Getting involved in politics, and what we've learned

So, this week, Kansas City, MO held their primary elections and as a part of trying to get better, pet-friendly candidates into office, Kansas City Dog Advocates once again created political rankings for all of the candidates based on their responses to political questionaires. I think many people who have considered doing something like this will enjoy seeing our political rankings, and at that same link, you can click through to our Political Questionaire on the top of the "documents" section.

We realize that there are often a lot of important issues that people should consider when they select who to vote for in their local elections -- certainly things like economic development, crime, education, infastructure, etc are all also very important -- and we state this in our political philosophy (which also includes a interpretation guide for our political rankings). However, we also think it is important for people to know how politicians feel about no kill and animal welfare issues also.

We've been doing these for a five years or so now -- for more than a dozen cities -- and we have learned quite a bit in the process.  And because we've been asked by quite a few people how we go about doing these rankings, I thought I'd put down some thought starters and tips that might help people get started on their end. But first, I wanted to walk you through the questions we asked in the most recent KCMO election:

1) Do you have pets?  What kind/breeds? --  This is always an interesting question and we get a lot of great answers about childhood pets, long-time pets that they've recently had to euthanize, etc.  This is always one of my favorite questions.

2) In 2006, KCMO passed a law that requires all 'pit bulls' to be spayed or neutered. Currently, nearly all national animal weflare organizations (including Best Friends, the ASPCA, American Humane Association, AVMA, Allie Cat Allies and No Kill Advocacy Center) oppose mandator spay/neuter laws because they target low-incomoe households that cannot afford to comply with the law. Since the KCMO law was passsed, it has been responsible for more than 2,000 pit bulls being seized and killed at the shelter. What are your thougths on the law and would you be open to discussions of repealing it?  Yes, I realize we gave them the answer.  More on that later.  I'm still amazed at how many politicians 'missed' this one.

3) Do you favor Breed Specific Legislation of any type? No explanation needed.

4) In 2009, KCMO began allowing a private organization to run its municple shelter. The move led to a savings of $175,000 a year for the city and more animals being adopted from the shelter (largely due to volunteer involvement). and thus, fewer animals killed. While most animal welfare advocates view this as a positive change, many also believe that mroe improvements could be made if the city contract was opened up for bids and a different private organization was given the contract.  What are your thoughts on a private organization handling the sheltering contract and would you be open to re-opening the contract up for bids?  Again, I realize we gave them the answer...

5) In 2006, a group of private citizens organized to create a second off-leash dog park in teh city. However, after nearly 2 years of study, a citizen-run task force's recommendations were ignored by the Parks Baord. What is yoru view of the dog parks in the city?

6) In 2009, KCMO animal control began instituting "performance standards" that put a minimum quota on the number of tickets each officer had to write each month and the number of animals each officer had to impound to the shelter. What is your opinion on these quotas?

7) In the summer of 2010, animal control officials began going door-to-door in selected neighborhoods enforcing the city law requiring all dogs, cats and ferrets to be licensed as well as other violations. What is your opinion of these door-to-door sweeps?

8) KCMO has a law that prohibits anyone from owning or caring for more than 4 dogs, cats or ferrets in the city. Often times, the people who are helping rescue homeless animals are violators of this law....would you be open to raising the city's pet limit or for allowing people involved in rescuing animals to be temporarily over the limit?  People who caused problems with neighbors could still be targeted under the city's laws regulating neglect, cruelty, smells and noise.

9) In KC, it is currently illegal to feed and care for feral cats -- leaving the only option for lovers of these animals to either allow them to potentially starve to death or to capture them and allow the shelter to kill them.  There are progressive ways of managing community cat colonies that are both humane and prevent the growth of the colony. Are you open to changes in the city ordinances to allow Trap/Neuter/Release programs that would allow for the proper care of these community cat colonies?  In hindsight, I wish I had written this one to be sure they knew I did not intend for the city to fund TNR, only that they should work with the animal welfare community to allow it to happen.

10) A new animal shelter was included in the initial plans for the renewal of the Public Safety Sales Tax. At some point, the shelter plans were removed ddue to "lack of support" and yet no one in the animal welfare community had been contacted with this information. The spread of disease is a huge issue in our shelter, in part, due to the poor ventilation and general age of the shelter...A new shelter would run between $5-10 million depending on the plan and would aid the health of shelter animals and a more convenient location would help adoption and return to owner rates.  Would you support long-term plans for a new shelter?

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So there are a lot of things you may have questions about, and so I will try to highlight some key learnings that we've had after doing this over time.

1) It is ok to give them the answers. Political candidates have a lot of issues they need to know about, including education, city budgets, infastructure, housing, etc. Sometimes using the questionaires to educate candidates on particular issues is perfectly fine and a way to highlight the problem. 

2) Address as many different issues as seem relevant. While you want to keep the questionaire to 10 questions or less, including more different organization's issues can get you more support from the animal welfare community.

3) It is ok if they ask for the answers. We often meet face-to-face with candidates or they get information off our website, or from others in the animal welfare community. We don't care. However they want learn about these issues, I'm fine with it, as long as they're learning about the issues. Education is half the battle.

4) Getting their thoughts in writing is valuable...because you can hold them to those viewpoints later on. They may not live up to them, but at least you can prove they are going back on their previous statements.

5) Be honest with the politcian.  Tell them who you are and why you're asking the questions and what you propose to do with the answers. 

6) Often, these questionaires provide more opportunities to talk to candidates. Attending candidate forums, meet and greets and even political fundraisers can be valuable face time so you can show your involvement in the election process.

7) On a related note, we've found that it's helpful if you are at least knowledgable about other issues in the city and can speak to those too. You don't have to be an expert, but some awareness of your local politics is helpful. The key here is to show an interest in your city as a whole, and to understand the other issues that they're facing (which could conflict with your goals).  ie, it is difficult to ask for a new shelter when the city is facing a huge budget shortfall already...so be aware of what is facing your city.  It's always best to come across as (and be) a person who wants to make your community better.

8) Understand how your local politics works. Do you have a strong mayor system (where they can veto laws)?  Or a weak mayor system (where they have the same vote as a city council member)?  Know the basic layouts of the districts in your city.  Know that "at large" candidates are voted on by everyone, not just the people in the district they are in. Know how long terms are. Know that some cities have primaries to get the number of candidates to two for the general elections.

9) Politians are much more eager to meet and talk to you when they are running for public office than they are once they get in office.  So it's better to be proactive.  Also, always remember that the candidate is interviewing with you for the right to work for YOU at city hall.  So don't be intimidated.

10) If you find a candidate that you like, who supports your viewpoints and you think will be responsive, don't hesitate to offer to work  on their campaign. Offering to stuff envelopes is free and goes a long way. Putting their political yard sign in your yard is free. Offering to contribute money to their campaign is not free, but even a small amount will go a long way...candidates like to be able to say they got a large percentage of their campaign donations from private citizens and not just from businesses.

11) Giving paw rankings (like we do) is not a good idea for a 501c3.  They kind of cross the boundry for what not-for-profits can do. Setting up a separate 501c4 is not a bad idea. They have the right to do a lot politically. However, as an individual, you can be as political as you want to be.

12) Use questionaires to address problems. If your city already has good laws on the books, don't ask them about their opinions of bad ideas for laws. It just gives them bad ideas. If they aren't talking about it, or don't have the law, it may be best to leave it unmentioned.

13) Being involved politically is more rewarding than you might think. A lot of politicians really seem to embrace those who are involved in the community (simple election turnouts are very low at around 15%, so going to forums, fundraisers etc puts you in elite company).  It also can be fun to meet other community leaders and to learn more about what is going on in your city. It can also be maddening, but I've found the overall experience to be good.

14) It only takes a small group of people to pull this off (depending on how many different city governments your community has). And doesn't take much money (just enough for small donations here and there and for website hosting).  Taking out advertising in your local newspaper can be a very impactful way to promote your rankings but email and social media can be effective as well. We try not to raise much money as a group because we don't want to take it away from rescues and shelters that badly need it right now, but will be necessary if you plan to do some advertising.

15) Getting involved matters, and can make a huge difference for the animals. One good or bad policy can mean life or death for hundreds, if not thousands, of animals. We need to get involved to make a difference.

Any other learnings from others out there that do this?  Any questions I didn't answer?

Happy politicking. 

Comments

[Laura Shenk]

I can't believe there are quotas for AC officers. That makes me sick. Is that a common practice?

[Brent]

Laura, I don't think most places do this sort of thing...if they do, I'm not familiar with them.

While I'm not a fan of quotas in general, I certainly don't like when the quotas provide incentives to impound animals. If they were designed based on the number of low cost spay/neuter vouchers delivered or redeemed, or dogs returned to owners, or something like that, maybe. But quotas, if used at all, should be designed to create positive outcomes....not negative ones.

[Kathy Pobloskie]

I'm concerned about endorsing a candidate and then they do something stupid after they get elected - like drunken driving or something really irresponsible or illegal. Now, we have fourteen senators that have run off to Illinois. Most of those scored high in our rankings although we didn't "endorse" and I am really leery about going down that path.

Have you had to handle an endorsement gone bad?

[Brent]

Kathy,

We don't usually "endorse" -- in part because of that. At ths point all we do is provide politicians' points of view on animal welfare issues...and have left it up to voters to make character judgements and opinions on non-animal welfare topics (which we hope they do).