Can we do it?
Of EBASE and East Bay Action, this is the one that can endorse a candidate for Oakland mayor.
East Bay Action
Meeting with a councilmember to ask them to vote yes on a specific ordinance.
What is Lobbying
The recommended frequency for logging your lobbying hours.
What is Monthly
EBASE is allowed to lobby, but only up to this.
a limit (EBASE uses 10% as our limit)
An email blast to members: "Call Councilmember Benevente and tell him to support the ordinance!"
What is lobbying (grassroots lobbying, because it has a call to action)?
Three hours spent writing testimony before you deliver it at City Council.
What is lobbying time (prep counts)?
EBASE can run a nonpartisan voter registration drive, but staff can never tell voters this.
Who to vote for
Publishing an in-depth report on how wealthy corporate landlords and lobbyists have been sabotaging grassroots efforts for affordable housing across California and it has no call to action.
What is not lobbying (nonpartisan analysis)?
Time spent traveling to City Hall to testify on an ordinance.
What is lobbying time?
An EBASE organizer who is a hardcore DSA member wants to knock doors for a City Council candidate. She can, as long as she does it this way.
What is on her own time, as an individual, with no EBASE resources or title?
A social media post: "Vote YES on Measure S!"
What is lobbying? (On a ballot measure, the public acts as the legislature.)
Research you do mainly to prepare for a lobbying meeting.
What is lobbying time? (Research done mainly for lobbying counts.)
EBASE can take a public position on this kind of item on the ballot. It counts as lobbying, not campaign activity.
What is a ballot measure?
Meeting with city department staff about how they'll enforce an ordinance that has already passed.
What is not lobbying under IRS rules, because it's administrative action, not legislation
You spend 90 minutes in a coalition meeting planning who will meet with which councilmembers to get an ordinance passed. You don't talk to a single official during the meeting.
What is lobbying time? (Planning and strategy meetings for a specific lobbying effort count, even when no official is in the room.)