Interest Group Assignment
Due – Friday 12/20/13
1. Pick one of the interest groups from the list attached. You are free to pick another group if you
have a different choice. Just ask or email me to be sure you have made a good choice.
2. Go to that group’s web site. Do NOT rely solely on the group’s site. Also, go to Google
News and search for information on your group. That will help you find what issues they’ve been
involved in recently. Finally, research your group on the OpenSecrets.org website
(http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/index.php). Research the following topics and type up a
report (about three pages, double-spaced) covering those topics. You can simply put the topic as
a heading and then give the information on that topic. (This isn’t meant to be a thesis-driven,
unified essay.) You can give your information in a bullet-points list. Keep a list of sources you
use and include them in your final product.
A. What are the issues your group is concerned with? What are some examples of
legislation your group supports or opposes? What actions does your group take to try to
influence the policy agenda? What resources make it influential? Give specific examples:
(e.g. use of the media, law suits, direct lobbying, public information contributions, etc.) Which
parts of the government does your group target, i.e. which executive branch departments and
congressional committees? How successful is your group?
B.1. What is the group’s political ideology? Does it favor one political party over the other? If
so, does it have a history of supporting certain political candidates? What is it doing to
support their favored candidates? Make the connection between their political ideology, the
legislation they support, and the party they support.
OR
B. 2. If you think your group is absolutely neutral, say so. This is only for groups that do NOT
endorse candidates. Many interest groups are neutral. Discuss the issues that your group is
concerned with and then, for the points in this section you will do the following. Find and
summarize two news articles relevant to your interest group. You can use
http://news.google.com/ to find such articles. Use the information to show how your group is
trying to influence public policy. Make connections in your summary to the topic’s we’ve
discussed in this unit.
C. Assess your group: What are its strengths and weaknesses? How effective is it in
achieving its agenda? Back up what you say with specific examples demonstrating their
effectiveness or lack thereof.
Include citations of sources you use or lose 10 points. Here is how a website should be cited:
"AARP." http://www.aarp.org/ (accessed 10/16/11).
Staple the rubric to the back of your assignment!
Interest Groups
You should be familiar with the following Interest Groups. Know the types of issues these groups are
involved in and whether they are generally supporters of liberals or conservatives, or are non-ideological.
You should know which interest groups would be involved in any given issue. The groups with an asterisk
by them are ones you really need to know. There are, of course, many more organizations, but one must
draw a line somewhere. Use this list to pick an interest group for your assignment.
[chosen not from list: GLAAD (Caitlin), MOAA (Eliza), WWF (Chelsi)]
1. AARP – American Association
of Retired People* (Matt)
(http://www.aarp.org/
12.
Christian Coalition* http://wwwcc.org/
(Max)
23.
2. ACLU – American Civil
Liberties Union* (Paul)
http://www.aclu.org/
13.
Club for Growth
http://clubforgrowth.org/
24.
3. AFL-CIO – American
Federation of Labor – Congress
of Industrial Organizations*
http://www.aflcio.org/home.ht
m
4. ABA - American Bar
Association* (Phoebe)
http://www.abanet.org/
14.
Council on American-Islamic Relations
http://www.cair-net.org/
25.
NOW – National
Organization of Women*
(Sam)
http://www.now.org/
15.
Eagle Forum
http://www.eagleforum.org/
26.
NRA – National Rifle
Association* (Jack)
http://www.nra.org/
5. American Conservative Union
http://www.conservative.org/
16.
EMILY’s List (Cristina)
http://www.emilyslist.org/
27.
6. American Farm Bureau
http://www.fb.com/
17.
Environmental Defense Fund (PJ)
http://www.edf.org/home.cfm
28.
7. AIPAC - American Israel
Public Affairs Committee
http://www.aipac.org/
8. AMA - American Medical
Association* http://www.amaassn.org/
9. ATLA - Association of Trial
Lawyers of America
http://atla.org/
18.
Family Research Council (Pinar)
http://www.frc.org/
29.
PETA – People for the
Ethical Treatment of
Animals (Lauren)
http://www.peta.org/
Pharmaceutical Research
& Manufacturers of
America (Dan)
http://www.phrma.org/
Public Citizen*
http://www.citizen.org/
19.
Greenpeace (Haley)
http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/
30.
Sierra Club* (Ellen)
http://www.sierraclub.org/
20.
NAACP – National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People*
http://www.naacp.org/home/index.htm
31.
Susan B. Anthony List
(Marybeth)
http://www.sba-list.org/
US Chamber of
Commerce (N Cariani)
http://www.uschamber.co
m/chambers/directory/def
ault
Veterans of Foreign
Wars* (N Celfo)
http://www.vfw.org/
10.
The Business Roundtable
http://www.brtable.org/
(James)
21.
NAM - National Association of
Manufacturers*
http://www.nam.org/s_nam/index.asp
32.
11.
The Brady Campaign to
Prevent Gun Violence
www.handguncontrol.org
(Luke)
22.
NARAL – National Abortion Rights
Action League* (Noelle)
http://www.naral.org/
33.
NEA - National
Education Association*
http://www.nea.org/index.
html (Kyle)
National Resources
Defense Council
http://www.nrdc.org/
Interest Group Assignment
A. How it tries to influence policy and the public agenda:
 What are the issues your group is concerned with?
 What are some examples of legislation your group
supports or opposes?
 What actions does your group take to try to
influence policy and the public agenda? Is it
involved in litigation? Give details about what it is
doing to influence policy.
 What resources make it influential? Give specific
examples: (e.g. use of the media, law suits, direct
lobbying, public information contributions, etc.)
 Which parts of the government does your group
target, i.e. which executive branch departments and
congressional committees?
B1. Political Efforts – complete this if your group supports one
political party over the other and endorses candidates
 What is it doing to support its favored candidates?
What endorsements has it made?
 Make the connection between their political
ideology, the legislation they support, and the party
they support.
Possible
Points
50
(10 pts.
each)
20
(10 pts.
each)
B2. Your group in the news – complete this if your group is
politically neutral and is not supporting either party or
endorsing candidates.
 Find two news articles concerning your group and
what it is involved in. Write up summaries of each
article. Connect your summaries to the themes that
we’ve studied this unit on the tools that interest
groups use.
20
(10 pts.
each)
C. Assessment of your group:
 How effective is your group in accomplishing its
goals? What are its strengths and weaknesses?
 Back up what you say with specific examples
demonstrating their effectiveness or lack thereof.
D. Bibliography
TOTAL
20
(10 pts.
each)
10 pts.
100
Your
Points