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------------------------------------------------------------------------ Web-based lobbyists cast wide net ------------------------------------------------------------------------ WASHINGTON (December 6, 1997 00:29 a.m. EST http://www.nando.net) -- When President Clinton was trying to decide whether to set aside 1.7 million acres of federal land in Utah as a national monument during the summer of 1996, a little-known group called the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance shifted into high gear. Alerting environmental supporters from coast to coast through a World Wide Web Internet site (www.sura.org) and an electronic mailing list, the alliance generated as many as several thousand calls in support of the idea to the White House switchboard. Within two weeks, Clinton announced the creation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Environmentalists who deal with the White House think the campaign had an effect on Clinton and helped tip the balance against Western developers who opposed the move. The Utah group and other small grassroots organizations say the Web is changing the dynamics of citizen involvement in government. Where low-budget organizations once took weeks to generate a few hundred letters or phone calls to Washington, they now can mobilize thousands of members almost instantly in a bid to compete against well-financed lobbies. "The only thing public interest groups have that corporate interests don't have is people, and now we have a way to mobilize them," said Tom Price, national grassroots coordinator for the Utah alliance. "(Corporations) can buy ads; they can hire lobbyists, but now suddenly tiny little environmental groups in the middle of nowhere can bring thousands of people into play with very little capital ... "The Web is an extraordinary tool for the democratization of American politics." Established lobbying organizations, as well as small start-up groups, are using the Web to press their agendas on the Hill. The Christian Coalition's web site (www.cc.org) has a series of screens where religious conservatives can skim through issues before Congress, edit letters on those issues and send the letters by e-mail to their representatives. The National Rifle Association's web site (www.nra.org) advises gun owners on setting up local grassroots networks and phone banks, and contains legislative alerts on federal, state and local issues across the country. A site maintained by the National Federation of Independent Business (www.nfibonline.com) asks company owners to contribute accounts of how federal regulations have cost their firms money, fueling a campaign to scale back government requirements. Such organizations are planning ever more sophisticated computer programs. Christian Coalition members, for instance, will soon be able to use their web site and e-mail to chide members of Congress for recent votes on key issues. "We've just barely tapped the potential of the Internet as far as a lobbying tool," said Camille Mitzner, the group's grassroots legislative liaison. The faster reaction time that computers and the Internet give grassroots organizations could help lawmakers, who like to know how issues are perceived in their districts. "It's real-time," said Rep. Rob Portman, R-Ohio. "You get the message more quickly." What remains to be determined, however, is whether the World Wide Web will change the balance of power among competing interests, or be just the latest high-tech tool used by all sides. Environmentalists, for example, are using the Web to coordinate a letter-writing campaign for a proposed global warming treaty. But working against them, a powerful coalition of industrial, agricultural and labor organizations has created a site (www.climatefacts.org), marshaling scientific and economic arguments against the treaty. And it is running an advertising campaign directing Web-surfers to that site. Whichever side is ultimately favored by the new technology, one thing appears clear: The Web is dispersing information about many legislative issues. And that may lead to better-informed voters. "There will be a more informed electorate," predicted Jack Bonner, president of a grassroots organizing firm, Bonner and Associates. "I think the Web is very healthy for democracy." By DAVID HOSANSKY, Congressional Quarterly. Copyright 1997 Nando.net Copyright 1997 Congressional Quarterly <http://www.nando.net/newsroom/ntn/info/120697/info2_10263_noframes.html> ------------------------------------------------------------------------- janet [log in to unmask]