CFPA - Handbook for non-partisan candidate briefings

The materials following are intended to guide, assist, and inspire groups that work on issues of gun violence prevention and international peace to undertake non-partisan candidate briefings as a way to pro-actively assert these issues in electoral campaigns. This handbook is based on the experience of the Princeton, NJ-based Peace Action Education Fund in conducting seven such briefings for major party candidates in New Jersey for the US Senate Primary and in two Congressional Districts for the general election between December 1999 and July 2000.

I'm happy to say that each of these goals was met. We found these briefings to be both successful in themselves, and highly valuable to our ongoing work. We were pleasantly surprised at how many candidates gave us access, meeting with us for up to two hours. The candidates were also quite receptive to meeting at a time and place that was convenient to our delegation, rather than primarily just to them.

We certainly were a more visible organization and movement to the candidates as a result of these briefings. I think it's also fair to say that a number of the candidates learned a great deal from the briefings. Even if they knew about some of the issues we raised, much of what we shared was new or additional information to them. This was particularly true for candidates who were seeking to move from a local or state elected office to a federal one, and to candidates who had never held office before.

We also found that our goal of establishing ongoing communications was met. We were undoubtedly more effective at getting responses to our questionnaire as a result of first conducting the non-partisan briefings. We established ongoing communication with the issues staff of several campaigns. And we received attention to our issues that might not otherwise have been offered.

There were even several "fringe benefits" to conducting the briefings that we had not anticipated. In one case, at the end of a briefing, a candidate proposed that we sponsor a debate on these issues between him and his opponent during the general election campaign. In another case, we were able to cite the fact that we had several top physicists brief the candidate on Star Wars, but that his position still hadn't changed, as a reason we had to generate phone calls and public pressure on him to make such a change. In a third case, a candidate who had originally opposed cutting military spending in answer to a questionnaire changed her position to supporting targeted cuts following our briefing.

We encourage you to incorporate such briefings into your organizing. Feel free to contact our office to find out more about our experience. Finally, let me express our gratitude to the Ploughshares Fund for generously supporting the production and distribution of this handbook, both in this hard copy version and on our web site.

Guidelines for organizing non-partisan candidate briefings
on peace and gun violence prevention issues.

Below are guidelines for organizing non-partisan candidate briefings developed by the Princeton, NJ based Peace Action Education Fund (PAEF). They are based on having conducted seven such briefings for major party candidates in the June, 2000 New Jersey Senate Primary and in two New Jersey congressional districts (CD 12 and CD 3) before the November 12, 2000 general election. Further information is available from PAEF, 40 Witherspoon St., Princeton, NJ 08542; telephone (609)924-5022; fax (609)924-3052; email Email the Coalition.

Begin early. Our single most important learning in organizing these briefings was that by requesting the briefings early, we got much better access to the candidates than we anticipated. For example, we requested briefing sessions with the six major party candidates in the June, 2000 New Jersey Primary for the open Senate seat in November 1999. The briefings took place in December, 1999 and January 2000. This was a time when the candidates were looking for recognition and allies, were mostly little known, and had fewer things on their campaign calendars. As a result, five of the six candidates were successfully scheduled.
Do polite, prompt and courteous telephone and fax follow-up. We didn't just let the letters requesting the briefings sit there for months. We followed up the November 22, 1999 letter (sample in packet) with phone calls in early December 1999. For a number of campaigns, we had to re-fax materials, sometimes to a new campaign address (things are often in flux that early in a campaign). But by persistent, courteous follow-up, we succeeded in arranging briefings for 5 of 6 major party candidates.
Use your most credible non-partisan experts, as well as prestigious leaders, in the briefings. This is a fairly obvious point, but we sometimes tend to rely too heavily on "activists" to make our case. In our case, we had three faculty members from Princeton University, a retired Episcopal Bishop, the state's most prominent gun control leader, two former Republican candidates, and a former Peace Corps volunteer (who has first hand experience on landmines). See full list enclosed.
Organize your agenda well. Our delegation met ahead of time to decide who would cover each issue, and how much time they had. We made sure to use our most credible experts early, and to give them adequate time. One person coordinated the meeting, and made sure we kept to schedule. We began with one-hour briefings, and found they ran closer to 90 minutes. We left the last 20 minutes for dialogue/questions with the candidates, which gave us a good feel for where they were coming from, and how they received our information.
Give a packet of fact sheets, articles by your experts, and background to the candidate during the briefing. A sample of most of the materials in our packet is included. We handed the candidate the specific items as that issue was discussed. It buttressed the "expert" credentials of our delegation that a number of the articles were by them and were in prestigious publications like the Washington Post, Scientific American, and Center for Defense Information. We also gave them materials that were written or endorsed by former military officials, e.g. the call to ban landmines published as an ad in the New York Times that had former top generals and admirals as signers.
·Affirm areas of agreement, rather than focussing too heavily on disagreements. Several of the Republican candidates we briefed were actually anxious to be seen as favoring gun violence prevention measures. As we affirmed this common ground, we found they became more receptive to our input on international peace issues.
Follow up the meeting with a candidate questionnaire. We didn't try to fill out the questionnaire with the candidate during the briefing, since we wanted that to remain strictly informational. But we told the candidates that we would follow up with our candidate questionnaire (of course, the latter was under the auspices of our advocacy arm, the Coalition for Peace Action, so we could use the responses in the Peace Voter Campaign). This gave the candidate time to digest our materials before they had to indicate their initial position on our issues.
Find out the appropriate issues staff contact person. We found that with several of the candidates, there was considerable dialogue that was initiated by our briefing. Their issues staff would call with questions (particularly after they got our questionnaire). This is like developing a relationship with staff of our elected officials, since they are the most trusted and knowledgeable advisors to the candidate as they make policy decisions.

Delegation that Conducted Briefings
with New Jersey Candidates for Congress and U.S. Senate

Below is a listing of persons who participated in one of more of candidate briefings for seven New Jersey candidates for U.S. Congress and Senate during the year 2000 to date. Several other briefings are still pending as of the date of this listing (9/6/00).

The Right Rev. G.P. Mellick Belshaw, Bishop (retired), Episcopal Bishop of New Jersey; Chairperson, Peace Action Education Fund.
Dr. Frank von Hippel, physicist, nuclear policy analyst, and Professor of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University; President, Federation of American Scientists Education Fund; former Assistant Director of White House Office of Science Advisor
Dr. Harold Feiveson, arms reduction expert and Professor of Political Science, Princeton University
Dr. Zia Mian, physicist, Princeton University; editor of the book Pakistan and the Atomic Bomb
Marc Tolo, Co-Chair, Committee for Political Action, Coalition for Peace Action
Carol Allen, Co-Chair, Committee for Political Action, Coalition for Peace Action
Mary Tanner, former Republican Councilwoman, Lawrence, NJ
Arnold Smolens, former Republican candidate for Princeton Boro Council
Irene Goldman, Vice-Chair, Peace Action Education Fund
Stan Johnson, President, Princeton/Trenton United Nations Association
Bryan Miller, Executive Director, Ceasefire New Jersey
The Rev. Robert Moore, Executive Director, Coalition for Peace Action; Pastor of East Brunswick Congregational Church
Virginia Ahearn, Executive Director, NJ Peace Action, Montclair

In conjunction with our sister group, NJ Peace Action, we are seeking to meet with each candidate for Senate to offer a briefing on our whole range of issues-nuclear weapons abolition, a peace economy, and a halt to weapons trafficking-including guns in our communities.

We offer this briefing not only for the knowledge and expertise we have to share with you, but also in hopes this will help you address these issues during the campaign. With the danger of terrorism using weapons of mass destruction, and the President's withdrawal from the ABM Treaty, there is much we have to share and discuss.

Our Committee for Political Action recently met and felt the Congressional holiday recess from mid-December to mid-January would be a good time for such briefings, though we are open to dates further in the future if that is impossible. We could assemble the best team if the briefing were held here in Princeton, but we are willing to arrange it elsewhere if that is difficult for you.

Please have your scheduler contact me to arrange a mutually convenient time as soon as possible. To get maximum benefit from the briefing, we suggest allotting 90 minutes on your schedule.

I pray I'll hear your response to this request, hopefully favorable, in the near future.

The Peace Action Education Fund (PAEF), the tax-exempt arm of the Princeton-based Coalition for Peace Action, conducted a series of non-partisan briefings beginning in December 1999 for candidates for the US Senate Seat. The briefings were offered to all 6 major party candidates who declared for the June 2000 primary. Five of the six accepted, including Jon Corzine, the ultimate victor. The 90-minute briefing was conducted with Mr. Corzine and his issues staffperson in January 2000 in Princeton. Below is a description of what has resulted to date from the successful relationship begun at that time.

As a result of the candidate briefing and ongoing contact with issues specialists in the campaign staff of Jon Corzine, who ultimately won the November 2000 election for US Senator, we established a solid reputation and close working relationship with him and his staff.

While Mr. Corzine had been attentive and impressed with the quality of our delegation that originally briefed him in January, 2000, we had been somewhat disappointed in his answers to our candidate questionnaire that followed that in preparation for preparing our Peace Voter Guide distributed prior to the Primary, and again prior to the general election in November. Specifically, he had declined to oppose Star Wars, or to support the initiative for De-Alerting Nuclear Weapons.
However, in contacts with his campaign manager and other staff, we learned that there was some flexibility in his positions on these issues, and that he was open to continuing dialogue with us. When several leaders of PAEF saw Mr. Corzine at an event in October 2000, they discussed these matters with him and he confirmed that he would welcome further dialogue.

A follow-up meeting was then set after the election in January, 2001, which was conducted by PAEF's sister organization, the Coalition for Peace Action (since at this point, we were lobbying our newly-elected Senator to support peace legislation). Senator Corzine and his new Chief of Staff, Tom Shea, both attended this 90-minute meeting in Princeton.

With President Bush having been declared the winner of the Presidential election, and therefore the fast tracking of a much larger Star Wars program on the horizon, Senator Corzine agreed with our position to strongly oppose that program. He understood both the huge amounts of money that would be wasted, as well as the highly negative effect such a program would have on nuclear reductions efforts. Senator Corzine also for the first time understood that de-alerting could be done in phases, and said he would re-consider his original position opposing it.

We next met Senator Corzine in June 2001, and he agreed to strongly oppose the violation of the ABM Treaty that Star Wars could cause. He followed through on this by becoming one of just a half dozen senators to co-sponsor, at our request, Senator Diane Feinstein's bill to ban such a violation of the ABM Treaty. Even more significant, he became the lead sponsor of two bills: one to allow the President to go below the START I levels of nuclear warheads (the companion to Rep. Tom Allen's bill in the House); and another to encourage De-Alerting to begin. The latter one was actually delayed following the September 11 terrorist attack, but Senator Corzine's staff has assured me he remains committed to introducing it.

Finally, Senator Corzine was one of just three members of Congress (the other two were Rep. Rush Holt and Rep. Ed Markey) who appeared at an early September Capitol Hill press conference as part of the "Toaster" campaign of Back from the Brink advocating that De-Alerting begin.

Report composed by the Rev. Robert Moore, Executive Director, Peace Action Education Fund • December 28, 2001

Peace Action Education Fund
40 Witherspoon Street
Princeton, NJ 08542
(609)924-5022 Phone
Email the Coalition