AmmoLand.com

Effective Gun Activist Politics Lesson Six: Strategic Planning
By Jeff Knox

FirearmsCoalition.org

Manassas, VA, --(AmmoLand.com)- It’s been awhile since I have written an installment of my Effective Activist Politics series, but this is one of the most important topics for activists and activist organizations to pay attention to so I’m adding it to the series. If you’d like to read or re-read the other articles in the series they are available at www.FirearmsCoalition.org and also at www.GunVoter.org.

Every grass roots lobbying organization needs to schedule two strategic planning sessions every year. The output of one is a legislative plan, and the other is a political action plan.

The legislative session should be held after elections and before the legislature convenes. In most states, that will fall in December or January. The political action planning session should be held as soon after the legislature adjourns as possible.

Both planning sessions should include the organization’s leadership, key activists, representatives from other organizations, and trusted advisors. Active politicians and others with priorities other than gun rights should not be included in the core planning stage, but should be carefully included in appropriate areas of the action plan. Plans generated from both meetings need to be interwoven and complimentary because the bottom line of activist politics is the ability to impact elections. Politicians can dismiss letters, emails, faxes, and phone calls, but they cannot ignore votes. As my father was fond of saying, the one and only thing a politician needs to be successful is the ability to be elected. Without that a politician is not a politician at all. The best way to get a politician’s attention – and perhaps shift his position on a given issue – is to demonstrate the ability to impact his electability.

I’ll talk about strategic planning for elections in another article.

Here is a 10-step process for developing a legislative strategic plan:

1. Determine the Ultimate Objective of your organization. It is painfully obvious that many organizations – including major national organizations – have never actually done this. They tend to drift in a general direction rather than steaming toward a clear objective.
2. Develop a comprehensive inventory of current law and a prioritized list of changes you’d like to see. This is another frequently neglected but critical step, and once completed must be kept very confidential.
3. Analyze the political Big Picture. Who’s in power? Where is the pendulum? Which way is it moving? What external forces are in play? This can be easier to see from a distance so be sure to bring in some outside perspective here.
4. Evaluate each politician in your arena. Positions, philosophy, motivations, vulnerabilities, potential challengers, etc. Once this has been done once it is easier to keep up, but it still requires a lot of work. Knowing the strengths, weaknesses, and vulnerabilities of friends and foes alike is invaluable in both legislative and election planning.
5. Run scenarios. Challenge yourself and your brain-trust with “What ifs.” Use the conclusions from steps 1-4 to test possibilities and options.
6. Develop a general, “draft” strategy for the next two years.
7. Bring in fresh eyes and different perspectives. This is the time to bring in members of your Board of Directors, trusted political advisors, and strategists from other organizations.
8. Firm up a comprehensive strategy that utilizes all of the knowledge and tools at your disposal. Even if you and another group can’t agree on a mutual strategy, you can take their plans into account and play off of their actions to make your organization more effective.
9. Map out the tools, tactics, and timetable that you will employ to execute your strategy. Revisit the plan frequently through the year and never deviate from the plan without first revisiting the strategic process and reconciling the change to the overall strategy.
10. Rinse and repeat. Every year the process should be started over again. Every step should be revisited with an open mind and fresh eyes. Each strategic plan should cover at least two years, but the process should be started fresh every year with the previous year’s plan as nothing more than one of the ideas on the table.

The key to the process’ effectiveness is using a process. Whether your group adopts this 10-step plan or some other system for building a strategic plan, the important thing is to have a process and use it. Anything that helps to focus thought and attention on this critical, often neglected component of effective political activism is a good thing. While success can be achieved without such a planning process, it is far more likely to be achieved sooner if serious thought is given to these issues in advance.

If your organization needs help with planning or analysis, or would just like another perspective on some issue, give The Firearms Coalition a call. We’re here to help you succeed.

About:
The Firearms Coalition is a loose-knit coalition of individual Second Amendment activists, clubs and civil rights organizations. Founded by Neal Knox in 1984, the organization provides support to grassroots activists in the form of education, analysis of current issues, and with a historical perspective of the gun rights movement. The Firearms Coalition is a project of Neal Knox Associates, Manassas, VA. Visit: www.FirearmsCoalition.org

Filed under: Gun Rights News by AmmoLand No Comments »

Anti-Hunting Governor Thrown Out In Favor of Chris Christie

New Jersey Outdoor Alliance

Belmar, NJ --(AmmoLand.com)-The meaning of “grassroots” is “pertaining to, or involving the common people.” Grassroots is not like anything else in politics. Today’s major political movements tend to ignore the grassroots and focus almost exclusively on the use of media to gather winning support at the polls. But “grassroots” efforts are needed if we are to make enduring improvements to society.

Grassroots is a testimony to what we can do when we “get involved.” During the past two months the officers of the NJOA; Ed Markowski, Pete Grimbilas, Jerry Natale and Cory Wingerter, along with countless volunteers, traveled the length of the Garden State to speak at sportsmen’s clubs, hand out flyers at retail stores and talk with customers at bait & tackle shops in an effort to rally the common people and bring attention to the decaying condition of New Jersey’s outdoors.

Their efforts ended with the Rescue Our Outdoor Rally (R.O.O.R.), an initiative that highlighted the need to reverse the trends that are weakening the condition of our forests, waters, fish and wildlife. It was also a forum for Mr. Chris Christie to announce his commitment to reverse these trends.

So, I’d like to thank all of you – the common people – for being involved, for your efforts to get out the vote and for caring enough to make a difference. Change does not come easy and the election of Mr. Chris Christie as New Jersey’s next governor is only the first step in many that we will need to take in order to improve the condition of New Jersey’s outdoors.

As we take these steps and encounter challenges we now have a history of success to look back on for inspiration. In 2007 we, the “common people,” voted two state legislators opposed to fishing and hunting out of office and two pro-outdoor legislators into office in District 12. In 2008 we unified to elect Congressman John Adler to federal office. Now, in 2009, we helped to elect the next governor of New Jersey – Mr. Chris Christie.

Again, thank you. There are 650,000 anglers, hunters and conservationists in NJ. Our numbers are nearly 30% of the people who voted in yesterday’s election!

We can control the future of conservation in New Jersey – in fact, we have already begun.

About:
NJOA – New Jersey Outdoor Alliance is the state’s first major political action committee devoted to the task of electing outdoor-minded candidates to public office. NJOA has formed with the support of leaders of major pro-hunting, pro-angling, and pro-trapping organizations. We are not a hunting, fishing, or trapping “club” or “group,” and do not compete with the interests of such organizations. NJOA helps to ensure that strong wildlife and natural resource protection laws are produced by outdoor-minded elected officials. The best way to ensure a “conservation presence” in Trenton is to support the election campaigns of representatives who understand the relationship between a balanced ecology and hunting, fishing, and trapping. Visit: www.njoutdooralliance.org

Filed under: Gun Rights News by AmmoLand No Comments »