Government Semester Project: Stage Three
Legalizing the Sale of all Alcoholic Beverages including Mixed
Beverages in Temple, Texas
Group Two
Government 2302.01
Fabian Castillo
Matthew Greenfield
Jennifer Torno
Rebecca Gidley
Send the Communication to the Right Person:
Our group will send communication to the public. The public is the concentrated
group that will influence the turnout of the election. It is not necessary to incorporate the
support of legislators, governors, or members of Congress.
Send the Right Type of Communication:
Our group decided that the best way to send communication to the public at one
time would be to write a letter informing the public about the goals and intentions of our
organization. The letter would ask for the support of the community and also inform the
public about when the election was to be held. The letter would then be published as an
editorial in the local newspaper for all of the public to see. A similar letter would be
published in the local public issues magazine entitled “ETC.”
Get the Most out of Your Communication:
In order to get the most out of our communication , our group will make the letter
to the public as brief as possible and to the point. The issues will be simplified as much
as possible so that those of lesser learning will still be able to understand. Our group will
not exaggerate the importance of our cause but rather have a calm reasoned and balanced
approach.
Strategies for Building a Political Group:
The type of organization that our group will form will be the ad hoc group. It fits
the needs of out group perfectly. We need volunteers since we do not have a large
budget, the ad hoc group is easy to create, simple to run and concentrates on a single
issue. Another reason to have an ad hoc group is because once the issue has been voted
on, the organizations usefulness is gone.
Selecting the Organization’s Name:
In selecting the organizations name, our group decided on the name, “Citizens for
the Growth of Temple”. Our group decided that this name positive and upbeat and would
attract members of all types. Also, the name we selected does not put an emphasis on the
legalization of alcohol but rather on the growth of Temple and what the positive effects of
the legalization of alcohol will be.
Getting and Keeping Group Members:
The members of our group are aware of the necessity of a strong base of
organization members. One of the keys to obtaining and maintaining members is to
recruit members that have a strong interest in your cause. Our group feels that college
students would be very supportive of it’s cause and would also have the spare time
necessary to put in volunteer work. Another target group for members would be
restaurant owners and also the restaurant workers. Both owners and workers would be
glad to be rid of the nuisance of the club membership card. Our group will also utilize
personal friendships to join our organization. Each member in our group has a large
branch of friends that would be willing to help out. Since our group cannot pay it’s
group members for volunteering, we will do other activities that make members stay
active. Our group will have low dues so that every member can afford to join. At each
meeting we will ensure that the atmosphere is such so that people get the chance to
socialize and make friends and talk and have fun.
Building Stature:
In order for “Citizens for the Growth of Temple” to be taken seriously they need
to have a few prestigious or influential supporters in the area backing the organization.
The organization should also make every effort to be professional and non-radical in all
of it’s dealings. It would be very easy for the community to turn against us and say we
are just a bunch of kids trying to cause trouble, and then blow us off.
Raising Funds:
“Citizens for the Growth of Temple” will depend largely on donations from the
community and the volunteer work of it’s members to maintain operation. The
organization could possibly sell some promotional items like T-shirts with the name of
our organization printed on them. Also bake sales and car washes would be sufficient for
the amount of money the organization would need to operate.
Generate Publicity:
In order to generate publicity, “Citizens for the Growth of Temple” plan to put ads
in the newspapers for each meeting and also have ads on the local radio and television
stations. Our group thought that one excellent promotional idea would be to have a
Unicard burning. Advertise for the card burning on campus and all around town.
Students would really get into the demonstration and perhaps it would draw attention to
our organization and it’s cause.
Participating in Government-Sponsored Hearing:
Citizens for the group of Temple feel that this is not a necessary step to reach our
goal.
Planning Your Strategy:
All voting that concerns the lifting of the club card law is local so there is no
decision to be made about what level to concentrate on. Our organization has also
already identified the target group for which we are aiming. We are aiming for the public
because they are the only ones who will have an effect on the vote.
Determining District Boundaries and Voting Rules:
The voting that is to be done is strictly at a local level and will only be within the
city limits of Temple.
Identifying Concentrations of Potential Supporters:
Besides the members of “Citizens for the Growth of Temple”, the only other real
“concentration” of voters will be college students and restaurant owners and workers.
Other supporters are evenly dispersed throughout the neighborhood.
Canvassing:
The members of “Citizens for the Growth of Temple” will call people in the
community and get potential supporters who are not yet registered to vote to get
registered. They will convince neutral or lukewarm people to become supporters.
Volunteers will also put up flyers informing people of the actual election day. We will
obtain the list of registered voters from the local board of elections. Some of the
volunteers will go door to door and if funds allow it, pass out campaign literature.
Getting Your Votes to the Polls:
Not only will we get out and advertise and let people know when the election will
be but we will have runners and checkers. Runners to seek out other voters on election
day if necessary and checkers to check off the supporters that have already voted and
supplying the runners with the names of the people that haven’t voted yet. We also plan
to hold the election in November during the state elections. We feel that this will ensure
a larger turnout for the election.
Preventing Unfair Practices:
The rules for a local option election clearly state how all elections are to be held
and state that the county is responsible for carrying out the election in a fair manner. The
rules even state how all voting officials are to be trained, and a time table for the election
process. To insure that votes are not tampered with we plan to send out members of our
group to monitor voters in the city.
We hope that by appealing to the public our organization will succeed in getting
the law that requires a club card for the purchase of alcohol changed . The ultimate fate
of our organization will rely entirely on voter approval to repeal the law.
The citizens
of Temple will determine our success and government officials would not necessarily
have any impact on Citizens for the growth of Temple.