How To Fight The TPP More Effectively

 

I’m a political activist, fighting the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement. I’ve been an activist for ten years, fighting corruption, helping to elect good people, raising awareness, and teaching voters how to become more involved & effective in government.

Every now and then, I have an “Aha!” moment. I figure out a way to work more effectively, outsmart my competition, and increase my chances of winning. That “Aha!” moment arrived last week, during a trip to Washington D.C.

I was in D.C. to speak with Congressional staffers about the TPP; to give them enough information so that they’d understand how much it threatens U.S. jobs & sovereignty. I had some down time between meetings, so I walked the halls of the Cannon House Office Building, looking for familiar nameplates of Congresspeople who might meet with me.

I came across the name plate of Congressman Schaeffer (a fake name, to protect his real identity), and remembered speaking on a radio show in his district the previous week. During that radio show, I exhorted his constituents to phone him, asking him to vote “NO” on the TPP.

I sent an email to Rep. Schaeffer’s trade staffer, asking for an appointment, and sent similar emails to other folks with familiar nameplates. Within half an hour, I received a response from Rep. Schaeffer’s office, but no prompt response from the other half dozen emails I’d sent that day. His high-level staffer agreed to meet with me later that day. Bingo!

I arrived for the appointment, and sat briefly in the waiting area, as the trade staffer prepared for our meeting. Suddenly, in walked the Congressman! (Let me assure you, I’ve done over a hundred of these meetings, but I’ve only crossed paths with Congressmen or Senators on perhaps 6-8 occasions. It’s not a common occurrence.)

What happened next was even more curious. I assumed that the Congressman had returned to the office because it was late in the day. But he introduced himself to me and said, “follow me”. That’s when I realized that he came to the office specifically for my meeting!

The Congressman and his trade staffer were amiable and intelligent, and we had a great conversation about the trade deal. It became quite apparent that they were inclined to vote “NO”, which was definitely not information that the public nor I had been privy to, prior to that afternoon. I walked away feeling quite lucky.

The next morning, the same situation played out AGAIN, with a different Congressman, and a different radio show. Suddenly, I realized that there was a way to capitalize on coordinating different pieces of my daily TPP work.

First, I need to exhort radio audiences to call their Congresspeople, and ask them to vote “NO” on the TPP. There are young people answering the phones in Congressional offices, and they’re keeping track of the phone calls. If they receive 20 calls asking the Congressperson to vote “NO” on the TPP, that gets noticed.

Next, I need to make appointments to speak to those same Congresspeople’s trade staffers about the TPP. The staffers will be aware of the recent incoming phone calls, and will have more of a sense of urgency to (a) learn more about the trade agreement, and (b) formulate an opinion on how the Congressperson should vote.

Not only will the staffers be more likely to meet with me, but the coordinated phone calls from constituents will dramatically increase the odds that the Congressperson will also attend the meeting!

Frankly, once the Congressperson attends, we get down to brass tacks, and I walk away with a really solid sense of how they are likely to vote.

I’m on a handful of radio shows, in various parts of America, every week. I’m going to ramp up my effort by researching the audiences’ Congresspeople in advance. Then I’ll urge the audiences to enhance my efforts by calling Congress in opposition to the TPP. Together, we can win.

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