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Two states considered – and rejected – higher taxes on people who earned more than $1 million a year.

#state monitoring #teacher preparation #state laws

Giving Your SGR a Boost: Building and Managing Grassroots Campaigns

Why should an organization spin its wheels attempting to institute a grassroots campaign? Aren’t they impossibly expensive, difficult to manage and rarely used? Not necessarily, according to Stateside Associates President and CEO, Constance Campanella.

“Traditional lobbying has its limits and adding real constituents with real concerns and real messages to the campaign can make a world of difference,” says Campanella. While State Government Relations (SGR) programs offer effective strategies for managing local and state legislation, they cannot replace real community allegiance. Grassroots campaigns demonstrate concrete public support; something that legislators simply cannot ignore.

Image Source: multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu

So, how can an SGR optimize its efficacy by implementing a seemingly complex grassroots campaign? It only takes a bit of planning to establish a network of organizational and lobbying support.

Communications are key. Keeping employees abreast of pertinent regulations and activities with regard to their interests is essential in facilitating support from within an organization. Regular emails, social intranet updates and even letters will help to ensure their participation in any united effort to fight for issues that could affect their livelihoods.

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Establish a team effort from the start. The reason grassroots campaigns often do not cohere is because employee networks are only engaged at zero-hour. Begin your campaign early enough to begin a conversation that filters out through to families and entire communities, so that your constituents are ready when called upon.

Make sure that the issues are relatable. When you galvanize your team in support of a public issue, the details of that issue must be made clear and concise – identify the potential threat or benefit in such a way as to stimulate participation. Constituents don’t necessarily have to draft sophisticated and nuanced letters detailing their take on public policy, but they do have to relate their genuine interest in order to be listened to. If the locals are passionate about their feelings about an issue, legislators will have no choice but to recognize their concerns.

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Active grassroots campaigns can provide an un-ignorable force in any lobbying effort, no matter how thorny the issue. It’s the people, and not just the efforts of strategists and policy wonks that can galvanize change. Says Stateside Associates President Constance Campanella, “What legislators need to hear from constituents is their experience, their loyalty, their concerns and the fact that they are watching the legislative process.”

#grassroot campaigns #concerns #social media

Corporate Political Spending – Stateside Association VP Weighs In

In today’s digitally tuned-in climate, many corporate entities find that having social and political perspectives can strengthen brand identity and therefore facilitate great public trust. However, public support of potentially divisive social issues might only alienate shareholders and destabilize even the most solid brands.

Image Source: theguardian.com

It may seem as though mandatory campaign finance disclosure regulations are being slowly yet systematically dismantled, but corporations must nonetheless reveal who and what they support monetarily; both in accordance with existing laws, and to satisfy the public’s demand for transparency. It is essential, therefore, that prior to any commitment to campaign financing, the corporation gauges public sentiment regarding the pertinent issues, and moreover thoroughly investigates whatever politician, bill or organization it intends to support.

Image Source: cnet.com

The virulent public distain for former Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich’s contribution to California’s Proposition 8 campaign illustrates the importance of thorough vetting. “For companies, this makes political giving even more complicated,” says Stateside Associates Vice President Steve Arthur. “They have to decide whether the benefits of giving to a candidate or committee is the right decision on the merits, and then they have to consider every public policy position that candidate has ever taken and determine how to defend that contribution.”

What tools can an organization use to ensure proper, advantageous and publically palatable political financing? It is critical that a responsible organization engages a reliable consultancy; one with extensive knowledge of the intricacies of local, state and national policy, and also the social media resources that will allow the corporation to access all of the politically relevant posts that could significantly influence public opinion.

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Once the organization has all of the appropriate data, it must then weigh the benefits against the possible drawbacks of an intimate association. Very often, such detailed reporting can illuminate heretofore unexplored branding strategies. Says Stateside Associates VP Steve Arthur, “When I discuss some of these issues surrounding contributions with clients, it can lead to a broader discussion internally about corporate values, and at other times it prompts a discussion about how else the company’s public policy objectives can be achieved.”

#CEO #Organization #data #mozilla

Seattle recently became the first city to limit the number of rideshare cars. City Councilwoman Sally Clark talks about the controversial regulations that have since been suspended.

#rideshare cars #Seattle

Monitoring services for state and local government affairs

The local legislative setting is a crucial political stage that could affect policies in the national level. It is where grassroots advocacies gain enough ground to penetrate the national consciousness. Monitoring state and local legislative issues could have a lasting impact in maintaining a place in the national conversation.

Image Source: fda.gov

It is then important for organizations, companies, and advocacy groups to keep constant monitoring of state and local legislation. However, challenges could arise if the organization does not have adequate workforce to scan all bills submitted. It would be beneficial for an organization to seek the services of legislative monitoring firms like Stateside Associates, which can provide the manpower necessary to keep up to the task.

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Stateside Associates, for example, can offer the client a team of legislative associates who are well-versed with the issue at hand. For a given period, the associates are given the task of inspecting each new piece of proposed legislature, scanning for phrases and subjects that can be crucial to the client’s advocacies. A custom report is then submitted to the client for their perusal.

Image Source: csrwire.com

With the data provided, an organization can keep an informational and perspective edge and create the necessary campaigns to further its policies. Stateside Associates provides extensive legislative monitoring services in all 50 states. Visit its website to see how the firm can help your organization prosper in the legislative stage.

#local legislation #state legislation #legislative monitoring #government affairs

A new S&P report ranks how states have recovered from the recession and warns some states about policies they're pursuing.

#economic recession #economic recovery #S&P report

#state affairs #local government relations

For over two decades, Stateside Associates has been providing a diverse range of clients across the country the best team to handle tasks such as issue monitoring, retaining lobbyists, developing strategic plans, budgeting, working with groups or integrating grasstops into their programs.

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