Photo courtesy Roger Hansen
Friends Milwaukee Advocacy Team
Friends Milwaukee Advocacy Team during a visit to Tom Petri, policy staff for Sen. Ron Johnson.
The Quakers played a leading role in opposing slavery before the Civil War and have remained a voice of conscience ever since. In the 1940s, the Quakers formed a Congressional lobbying group, the Friends Committee on National Legislation, working to move U.S. policy in a progressive direction. Six years ago, the Friends Committee began to organize advocacy teams to work with members of Congress locally in their own states and districts.
The Milwaukee Advocacy Team was first in line to receive training from the Friends Committee. “We responded quickly,” says original team member Roger Hansen. Now, there are 120 advocacy teams working across the U.S.
According to Hansen, the Friends Committee and its advocacy teams represent a “unique approach in working for social change, for peace and justice. We do our best to overcome the polarization in our society. We are on one side of the issues we work for, but we try to listen to everyone we talk to …”
“And build relationships,” adds Milwaukee team member Barbara Markoff. “Our objectives are to be fact based, respectful, loving, non-partisan and truth seeking. One thing we hear about often is the reputation of the Friends on the Hill. We are respected for our unique approach.”
Rather than shout slogans, the advocacy teams schedule meetings and holds discussions with politicians who have the power to make change happen. Each year the Friends Committee gives their teams a single issue to work on, sending them to meet with legislators or their staff with a specific “ask.” Congress passed one of their asking points, to cut aid to the Saudis in the Yemeni Civil War, but it was vetoed by Donald Trump.
The Milwaukee Advocacy Team has met often with Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Rep. Gwen Moore, and regularly with staff members for Sen. Ron Johnson and other GOP legislators. They have had some success in finding common ground with conservatives. Hansen cites Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner’s support for reducing mass incarceration based on Roman Catholic social doctrine.
“We tend to be fairly successful in getting (Republican) staff members to meet with us even as the political divide has gotten wider,” Markoff adds. “We think about what stories to tell to touch a particular person’s heart and mind. Success cannot be measured within one year. Often, we’re planting the seed of an idea.”
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In recent decades, the Friends Committee on National Legislation played a role in establishing the Peace Corps, advocating for civil rights legislation, passing the nuclear treaty with Iran and the Atrocities Prevention Act (2018) mandating that Foreign Service officers report act of genocide in the countries where they are stationed.
“We want to rehabilitate the word ‘lobbyist,’” Hansen concludes. “The word is associated with corporations and deep pockets, but lobbying can be used in progressive ways. I’ve been to lots of demonstrations in my life, but this is a way of speaking directly to the people who make decisions.”
To learn more about, contact Roger Hansen at johnroger1@sbcglobal.net.
