The American Civil Liberties Union is a national interest group that is organized throughout the states with the goal of influencing public policy. As an interest group, the ACLU of Washington has a strong interest in the civil liberties of citizens of the state. The ACLU seeks to ensure civil liberties are recognized and acknowledged.
Representation
The ACLU of Washington represents its members before the government. They provide a path for its members to voice their concerns to those who govern and have them listen . There a variety of groups that ACLU of Washington represents that include men and women from many walks of life. Some of the groups include ethnic and racial minorities, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender groups and individuals, immigrants, and prisoners.
The strengths of representation of the ACLU of Washington is that many diverse individuals are represented. This is because of the diverse society in which we live. The only downfall of representing such a wide variety of people is that there may not be resources or sufficient resources and support available for each. Resources could become limited due to the spread of representation. For this reason, I would recommend that the ACLU of Washington either narrow its scope of representation or at least form different division so that each group receives adequate and professional services.
Participation
Participation is an important role of any interest group. Participation requires individuals to inform their elected officials what they want. The goal is to get law makers to respond to their demands and to protest when their demands are not met. Participation may include acts as simple as calling local politicians to policies involvement, lobbying and protesting, donating money to the organization, writing letters and making calls to politicians. To increase participation, many interest groups offer benefits to their members. This may include access to information, access to contacts, involvement in group activities.
The ACLU of Washington currently has over 20,000 members. ACLU offers events throughout the state of Washington and provides a list on their website. In Washington, according to its website, the state ACLU is one of America’s most successful affiliates. Through the use of membership participation, the group is involved in litigation and legislative action. They respond to challenges to civil liberties with volunteers and student activists state wide.
The strength of ACLU Washington’s participation is obvious as it has been directly involved in the state with representing a tenant discrimination against in housing, promoting the auditing of surveillance laws, challenges invasions of privacy, and addressing free speech rights. The only weakness in participation of the ACLU of Washington is that its issues are very diverse and resources tend to spread out significantly. If the ACLU of Washington would limit it focus or possibly create different divisions for particular issues, then it may be able to make better use of its resources.
Education
The ACLU has an extensive education and resource database which includes cases, legislation, news, publications and other resources. It offers a teacher’s network as well as an extensive list of available publications for educational purposes. The ACLU also supports student clubs, forums and speakers state wide. Advertisement is another method used by the ACLU to educate. As educators, the ACLU provides knowledge to government officials as well as to the people. In the area of education, the ACLU of Washington has many strengths as it provides extensive amounts of resources and publications. The group is also very efficient in providing citizens with updated information. On its website, the group not only provides news articles on issues but also provides access to court rules, videos and court orders relating to particular topics.
Agenda building
Agenda building is used to move problems into policy questions. Many important societal issues are presented to politicians by interest groups . Agenda building includes bringing new issues to the awareness of legislators. The power of agenda setting in interest groups is very important as it acts as a supply to the political agenda. The agenda of the ACLU Washington includes issues such as Capital Punishment, Criminal Law Reform, Free Speech, Human Rights, Immigrants' Rights, LGBT Rights, National Security, Prisoners' Rights, Privacy & Technology, Racial Justice, Religious Liberty, Reproductive Freedom, Voting Rights, Women's Rights, and HIV are agenda items that the ACLU of Washington Considers. Also, reproductive freedom, marriage equality, the death penalty, racial justice, rights of law enforcement and drug policy reform, criminal justice, government surveillance, immigration rights, liberty, security, privacy, religion, technology, and youth. Agenda building is very important to the ACLU, and from a review of its website, it appears that it is active in presenting new issues and remaining diligent to issues that have been ongoing.
Program monitoring
Program monitoring includes monitoring policies and programs of the government that affects its members. Part of the monitoring includes providing reports to the media. Representing individuals in court cases is another form of program monitoring. Program monitoring also includes the operation of programs to aid constituents and the bringing to attention specific problems to decision makers. Through the use of program monitoring, the ACLU of Washington has been able to stay on top of issues and ensure that the media is well informed about the issues it addresses. There are many newsroom sources on the website indicating this matter.
Lobbying
Lobbying is an effort by interest groups to make an impact government action. Lobbying may include communication to governmental officials in written or oral form. The state of Washington defines lobbying as an attempt to influence the passage or defeat of any legislation. Lobbying in Washington does not include simple communication with an organization. A lobbyist is a person who participates in lobbying on his or her own behalf or on the behalf of another. In Washington, lobbyist Carolyn Logue is employed by the state American Civil Liberties Union, she receives a total compensation of $11,400. A considerable amount of money is spent by interest groups through the use of lobbying. In the figures below, the ACLU had spent nearly one million dollars in 2015.
Total Lobbying Expenditures: $1,786,190 Subtotal for Parent American Civil Liberties Union: $1,786,190
The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington has impressive strengths in the areas of representation, participation, agenda building, program monitoring, education and lobbying. The interest group has been successful for many years and continues to seek justice in the area of civil liberties for American citizens.
Work Cited
American Civil Liberties Union Washington State. 2016. <https://aclu-wa.org/>.
American Civil Liberties Union. 2016. <https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000031473&year=2015>.
Berkhout, Joost, Caelesta Braun and Arco Timmermans. The Agenda Setting Power of Organized Interests: Linking Interest Groups and Policy Agenda Research. 2015. <http://www.comparativeagendas.info/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/CAP-2015-Berkhout-Braun-Timmermans.pdf>.
Berkowitz, Bill. Lobbying Decisionmakers. 2016. <https://www.aclu.org/lobbying-decisionmakers>.
Boehmke, Frederick J., Sean Gailmard and John Wiggs Patty. "Business as Usual: Interest Group Access and Representation Across Policy-Making Venues." (2012).
How States Define Lobbying and Lobbyist. 2016. <http://www.ncsl.org/research/ethics/50-state-chart-lobby-definitions.aspx>.
Lobbying in 2016. n.d. <http://web.pdc.wa.gov/MvcQuerySystem/Lobbying/ByCategory?category=LAW/JUSTICE&year=2016>.
Nelson, David. How Do Interest Groups Set Their Lobbying Agenda? January 2011. <https://apw.polisci.wisc.edu/archives/Nelson_Dave_How_Do_Interest_Groups_Set_Their_Lobbying_Agendas.pdf>.
Schultz, Lynn. Interest Groups and the Public Interest. n.d. <http://faculty.gvsu.edu/gillesr/pls304-3.html>.
Wilker, J. Agenda Setting, Power and Interest Groups. n.d. <http://faculty.washington.edu/jwilker/382/birkland.pdf>.
