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Persuading Congress
A Practical Guide to Parlaying an Understanding
of Congressional Folkways and Dynamics into Successful Advocacy on
Capitol Hill How to Spend Less and Get More from Congress: Candid
Advice for Executives
Persuading Congress, by Joseph Gibson, is a very
practical book, packed with wisdom and experience in a
deceptively short and simple package.
What happens in Congress affects all of our lives and extends into every corner of the economy. Because so much is at stake there, businesses and other interest groups spend billions of dollars each year trying to influence legislation.
Yet, most of these efforts are doomed to futility from the outset. Only a small percentage of the bills introduced in Congress actually become law, and most interested parties do not fully understand why those few bills succeed. More importantly, how to get Congress to do what they want remains a mystery to them.
This book will help you understand Congress. Written from the perspective of one who has helped put a lot of bills on the president's desk and helped stop a lot more, this book explains in everyday terms why Congress behaves as it does. Then it shows you how you can best deploy whatever resources you have to move Congress in your direction.
Because you have limited time, this book sticks to the basics and its chapters are short so that it can be digested rapidly.
"We are all -- every one of us -- members of several
'special interests.' By providing a practical guide to
lobbying, Persuading Congress demystifies the ways in which citizens can influence legislation and achieve their public policy objectives.
Anyone who wants to make a difference through legislation -- not just executives -- needs to read this book, master its lessons, and keep it handy." -- F. Christopher Arterton, Dean, Graduate School of Political Management, The George Washington University
"This revealing book pulls back the curtain on the Congressional decision-making process and, best of all,
provides invaluable advice to corporate executives on effectively influencing not just national and local legislation but the corporate environment as well." -- Robert Clements, Chairman & CEO, EverBank Financial Corp
"The Constitution gives Americans the right to petition their government for a redress of grievances. And no legislature is more accessible to its own people than the United States Congress. But rights and access alone do not translate into effective engagement or useful political action. In
Persuading Congress, Joseph Gibson, a longtime veteran of Capitol Hill, offers
masterful counsel to anyone who wants to work well with Congress. In Washington, there are well over 10,000 registered lobbyists. Very few grasp and convey the keys to successful advocacy as well as Gibson does." -- Martin Gold, Covington & Burling, Washington, DC
JOSEPH GIBSON has worked in the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the federal government. He has lobbied members of Congress and their staffs, advocated on behalf of the executive branch, and argued cases in federal and state courts.
He grew up in Waycross, Georgia, and then attended Yale University, where he received a bachelor's degree in political science. After graduation, he spent a year working as a staffer on the Senate Judiciary Committee. He then went to Yale Law School, where he earned his JD degree.
After law school, he clerked for the Hon. R. Lanier Anderson, III, of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Macon, Georgia. He then returned to Washington where he spent the next six and a half years as a litigator with private law firms.
Although he was not particularly interested in politics at the time, the Republican takeover of Congress in 1994 led, through a series of connections and circumstances, to his getting a job as an antitrust counsel for the House Judiciary Committee under Chairman Henry Hyde of Illinois. From there, he rose to chief antitrust counsel for the committee. In 2002 he became a deputy assistant attorney general representing the legislative interests of the Department of Justice.
In 2003, he returned to the House Judiciary Committee as its chief legislative counsel and parliamentarian under Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin. After two years there, he became chief of staff to Representative Lamar Smith of Texas. After the 2006 election, he became chief minority counsel of the committee. He has now returned to the private sector where he lobbies on antitrust, intellectual property, and other business issues at the law firm of Constantine Cannon LLC.
He and his wife, Heath, live in Washington and New York with their daughter. The views expressed in Persuading Congress are entirely his own and do not necessarily represent those of any other person or group.
Persuading Congress
A Practical Guide to Parlaying an Understanding of Congressional
Folkways and Dynamics into Successful Advocacy on Capitol Hill: How to Spend Less and Get More from Congress: Candid Advice for Executives
By Joseph Gibson
Coming in 2010
Softcover $24
150 pages
ISBN 10:
158733-164-0 ISBN 13:
978-1-58733-164-0
Published 2010 Dimensions: 5.5 x 8.5 x
X.X Weight: X.X pounds
Softcover
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Hardbound $27
150 pages ISBN 10: 158733173X ISBN 13: 978-1-58733-173-2 Published 2010 Dimensions:
5.5 x 8.5 x
X.X Weight: X.X pounds
Hardbound
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