FDPA Toolkit

LEGISLATOR/MUNICIPALITY TOOLKIT

Below is a description of a toolkit for legislators and municipality officials:

• Use a 1″ view-front (a clear pocket to hold 8.5×11) binder.
• Some binders have a pocket inside the front cover that can hold a biz card (see note at the bottom).
• You might also upload any of the files in the binder (see section below) on a flash drive and attach it to the inside of the binder.
• Legislators and municipalities respond to constituents and situations differently so the composition of the toolkit must be adapted.

FILES TO INCLUDE IN THE TOOLKIT

March 2018 pages (many outdated as of 3/17/19):

• Title Page (add municipality or legislator and date)
• Table of Contents (may be altered for your circumstances)
• Comparison of Maps
• Summary of Fair Districts PA Endorsed Redistricting Reform Legislation
• Gerrymandering and the Industry of Politics
• Fair Districts PA Urges Support of an Amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution- Senate Bill 22 and House Bill 722 (FDPA 2017 legislator info

March 2019 pages (the best available as of 3/17/19) :

• Updated Title page and ToC as above
• HB 22 Co-Sponsorship Memorandum
• HB 23 Co-Sponsorship Memorandum
• Summary of House Bills 22 and 23
• HB 22/23 FAQ 3/19
• 2 Bills/ 1 Commission Explainer
• FDPA Stats– frequently updated in Carol’s monthly Volunteer Updates emails
• Reform the Rules Background and Initial Research
• Proposed House Rules Changes
• 2018 League Lawsuit Victory FAQ.pdf (outdated as of 3/19)
• MEDIA spreadsheet
  • Scroll to the bottom to find several tabs, including Editorials, News and Letters to the Editor.
  • Sort these sheets by the media outlet to get a listing, for example, of all editorials appearing in a given paper or blog.
  • Make hard copies of pieces that appeared in that legislator’s district and include them along with a note that these are just local examples of over 200 editorials, another 200+ news articles and well over 120 Letters to the Editor to date statewide.
  • Even if legislators may be aware of local coverage of Reform issues, most have no idea just how much positive coverage this is getting statewide.

FDPA’s web page offers excellent resources to prepare you for the visit:

• Contact Your Legislator
• Effective Lobbying: The Advocacy Team Approach. This is an excellent video on the subject. (Note that the information about worksheets is wrong.  The correct location in the FDPA Dropbox is “Training Materials”)

BUSINESS CARDS- a professional touch

• My card is in .pub (MS Publisher) format, which can’t be uploaded to WordPress. The files print 10 cards, front and back, on Avery 8876 sheets. Email me directly at jfmclaugh @ gmail.com and I’ll send a generic .pub file.
• Alternate method : If you don’t have Publisher, I created a MS Word version. You may be able to work with it on either a PC or a Mac.  My version of Word (Office 2016 Standard) doesn’t  allow publishing on Avery 8876, so an alternate to Publisher must be found.  Here are some possibilities for Mac users: 10 Free and Affordable Alternatives to Publisher for Mac