don’t like “special interests” in Congress, the solution is MORE citizen involvement, not less. A cynic might be forgiven for thinking many of those folks saying constituents communicating with their elected representatives doesn’t change anything are themselves on the payrolls of special interests, deliberately encouraging constituent apathy and passivity.
Courses
- Congressional Operations Briefing – Capitol Hill Workshop
- Drafting Federal Legislation and Amendments
- Writing for Government and Business: Critical Thinking and Writing
- Custom, On-Site Training
- Drafting Effective Federal Legislation and Amendments in a Nutshell, Audio Course on CD
- Congress, the Legislative Process, and the Fundamentals of Lawmaking Series, a Nine-Course series on CD
Publications
Legislative Drafter’s Deskbook: A Practical Guide
Pocket Constitution
Citizen’s Handbook to Influencing Elected Officials: A Guide for Citizen Lobbyists and Grassroots Advocates
Congressional Procedure
CongressionalGlossary.com, from TheCapitol.Net
For more than 40 years, TheCapitol.Net and its predecessor, Congressional Quarterly Executive Conferences, have been teaching professionals from government, military, business, and NGOs about the dynamics and operations of the legislative and executive branches and how to work with them.
Our custom on-site and online training, publications, and audio courses include congressional operations, legislative and budget process, communication and advocacy, media and public relations, testifying before Congress, research skills, legislative drafting, critical thinking and writing, and more.
TheCapitol.Net is on the GSA Schedule, MAS, for custom on-site and online training. GSA Contract GS02F0192X
TheCapitol.Net is now owned by the Sunwater Institute.
Teaching how Washington and Congress work ™
