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TMENT OF DEFENSE 10/3/97 Bossie ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE WASHINGTON, D.C. 20301-1400 Called and left UNITED STATES OF AMERICA a detailed mesage thank mg KB In PUBLIC AFFAIRS his support rmn. Gapay. The process well 23 September 1997 uncerway I his Ms. Melanne Verveer applicat- will Chief of Staff for the First Lady The White House set every ansiderator Washington, DC 20500 B6 Dear Melanne: I enjoyed talking with you at the Jacobovits', but that's not the purpose of this letter. Les Gapay, a former colleague at the Wall Street Journal, has asked me to send a letter on his behalf. He has applied for a job writing speeches for the First Lady. Les is an experienced writer who has written movingly about his family in Hungary, done good work as a journalist, worked in Public Relations and as a freelance speech writer and consultant in Washington. The relationship between a principal and her speech writer always has its own chemistry, but Les clearly has the technical skills for such a job. I'd be glad to speak to you further. Please feel free to contact me at 703.697.9312. Sincerely, h Ken Bacon Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Pls. refile 1,-14-1998 6: 23PM FROM 1730 RHODE ISLAND AV 202 463 0182 P. 1 Karen Mulhauser 1730 Rhode Island Avenue, NW, Suite 712 Washington, DC 20036 Phone 202-463-0180 - Fax 202-463-0182 [email protected] FAX MESSAGE TO: Bobbi Greene ORGANIZATION: Office of the First Lady 9 pages total FAX: 456-6244 RE: building a constituency and "Education Girl: A Development Imperative" DATE: 1-14-98 Bobbi, I am pleased that we may be able to turn the meeting Melanne requested into a two-agenda conversation. The two issues as I understand are: Building a Constituency for Global Engagement: As I mentioned, I BRIEFLY spoke with Mrs. Clinton about an idea I had to start a political action network on foreign policy and global engagement issues. My particular interest is in development assistance and even more specifically, in women and development concerns, but as you will see from the attached "Prospectus", I realize that these may not be the most effective issues to capture the American public's attention I am thrilled that she remembers my mentioning this to her more than a year ago and am eager for a chance to meet with you and others. The attached six page prospectus has not been updated in several months, but does still adequately describes my interests. I am fairly familiar with other non political initiatives to build a constituency and can give an overview of these as well, and/or bring others with me. Please advise. Educating Girls: A Development Imperative: While I am meeting with you, Lhope there will be time to also review the possibility of listing Mrs. Clinton as the Honorary Chair of the conference. I have attached a one-page summary. We are in the process of drafting a brochure for the conference and have a little more than one week to get copy to the printer. It'd be great if we could indicate this Per title in the brochure. As the hon. Chair her role can be as limited or as extensive as she'd like! It can simply be allowing us to list the title and that she has been invited to open the conference on May 6. Of course if she is not available that day but could join us on the 7th or 8th we can make arrangements, but hope for Wednesday morning. Other possible ways that Mrs. Clinton could be involved are: 1. host a special reception for other First Ladies and leaders from developing countries either the night before the conference (May 5) or during the conference. 1-14-1998 6:23PM FROM 1730 RHODE ISLAND AV 202 463 0182 P.2 2. identify people from the US and abroad who she believes should participate in this important conference. 3. convene a conversation with key media to meet with some of the country leaders: The speakers and other participants will be leaders from 15 countries who represent religion, business, media/communication, government and NGOs. The countries that will be represented are listed below. Bobbi, I look forward to Noa's call and hope that we can meet this or next week if possible. I am available anytime the 16th, all but 12-2 on the 20th, all day 21st, and anytime at all the last week of January. Conference Countries USAID 6 IADB 6 UNICEF 4-6 Benin (list received on 16.12) Haiti China Honduras (18.12) Eritrea Egypt (11.12) Bolivia? Jordan Guatemala Paraguay? Laos Guinea (9.12) - Tanzania India Vietnam Malawi (12.12) Zambia Mali (12.12) Zimbabwe? Morocco (15.12) Peru Uganda 1-14-1998 24PM FROM 1730 RHODE ISLAND AV 202 463 0182 P.3 Starting a Political Action Committee to Build A Constituency for US Global Engagement and Leadership A Prospectus For various reasons, the time now seems appropriate to start a political action committee for the purpose of building and mobilizing a political constituency of informed citizens to support candidates who support global policies, including economic development assistance. A group of concerned individuals attended a brainstorming session to consider alternative approaches to organizing direct electoral support for Congressional candidates who support global engagement. The participants expressed great interest and willingness to work together toward this end. They agreed that the next step is to conduct preliminary research to determine the best approach for starting a PAC. This three to four month research period would allow an opportunity to test the breadth and depth of support for the concept; to determine which issues and concerns are best to define the political committee; to determine if start-up moneys are available; and to learn how best to begin, maintain and serve a growing list of contributors and activists. Karen Mulhauser, President of Mulhauser and Associates, is prepared to work on a part time basis and with a small advisory group, to conduct the research and do preliminary activities necessary to legally establish the political action committee. What follows is: I Background: a brief description of relevant factors indicating why a political committee on global engagement is more likely to be sustained now than previously; I Proposed concept to be tested; II Proposed work plan for the research period; III Preliminary Budget; and IV Biographic sketch of Karen Mulhauser. I Background It is true that most Americans are reluctant to increase US involvement in global affairs -- questioning why we would send money to other countries that we could spend here at home, or concern about supporting corrupt governments. However, once misconceptions are dispelled about how these limited resources are actually used, there is strong support for economic and humanitarian assistance to the people in developing countries. Strong majorities, for instance, approve programs for child survival. family planning and other health and education programs that improve the lives of the world's poorest people. In addition, there is emerging awareness that as development aid stimulates long-term economic growth in the developing world, and that the quality of life improves, there is parallel growth in US jobs, opportunities for investment, and US exports. 1 1-14-1998 24PM FROM 1730 RHODE ISLAND AV 202 463 0182 P.4 The Congressional attack on foreign assistance observed in recent years, has caused an unusual and unprecedented reaction from many individuals and organizations that support economic development assistance. NGOs and other organizations that had not previously had advocacy programs have put human and financial resources into establishing programs to educate the public, the media, and opinion leaders, including members of Congress, about the benefits to the United States of a strong foreign assistance program. One result of this increased education and advocacy activity is that the individual members of participating organizations have a new awareness of the importance of entering public policy debates on critical foreign policy issues. For many of these individuals, the logical next step is to become involved in re-electing supportive members of Congress and "threwing the rascals out. New Initiatives: Coalitions Important coalitions have emerged to assess public opinion, develop appropriate messages to shape public judgment and bring these messages to the general public and opinion leaders, including elected officials. Noteworthy among these efforts are: the Advocacy Committee of InterAction which brings together representatives of its 160 member organizations in an effort to bring their separate and collective information to the attention of Congress; Coalition for American Leadership Abroad, Co-Lead was formed to link effective grass roots mobilization efforts with regional and national efforts to support US engagement in world affairs. With over 31 groups, CO-LEAD facilitates educational programs within the foreign affairs community; The Campaign to Preserve US Global Leadership initially involved several organizations, including AIPAC, Citizens Democracy Corps, InterAction and Population Action International, and now works with 125 groups with access to millions of concerned Americans. The objective of the Campaign is to stop further reductions in the international affairs account of the federal budget; several efforts, including the Alliance for United Nations Sustainable Development and the Emergency Coalition fpr US Financial Support of the United nations are emerging to build public support for the United Nations; and the Business Alliance for Economic Development dedicated to informing the public and elected officials about the connection between properly implemented foreign economic assistance and the expansion of US exports and jobs. In addition to these important emerging collaborations, many organizations are dramatically increasing their separate advocacy roles. Notable are the works of the National Peace Corps Association, CARE, World Vision, Population Action International and other groups concerned with foreign assistance. 2 1-14-1998 25PM FROM 1730 RHODE ISLAND AV 202 463 0182 P.5 All of these initiatives are mobilizing useful educational efforts to inform Congress of the importance of recognizing the leadership role of the United States in the global community. They are also educating large numbers of individuals about their civic responsibility to enter policy debates. But none of the organizations or collaborations involved in advocacy and education efforts is legally established to inform its constituency about which members of Congress are deserving of voters' support and which should be defeated in their next elections. And, none has yet begun to effectively educate its constituents about how to get involved in elections, party platform debates, party conventions' delegate education efforts or other electoral political activities. Now more than ever, there is a growing constituency poised to be mobilized to support the candidates who will support a global agenda. It would NOT be the goal of the political action committee to educate individuals about the value of global engagement, but rather to work with those who already understand the value to the US of the developing world and involve them in electoral politics. Issue politics Almost every issue constituency has by now formed a political arm to legally mobilize support for candidates who support their causes, whether it is for the environment, women, labor, business, gay and lesbian rights, telecommunications, children, pro or anti tobacco industry, abortion, real estate, banking or industry. There is not however, an organized political movement to support international economic development, foreign policy and other issues of global engagement. The time and the climate are now appropriate for such a non-partisan initiative. Presidential politics Throughout the last months of the Presidential elections, Karen Mulhauser chaired the Global Leadership Desk of the Clinton/Gore campaign. She collaborated with James Rubin who was on leave from work at the United Nations to work in the campaign on foreign policy issues. She sent regular fax messages to several hundred interested individuals, convened background briefing sessions in the campaign headquarters for individuals who were both interested in how to promote the campaign's foreign policy messages, and how to get involved in get-out-the-vote projects throughout the country. The Global Leadership Desk provided opportunities for Washington area volunteers to use phone banks to alert their friends and colleagues in key states about campaign activities that needed their support. Unlike other Clinton/Gore outreach efforts that mobilized their constituencies (such as women, Jewish, gay and lesbian, African American, education, labor, etc.), the Global Leadership Outreach effort was attempting to create a political constituency virtually from scratch. Such an effort had never before been attempted in a Democratic Presidential campaign. The Global Leadership Outreach effort was conceived with both a short term objective and a longer term goal. In the short term, it was hoped that the concept of mobilizing concerned voters into the campaign could be tested. The longer term goal was to turn around the image that 3 1-14-1998 6 25PM FROM 1730 RHODE ISLAND AV 202 463 0182 P.6 there is no constituency for global engagement by actually involving citizens in election activities. This can best be done by bringing workers to campaigns who announce that the reason for their involvement is their concern about global issues, including international development assistance. In the few weeks this initiative was implemented, a list of over 600 individuals was developed which received weekly fax alerts, more than a dozen volunteers used phone banks to contacts associates in targeted states to become involved in the election, four briefing sessions were convened for diverse audiences to receive updates and discuss how to make an impact in the 1996 elections and build a political constituency for the longer term. The enthusiasm that resulted from this campaign initiative has led to the idea to build on the momentum and create a non-partisan political committee for US global engagement and leadership. II Proposed Concept The group that came together to brainstorm about approaches for shaping a political action committee agreed that the PAC should include the following elements: The committee should be independent and non-partisan. It would not duplicate or compete with existing educational efforts such as those described above, but would instead take advantage of the results of a better informed public and a more mobilized constituency, and build on existing educational and advocacy efforts. The purpose is NOT to convince the general public of the value of US global engagement -- others are undertaking this challenge -- but rather to reach out to those who already understand the importance of economic development assistance and to involve them in electoral politics. While the political committee would no doubt contribute to needed public education on global issues, its main purpose is to politically mobilize those who already understand global issues, not to educate. After a period of research, several decisions will be made, including: which issues will be used to generate political involvement (humanitarian and/or economic assistance, international security, hunger, human rights, and so forth); the number of races to support with funds, in-kind contributions or volunteers; the fundraising and programmatic goals; a decision process for identifying and supporting candidates; whether support will be financial only, or in-kind to involve volunteers in campaigns; and the management structure appropriate to meet the goals. As currently conceived, the political committee would function as many PACs do, using established criteria for support, a questionnaire to document candidates' views and a process for making candidate support decisions. It would have a steering or advisory committee consisting of 30 (or more?) prominent individuals with organizations listed on letter head and in promotional materials for identification purposes only. They would be known for their diverse global leadership roles consistent with the issue agenda. They would represent both Democrats and 4 1,-14-1998 26PM FROM 1730 RHODE ISLAND AV 202 463 0182 P.7 Republicans. A smaller executive, or policy, committee would work with the small staff to select and recommend candidates for support. A list of supporters and contributors will be developed through direct mail, and other methods, and individuals would receive regular mailings about Congressional activities, candidates' positions on the issues, polling data on close races, voting records, as well as information about how to get involved in local politics and elections. The very act of mailing to large numbers of concerned individuals with political messages will be an important step in getting people to realize it is not enough to support global development with contributions and volunteer hours -- they most also elect the politicians who will vote right in Congress. With regard to fundraising, it seems appropriate once the PAC is formed, to solicit initial support from donors able to make maximum legal contributions ($5,000) to the PAC for start-up moneys. Research will help determine if mailing lists would become available for direct mail fundraising and what other methods of generating non-tax deductible support are possible. III Proposed Work Plan Research can begin as soon as initial funding is available. A small group from among those who have already expressed interest in this concept and select others will work with Mulhauser and Associates as advisors. Information needed before efforts are made to actually form the political committee includes: Interviews and/or surveys of former and current members of Congress to assess their interest and level of support for the formation of a political action committee on global issues. Elected officials will also help guide the effort by suggesting substantive issues for candidate support, as well as what is needed to help candidates -- contributions or volunteer activity. What will be most effective to demonstrate there IS a constituency for the developing world? Congressional interest and issue analysis will be accomplished by talking with current and former members of Congress and key Hill and agency staff to determine if this type of citizen support can make a difference in Congressional votes, in relations between Congress and the Administration, and which legislative issues are most likely to be responsive to PAC support. These individuals will also be able to help guide the design of the PAC so it will be most effective. Assessment of public opinion to determine which few global issues are most appropriate to begin with. Interviews will be arranged with various public opinion experts who have either collected data on attitudes toward global involvement or have a good understanding of the issues. These would include both Democratic pollsters such as Stan Greenberg, Peter Hart and Celinda Lake, and Republican pollsters such as Ed Goeas and Linda Duvall, as well as academic experts. Surveys and/or interviews with prominent individuals and organization leadership. The interview tools will be designed to determine if NGO and other opinion leaders in the field will be willing to visibly support a non-partisan political action committee, if they would allow access to mailing lists, and in other ways help generate funds to support candidates who support a global 5 1-14-1998 6:27PM FROM 1730 RHODE ISLAND AV 202 463 0182 P.8 agenda. These interviews will also help determine which issues are the best to identify and involve campaign workers and raise campaign funds. Meetings and conversations with leaders of existing political actions committees to learn from their experiences. Among the political committees to be contacted are Council for a Livable World, EMILY's List, environmental PACs such as League for Conservation Voters, and the Sierra Club, labor PACs such as National Education Association and AFL-CIO. Convene focus groups in targeted states to determine citizen interest. Once there is a general sense of sufficient leadership support behind the concept, suggested issues for candidate criteria, and input from elected officials (and if funding permits), it is very important to test the concept and messages in a few focus groups in potential target communities. Focus groups would not be selected from the general public, but rather from a set of individuals randomly selected from potential local groups such as returned Peace Corps volunteers, and volunteers/supporters from such groups as CARE, World Vision, Foreign Affairs Councils, retired military, Bread for the World, Results, and others. These are the people who would be solicited and informed through direct mail and other outreach efforts. IV Budget for Research The budget presented below reflects expenses to carry out the research described in this prospectus. Fee to Mulhauser and Associates Personnel $50,000 Telephone, FAX ($200 per month) 1,500 Postage, messenger 1,500 Telephone, FAX 750 Copying and printing 2,000 Travel 5,000 Focus group expenses (for four focus groups, including travel, professional moderators and all expenses) 24,000 TOTAL $84,450 6 1-14-1998 27PM FROM 1730 RHODE ISLAND AV 202 463 0182 P.9 USAID World Bank International Inter-American Development Bank Delegation of the European Commission Conference on Girls' UNICEF Lewis T. Preston Education Program for Girls Education International Trade Center, Washington, D.C., May 6, 7, & 8, 1998 Mobilizing Leaders Worldwide Conference Girls' Education: Key to Goal Program and Venue Sustainable Development The goal of the conference is to strengthen public-sector, private-sector, and civil society The United States Agency for The education of girls is important for all International Development partnerships and commitments to increase girls' nations. It has high social and economic school participation worldwide. To this end. (USAID), the World Bank, the benefits in terms of decreased fertility and the conference will: Inter-Ainerican Development improved family health and nutrition, Bank, the European children's educational attainment, productivity, Engage traditional and non-traditional Commission, UNICEF, and the and democratic participation. partners in a dialogue about how Lewis T. Preston Education improvements in girls' education can Program for Girls are planning All sectors of society - business, religion, the an international conference on accelerate a country's social and economic media, academia - in collaboration with the development; girls' education. It will address government, can make a difference in the the effectiveness of, responsi- education of children, particularly girls. Over Focus international media attention on bility for, and sustainability of the past decade, numerous interventions to efforts to expand girls' education; initiatives for girls' education. increase girls' school attendance, completion, Examine the roles of the government, and achievement have been tested, and The conference will be held at private-sector, religious, and other non- promising strategies have been identified. The the International Trade Center governmental organizations in ensuring critical issues of the long-term effectiveness of in Washington, D.C., on May girls' school completion; these interventions, and the responsibility for 6, 7. and 8, 1998. sustaining them over time, have not been Identify. showcase, and learn from leaders adequately addressed. in government, business, industry, religious organizations, and foundations who are U.S. Agency for International Development What roles can the government, private leading education improvement efforts: and Office of Women in secior. religious community, and other non- governmental organizations play in ensuring Present new knowledge on cost-effective Development that girls' educational needs are addressed? and sustainable approaches for increasing girls' educational opportunities. Contact: Susie Clay [email protected] How can families and communities be 202-712-0570 (phone) supported in their efforts to increase girls' Participants 202-216-3173 (fax) school participation? Leaders in government, business. and Contact Karen Mulhauser religious organizations in Africa, the What strategies are most cost-effective and Academy for Educational Americas. Asia, the Caribbean, Europe. sustainable in increasing girls' school Development and the Near East participation? kmulhauser@consultingwomen Private-sector, academic, and philanthropic com organizations, foundations, and other non- 202-463-0180 (phone) What approaches are most effective in governmental organizations 202-463-0182 (fax) improving the educational experience and Media organizations learning environment for girls? International agencies