Ben and Shannon-FCNL Lobbyists

Ben, Shannon, Ron, and Barbara

Young adult Friends, Shannon Palmer and Ben Martin Mooney met with the First Day schoolers on Sunday January 5th, 2014, to talk about their trip to Washington DC in November 2013 with Ron Netter. They met Barbara Monahan, who is now employed at FCNL, and together attended a Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) annual conference. Before the conference, they lobbied Connecticut lawmakers for less military spending (One trillion dollars over ten years) and more social program support. Ben sees this as a personal issue at present because he is struggling to pay back his college debts. FCNL is the largest group lobbying for peace. New Haven Friends Meeting financially supported their trip.

The lobbying took place on their first day in DC and the rest of the time they met at the annual governance meeting at the hotel. Before lobbying the group received training to see “that of God” in each person they met with. FCNL works hard to bring human-to-human contact into the lobbying work. FCNL provided a fact sheet with graphs and data that they found to be very helpful. They also were guided to go in with a simple “ask” of one request as opposed to a list of things.

Ron thought it was ironic that Rosa DeLauro didn’t want to consider military budget cuts because of the military industries at Groton and Sikorski. The senators, Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, were more amenable to cutting the military budget. The lobbyists were somewhat surprised by this since both senators had been in the armed forces. Ron thought Murphy was way out front on this issue. Job re-training was brought up as a way to replace military workers at Groton and Ron thought this had some traction in DeLauro’s office.

With Donn Weinholtz (Hartford MM) and Diane Keefe (Wilton MM)

FCNL offers no money when they lobby. The lobbying is done completely from a place of integrity and of discerning what is right. FCNL has more credibility for the very reason that no money is involved. The lawmakers welcome this type of committed lobbying. FCNL has increased their effectiveness and have extended their reach by partnering with other groups, such as with other peace churches like the Mennonites. The partner organizations change according to the issue.

At the hotel, there were 280 people from all over the country attending the conference (180 were officially members of the general council). Small groups of approximately 20 were formed to do worshipful work together. Ron noted there were a lot of attendees under 30 and a lot over 55, but not many in-between. There was a successful push to have greater representation of younger people and this was evident at the conference.

A.T.Martin, Clerk of the FCNL annual meeting

Shannon took a workshop where she learned how to write an effective article to the newspaper or a letter to her congressperson. She was taught that all letters are scanned first for content and bundled into mass mailing categories. Letters that are hand written and have unique content have a better chance of getting to the legislator’s desk and being read. Shannon wrote an article
recently that was published in the New Haven Register. She was happy that there were a couple of responses to it and it got a little dialogue going.

Biggest take-aways:
Shannon:
FCNL’s Motto: Driven by faith, grounded in policy, focused on the future. FCNL is governed by a general council of about 180 Quakers who come together annually to do the business of the year. I was kind of skeptical at first. It seems like a political organization-a group of Democrats or really liberal people with a political agenda, but I was struck that every decision was totally driven by faith, this was apparent through the entire visit. For me, it was really exciting. I met and talked to new people. It was in Washington, which is a really awesome city, but I felt grounded when I was there. There was a lot of worship and worship-sharing. I spoke out of the worship for the first time with a group of strangers. It was nice to know that faith and action do meet there.

Ben:
My biggest take-away was less about the Quaker aspect and learning more about how the budget works. I didn’t understand the Sequester. We were at Rosa DeLauro’s office, our third stop of the day and it was explained that during the Sequester, it is impossible to reallocate money from the military budget to the domstic budget. It brought the day together for me and was really cool. Ben was also impressed by the clarity of FCNL’s policies and by their candid acknowledgement of issues they don’t have unanimous clarity on, such as abortion and gay marriage.

Shannon and Lydia White who used to attend New Haven MM

The current FCNL policy statement outlining the world we seek was approved in November 2013.

Preamble
Since the early days of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), God’s spirit has led Friends to take action in the world. This Spirit has called Friends to recognize the equality of women and men, challenge hereditary privilege, help end legal slavery, struggle against oppression and reduce suffering inflicted by violent conflict. Since 1943, the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) has carried on this witness of the Spirit through action on Capitol Hill. Governed by members of the Religious Society of Friends, FCNL acts in faith to create a world free from war, a society with equity and justice for all, a community where every person’s potential may be fulfilled and an earth restored.
Part 1: We Seek a World Free of War and the Threat of War
Friends have long found inspiration in George Fox’s invitation to live “in the virtue of that life and power that [takes] away the occasion of all wars.” We believe that peace throughout the world is God’s will and is attainable. True security results from a culture of peace, including a healthy environment, a fair and sustainable economic life, democratic participation, an educated population, personal well-being and healthy families. Peace and security can be achieved only by peaceful means. Specific issues include:
o Afghanistan

o Drones

o Iran

o Foreign policy

o Kenya,

o Middle east

o Nuclear disarmament

o Pentagon spending

Part 2: We Seek a Society with Equity and Justice for All
Friends’ witness calls for right relationships among people and between individuals and God. Governments are instituted, in part, to promote and protect basic human rights. These are rights, not mere privileges subject to easy denial. Friends acknowledge the indispensable role of government in safeguarding the integrity of our society and the essential dignity of all human beings. Citizens have the responsibility to participate vigorously in making government more responsive, open and accountable. Specific issues include:
o Campaign finance

o Gun violence

o Immigration

o Native American rights

o Mass incarceration

o Torture
Part 3: We Seek a Community Where Every Person’s Potential May Be Fulfilled
“Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these . . . ye have done it unto me.” We believe that God dwells in each human soul, and therefore it is the birthright of all persons to live a life of dignity with access to the basic necessities for human growth and development. Accordingly, we believe that all members of society should take responsibility for each other, not only to provide the essentials of life but also to ensure an opportunity for meaningful work and recreation so that each can contribute to society according to his or her abilities. Society benefits when families and communities make commitments to care for their members. Specific issues include:
o Federal budget

o Pentagon spending

o Poverty

o Taxes
Part 4: We Seek an Earth Restored
We declare that humankind must respect the ecological integrity and the sacredness of the natural world. All on this earth are interdependent, and we are strongly mindful of the call to be wise stewards of what God has provided. Friends’ testimonies have deep relevance to the global environmental crises we see unfolding around us. Specific issues include:
o Climate change

o Sustainable energy.