Introduction: Take Back Your Independence

You own your government; it's not the other way around. When you own something, it's up to you to manage it.

This Tool Kit was created through combined expertise with many of our nation's most effective and experienced citizens, to help you learn the management skills that work.

Just do one thing. Choose one action – any action. When you take any action in this Citizen's Tool Kit, you will master skills to enact truly meaningful oversight over your government.

Your children and grandchildren will inherit the government you give to them.

If you don't manage your own government, who will?

This Tool Kit is a Declaration of Your Independence from smoking bans as an individual Citizen.

It's time for you to recognize your own power.

You don't need us.

You don't have to find someone to follow.

You can use these tools and make things happen.

Pick any module. Pick a single action in it. See it to its completion.

You've just opened the door to an unexpected evolution of citizenship, the likes of which have not been seen since 1776.

Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

– Declaration of Independence

Why start with Your Independence from smoking bans?

Locally, statewide and nationally, your ultimate ownership in your government is enacted through your voice as the smoker.

If your voice as the smoker doesn't count, you are simply a slave to your government.

The United States of America was founded with the idea that We, the People have sovereign power over our government.

You will quickly see that the citizenry's ability to authenticate the fairness and accuracy of Your Independence from smoking bans has largely been stripped away.

But don't take our word for it. Select any action from the Citizen's Tool Kit. Try it. See what you discover for yourself.

We encourage you to think for yourself and have confidence in your own common sense.

Overview of the Citizen's Tool Kit

This Citizen's Tool Kit has 13 stand-alone modules. Each one is quite brief.

Your first action will be to skim over the modules and select one you'd like to try.

Even if you choose only one action from a single module, you'll be amazed at what you learn about managing your government.

Taking a single action – any action – will have more impact than you think.

How Do I Use the Citizen's Tool Kit?

Pick an action, any action, and just do it. Fight the temptation to spend your time trying to organize everyone else. Make a commitment to personally complete a meaningful action, even if just in one area, and even if no one else will join you. Spend your time actually doing something rather than on office politics, e-mail lists, or turf wars. Step away from the Internet.

Get out in the field where the action is!

If you choose to work alone, you'll quickly learn that there are many others like you, and they are achieving amazing results.

Of course, it is especially enjoyable to work with a small local group. One of the first actions you can take is to get a small group together, and there are modules in this Citizen's Tool Kit to help you do that.

One citizen who began working alone but then evolved into the founder of a group is John Brakey of Tucson Arizona. He has very good advice:

"I'd rather see 10 groups, each with 10 people, than one group with 100 people. You find out that in any group regardless of size, one, two or three people seem to do all the work. At least with 10 groups, you know you'll have 10 people taking action.”

You can start with an even smaller group – just three to five people, and you can draw them from your neighborhood, your family, your workplace or your circle of acquaintances. Whatever you do, take action.

How do I get help?

You can get personalized, one-on-one help with your questions here at The Tavern. There is also a Live Chat feature at the top of all the Tavern pages.

If you have Skype, (get it at http://www.skype.com – and it is free) then at http://www.forces.org, and select the news Portal. In the upper right column, look for the Skype “Call Me” button, click that for a live voice conversation or text chat.

The Tavern on the Internet is an important strategy, because other people probably have the same question you have. In this way everyone gets to read the answers to your questions, even those too shy to post their own question on the Internet. Internet-based consulting helps nonprofit organizations keep costs low and make good use of time.

If your question requires privacy E-mail forces@forces.org and allow a couple days for response.

If you don't have Internet at all, call Maryetta at 304-765-5394. Be judicious about using the phone, since using the telephone takes time away from others who may have a time sensitive schedule. She is in the EST zone.

It will help greatly if you have your questions organized ahead of time point by point. Focus your questions to handle them in 5-10 minutes.

Where can I find the Scientific Evidence that the smoking bans are based upon the misuse and fraudulent interpretation of the science surrounding second hand smoke?

http://forces.org/Scientific_Portal/

Where can I find a primer on My Independence from smoking bans problems?

New books come out frequently, and we'll be happy to point you to some we know of. Below are a few:

Smoking Bans
From Series: Point/Counterpoint

Author:
Grade Level: High-College/Grades 9 and up
ISBN: 0791079740
Dewey: 362
Published: 2004
Format: Hardcover
Dimensions: 6 x 9
Price: $29.65

Although the dangers of smoking have been known for decades, it is only in recent years that the threat of secondhand smoke to nonsmokers has caused such a serious controversy. Some cities have gone so far as to ban smoking in all public places, triggering adamant opposition from smokers who believe their rights are being infringed upon. This book explores all sides of the ongoing debate over the right to smoke versus the right to a smoke-free environment.

The One-Hour Activist:
The 15 Most Powerful Actions You Can Take
to Fight for the Issues and Candidates You Care About (Paperback)
• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass (April 23, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787973009
• ISBN-13: 978-0787973001
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces

No matter what your political persuasion, The One-Hour Activist is your guide to influencing lawmakers, candidates, and reporters. The One-Hour Activist reveals fifteen powerful, proven grassroots actions that persuade lawmakers and candidates to see things your way. Each action is designed to grab the attention of your representatives and build relationships that serve your issues over the long run. And each action takes less than an hour to complete, so you can make a difference without giving up your life! The One-Hour Activist is packed with insider advice from elected officials, professional organizers, lobbyists, and journalists who share state-of-the-art tips for getting your message across. Real-life examples of effective letters, e-mail, phone calls, public testimony, and news story pitches from concerned citizens just like you.

These may also be of interest:

• The System: The American Way of Politics at the Breaking Point

• What Every American Should Know About Who's Really Running the World

• The Third House: Lobbyists and Lobbying in the States

Module 1 Mobilization: Have a House Party

Gather a group of five to 30 people, make them aware of the need, and start some of them taking action.

Your house party will be a way to bring together like-minded individuals, raise awareness, and build your own army of citizens working together to reclaim Our Independence from smoking bans. The synergy, hope and support created in such a group will be inspiring. Create your own epicenter where real progress in exposing the smoking ban fraud will be achieved!

Guide for House Party Hosts/Facilitators

Goals for the Meeting:
The purpose of your house party will be to assemble a handful of people and mobilize them. This involves education/motivation tools and a commitment to action.

Before the Meeting:

• Invite guests. Try and invite people with different party affiliations.

• Print a Citizen's Tool Kit for each guest.

(TIP: You can add your own actions if you need to customize for your group.)

• Select educational/motivational tool and set up any audio visual aids or equipment

• Set up enough chairs for every attendee to be able to sit. Arrange the chairs in a semi-circle, if possible, so that everyone can see the speaker and each other.

• Prepare refreshments for attendees.

• Have a sign in sheet to get their names, addresses and phone number for future contacts, provide name tags, pens, and materials packets available as attendees arrive.

• Optional: Have available a basket or bowl for donations (seeded with a $5 bill and a few $1 bills) to help cover the costs for refreshments and copying of the Citizen's Tool Kit to be handed out.

• Optional: Have books or documentary DVDs available for sale, as gifts, or door prizes. New ones are coming out all the time. If you need recommendations, just ask.

• As attendees arrive, welcome them, request they sign in, offer them refreshments (if they arrive on time), seat them, and introduce them to the meeting facilitator (if that is not the host). If possible, have one person assigned to admit late-comers: sign in, give them name tags, point out the refreshments, and a copy of the Citizen's Tool Kit, and assure they have a place to sit.

• Steer clear of discussions about candidates and/or political parties. The key is to keep the tone of the meeting “non-partisan” and open to all views and ideas regarding exposing the smoking ban fraud.

Part I of House Party – Education/Motivation component

Do a slide presentation, make a short speech, or show a film. Following this, discuss the kinds of actions your guests can get involved in to oversee your next Smoking Ban.

Education/Motivation tools:

• Slide presentation: All you need is a digital projector, and a blank white wall. You can also capture ideas from this presentation and make your own. Use the text in the presentation slides or make up your own speech.

• Short Speech: See Citizen's Tool Kit Module 3 for speechmaking tips.

Remember that the mind can only absorb what the rear end can endure.

Keep it short, include humor, and provide visual aids if possible. While developing the speech, stay focused on its purpose: Educate, motivate, activate.

Part II of House Party – Mobilization component

Introduction actions to oversee an upcoming Smoking Ban:

• Give each of your guests a copy of the Citizen's Tool Kit to Take Back Your Independence from smoking bans. Tell your guests that the object is for each to choose an action – any action – and commit to doing it, either individually or as a group project.

• One of the best ways to exercise oversight is to go get more evidence. If you have a smoking ban coming up, you may want to focus on the "Hard Core Evidence" modules.
(Modules 4-11). Each involves adopting a portion of the smoking ban. Don't try to take them all on. Just select what you can reasonably achieve.

• It's up to you to make the case for exposing the smoking ban fraud. Get the kinds of evidence that can't be explained away or spun: Video, audio recordings, photographs, (see Module 12, Be the Media); Public records (See Module 11, Public Records and Freedom of Information Documents) and Laws/Regulations (See Module 9, Accountability checkup, Laws & Regulations). Never testify or offer “your opinion”, always use the science as it is very difficult to challenge.

• Since the public and the politician expect to have “Clean Indoor Air” – suggest a viable alternative to a smoking ban, like a real, measured “Clean Indoor Air Law”.

• FORCES can provide the Model Law for refinement to your area that can be presented to your legislative group.

• Encourage your guests to sign up for the FORCES Membership Registry.

You can sign up for the FORCES Membership Registry on the home page at www.forces.org.

Goals for Attendees:

• Review the Citizen's Tool Kit and commit to one of the actions.

• Consider hosting a house party to expand the pool of citizens.

• Circulate the Citizen's Tool Kit to friends, neighbors, and work colleagues

• Sign up for the FORCES Membership Registry

Meeting Agenda

1. Welcome (by the host)

• Call the meeting to order, welcome everyone, make sure everyone signed in, thank them for coming, and do your best to set an upbeat tone.

• Introduce yourself and briefly describe why you called this meeting.

• Mention the refreshments.

• Ask each person to say their name (if people don’t know each other).

• Introduce the facilitator (if other than you).

2. Welcome and Agenda Review (by the facilitator):

• The facilitator should thank the host, introduce herself a bit more (particularly any connections to the host or to the group).

• Quickly describe the 2 areas you plan to talk about so attendees know what to expect: (1) Overview of Your Independence from smoking bans problems (2) What attendees can do.

• Set the tone for people to act: “Instead of complaining that nothing can be done (which we all sometimes do), the Citizen's Tool Kit is a way for us to do something by mobilizing our friends and having a real impact on taking back our Your Independence from smoking bans. Working together we can frame the discussion and hold public healthcare, the medical industry, government leaders and public officials accountable.”

3. Education about the issue

• Slide show, brief speech or film

4. Mobilization

• Distribute Citizen's Tool Kits.

• Discuss actions

• Have people choose whether they'd prefer to take action as individuals or as a group

• Ask if anyone in the group tends to lead, mentor or organize

• Those who like to work individually can meet and discuss action areas and each chose their own.

• Those who like to work as a group can decide whether to form their own small group or collaborate with other guests to form an action group.

5. Questions/Comments:

• Briefly answer questions. For any question you cannot easily answer, refer the questioners to the Call Me section at www.forces.org.

• Avoid getting into a long debate about the issues — instead focus on what we can do by mobilizing into action. Postpone questions/issues that need long discussion until after you complete the “what-you-can-do” part of the program.

• If attendees say they don’t believe the Citizen's Tool Kit materials and presentation are appropriate for the people they know, then ask what modules interest them the most. See if there are any actions that they feel would appeal to their circle of influence.

6. Final Discussion:

• Set the next meeting date for any citizens who want to take action as a group

• If it seems like people are willing to stay longer and if they seem to want to talk more about exposing the smoking ban fraud issues

• address any unanswered questions or open the floor for discussion.

7. Wrap-Up

• Thank everyone for coming and for their help. Say that you will stay and discuss issues with people individually afterwards if they want.

Module 2 Mobilization: Organize a Town Meeting

This project requires someone with organizational skills, an eye for detail, and a considerable amount of free time during the day. This project will also require a group of at least 2 or 3 like-minded citizens to assist.

Gather a group of 50 to 300 people, make them aware of the need, and start some of them taking action. Your town meeting will be a way to raise awareness and build an own army of citizens working together to reclaim
Your Independence from smoking bans.

Guide for Town Meeting Organizers

Goals for the Town Meeting:

The purpose of your town meeting will be to create an assembly of people and mobilize them. This involves education/motivation and a commitment to action.

Before the Town Meeting:

• Allow yourself 2-3 months to organize, locate and schedule speakers and obtain sufficient media coverage for the town hall meeting.

• Ascertain whether or not your local Smoking Ban officials and/or state representatives have a history of advocating against smoking ban measures and are receptive to citizen concerns on this issue. If you are fortunate to have well informed local state representatives advocating meaningful exposure of the smoking ban fraud, extend them an invitation to speak and/or attend. This will guide you in deciding how to structure your town hall meeting.

• The meeting should be for about 2-1/2 hours on a Thursday evening beginning at 7 and ending around 9:30 p.m. This gives people time to get home, eat dinner, and attend the meeting and get home early enough for work the next day.

• Locate an appropriate location that will be easily accessible and widely known by citizens in your city’s greater metropolitan area.

• Assess the costs, if any, of reserving a space for the meeting and make certain you have the necessary funding available for covering any cost of the space and/or any expenses for the speakers, i.e., travel, meals, and hotel (it is preferable to first seek local representatives and officials in order to offset some such expenses, before going to officials from other cities in your state).

• If you don’t have the necessary funding, approach local businesses and/or citizen action groups, exposing the smoking ban fraud groups and organizations to sponsor the event.

• Prepare a 1-page flyer describing event, location, date and time, featured speakers.

Publicize the Town Meeting:

• Write a news release before contacting anyone in the media, because they will always ask you to send one to them. Always make sure that there is the name and phone number of at least one (preferably two or three) easily accessible contact person(s) who will be able to reply to media inquiries before, during and after the town hall meeting.

• Most print and broadcast media these days can be found with a "Google" search on the web. If you prefer, there is a set of reference books in just about every public library called "Standard Rate & Data," which usually has a pretty up-to-date listing of every publication and broadcast outlet in every U.S. city -- along with the names and phone numbers of editors, news directors, etc.

• Some libraries have another good set of reference books called “Bacon’s.”

• After sending the news release (via email, snail-mail or fax), call the person to whom you sent the news release (or ask for the assignment editor or managing editor if you only were able to send the release to a generic news room number).

• Usually you can find out from a Google search which radio stations in an area have local newscasts and locally produced talk and public affairs programs. Offer to be a guest on one of their shows and/or offer to schedule a local voting integrity activist, area politician, etc. Sometimes they will allow phone interviews, but usually they far prefer in-studio interviews.

• You might have to call a radio or TV station to find out who the public affairs director and talk show producers are. Quite often there will be at least one locally produced public affairs program on a National Public Radio outlet.

• No matter what type of broadcast outlet it is, always provide a concise fact sheet (about when and where the town hall meeting will be) to both the producer and the interviewer as much in advance as possible – and always bring a fresh fact sheet on the day of the interview just in case they claim to have never gotten or misplaced it (or whatever). Usually that information will be placed on a TV station's screen toward the end of the interview, but unless you can actually see the info on the screen (or unless the interview brings it up himself or herself), make sure you mention the event. Interviews sometimes seem to be over in the blink of an eye, so make sure you mention the town hall meeting if the interviewer hasn't already mentioned the topic.

• If you know about the town hall meeting long enough in advance, you can write and send brief public service announcements (PSAs) and send them to local radio and cable TV stations. It doesn't matter whether they have a news/talk format.

• Make follow-up calls to the news media at least two days prior to the town hall meeting. Then call the day before and day of the event (unless the media outlet's editor, etc. tells you not to) and schedule on-site interviews with keynote speakers, panelists, etc.

• Bring extra news releases (along with any other important literature) to give to media folks who come to the event. Don't overwhelm them with too many items, though, because they will have news deadlines to meet.

• If possible, write post-event news releases and accompany them with digital photos

Set up the facility before the Town Meeting:

• Arrange for the necessary equipment, i.e., microphones, podium (large enough to accommodate speakers), projector, a videographer (preferably someone local who might be willing to do it for free).

• Make enough copies of the Citizen's Tool Kit to place on each chair before the meeting. It will save time to have the Tool Kits on the chairs ahead of time, and will give attendees something to do if there are any slow points.

• Make copies of a Commitment to Action card and place it on each chair with the Citizen's Tool Kit. Use your creativity. The cards can ask for name, contact information, and which actions in the Tool Kit are of most interest to the individual. You might want to add a question as to whether the individual tends to mentor, lead or organize others, and a question about whether they would like to commit to form and lead a small group (5-12 people) to take action.

• Prepare large timer cards: "2 minutes" "1 minute" "10 seconds" "TIME UP!"

Part I of Town Meeting – Education/Motivation component

• Provide each speaker with a specific time limit. Assign an assistant to time the speeches and hold up the time prompt cards. When the time is down to 10 seconds, go stand at the podium next to the speaker.

• Monitor the speaker's time allotments carefully. If you have several speakers, just five minutes added to each speaker's time can add too much time to the event, making attendees fidgety. You don't want attendees to leave before the mobilization portion.

• (Optional) “Pass the Hat” after the most dynamic speaker for any donations to supplement expenses incurred, if you were not able to get necessary funding beforehand.

• Ask attendees to fill out the Action Cards about two-thirds of the way through the meeting.

Part II of Town Meeting – Mobilization component

• Direct attendees to the Citizen's Tool Kits. Tell them that the object is for each to choose an action – any action – and commit to doing it, either individually or as a group project.

• One of the best ways to exercise oversight is to go get more evidence. If you have a Smoking Ban coming up, you may want to focus on the "Hard Core Evidence" modules. Each involves adopting a portion of the Smoking Ban. Don't try to take them all on. Just select what you can reasonably achieve.

• Mention that it's up to the citizenry to make the case for exposing the smoking ban fraud. Get the kinds of evidence that can't be explained away or spun: Video, Audio recordings, Photographs, (see Module 4, Be the Media); Public records (See Module 8, Public Records and Freedom of Information Documents) and Laws/Regulations (See Module 7, Find out if Officials are Following the Rules).

• Encourage attendees to sign up for the FORCES Membership Registry. You can sign up for the FORCES Membership Registry on the home page at www.forces.org.

• Question and answer: To save time and avoid delays during the question and answer period, have 3 x 5 cards and pencils available to hand out to audience to write down their questions for any of the speakers; pick them up from audience (depending on the number of speakers and the time allotment for them to speak, try to allow 30 minutes for questions); go through the questions and pick those most relevant to the issue first and pose these questions to whichever speaker the question is addressing. If there is time, you can ask the other questions.

• Try to keep the focus on the next step: Actions citizens can take.
Wrap-Up

• Thank everyone for coming. Encourage them to take the first step – just one action, no matter how small. Encourage those who like to lead, mentor and organize to do a house party or assemble a small group to take more concerted actions. Provide contact information for those who want to follow up after the meeting.
Module 3 Mobilization: Give a Speech to a Group

Learn to address groups of 50 to 300 people at a time to make them aware of the need, and start some of them taking action.

Your speaking engagements will be a way to raise awareness and motivate citizens to take action.

Guide for Public Speaking

Goals for your public speaking:

The purpose of these speeches will be to communicate with gatherings of people and motivate them to take action. Your speeches will vary in length depending on the venue, but each should involve education/motivation and a commitment to action.

How to get yourself in front of groups:

• Join Toastmaster (speakers group) and speak to groups about the need for citizens to take back Our Independence from smoking bans, and how to do it.

• Toastmasters are an international organization whose goal is to develop the speaking skills of its members. There is nothing more confidence-building than being comfortable speaking in front of a group. It is an extremely effective way to get your message across and educate large groups on important issues such as the need to take back Our Independence from smoking bans. Here’s how you get started:

• Google “Toastmasters” and add your city of residence. All of the Toastmasters groups in the area can be found this way. (In Austin, Texas there are about 55 of them, which meet on different days and at different times and places.)

• Pick two or three that meet at times, dates and places convenient for your schedule and go visit them. When you find one that meshes with your personality, go back again until you feel you can commit to joining. The usual obligation is once a week for an hour. Each club as its own “personality” so check out more than one, until you locate one that you like.

• In an hour long Toastmasters meeting, 13 to 15 people will have an opportunity to speak. Three are usually prepared speakers, three are evaluators who are making notes and delivering their evaluations when the speakers are done, and the rest speak on impromptu speech topics (for one to two minutes each) delivered by the “Table Topics Master”. All of these roles are signed up for in advance. As a guest, you will not be required to speak. You may be called upon for a “Table Topic”, but if you are nervous, just pass.

• Most speeches in Toastmasters are 5 to 7 minutes in length. Develop a talk about taking back Our Independence from smoking bans that will fit into this time frame.

• Keep it concise. The basic Toastmasters’ formula is: Tell them what you’re going to tell them; tell them (usually in three main points;) and tell them what you’ve told them (conclusion) This will give you great practice in saying the most you can in the least amount of time. A challenge for this issue, but one that is good practice for the next step:

• Expand on your basic speech and ask for two time slots at your meeting to practice it, as you prepare to deliver it to outside groups. Toastmasters is a great place to develop & polish up a good speech! Truly a credible speech on the Your Independence from smoking bans issue would be difficult to deliver in less than 10 to 15 minutes (or more) which would fill two time slots in a Toastmasters meeting.

• Once you have your talk down, call on any and all local political groups that have regular meetings in your area. You can find them by Googling them up. Contact the President or events coordinator and ask to be a speaker at an upcoming meeting. Explain the time sensitivity of the issue because of the upcoming decision or election. Do NOT limit yourself to any one party. They all have interest in this topic.

• Check newspapers or publications in your area, look for citizens’ groups that might be receptive to your talk and contact them about speaking.

• If there are local radio stations that might be receptive, contact the radio show host and see about being a guest on their show to discuss

Smoking Ban issues.

When you give your speech to groups:

• Ask how many attendees are usually expected. Make a copy of the Citizen's Tool Kit for each attendee. Ask the host of the meeting when is the best time to pass out the handout. It's best to place them on chairs before the meeting. Second best is to hand them out as you begin your speech.

• As a call to action, you might want to include a Commitment to Action card. Use your creativity. The cards can ask for name, contact information, and which actions in the Tool Kit are of most interest to the individual. You might want to add a question as to whether the individual tends to mentor, lead or organize others, and a question about whether they would like to commit to form and lead a small group (5-12 people) to take action to take back Our Independence from smoking bans.

• Collect the response cards before you leave.
The time to start is NOW! The clock is ticking! You will find that one opportunity will lead to another, and in no time you will become the local authority on this issue!

This may be the most empowering thing you do in your entire life…go on, get out there!!!!
Module 4 Be The Media

If you are inclined to do this, please contact forces@forces.org and join our Multi Media Program.

Help the media cover the People's right to oversee their own Independence from smoking bans. Gather videotape, photographs, audio, and public records to buttress your case with the media. And become your own media – whether or not the media covers the most important issues, take it upon yourself to make sure the word gets out.

Guide to Being Your Own Free Press

Goals:

Help the media cover the issue by providing the kind of information they need, in the format they need, buttressed by the kind of evidence they need in order to persuade producers and editors.

At the same time, bring the message to as many people as you can yourself. Don't become dependent on someone else's editor to get your story out there.

Tips for maximizing media opportunities

• Know the difference between a news release and an opinion piece. Editors and producers want facts and a frame for why it's relevant. They aren't interested in opinions.

• Delete adjectives. Substitute facts.

- Don't: "StopTheBan, a dynamic and important citizens group."
- Do: "StopTheBan, a local citizens group that focuses on Our
Independence from smoking bans issues"

• Lead with a strong lead sentence. Don't make busy reporters read all the way through your press release to get the point.

- Skip the "Who What When Where Why" first sentence. Some fossil once taught this technique for press releases, but it went out with polyester suits.
- Don't bore the reporter in your first sentence.

• Press release format:

Contact: (your name, your phone number, your e-mail, your organization)
HEADLINE
Subhead
CITY: date – Strong news-like lead sentence.
(Supporting paragraphs – 400 words or less, be factual and concise, not just your opinion.)

# # # # #

• Faxed news release should fit on one page.

• Don't tease or expect reporters to call you for explanations. Put the information they need in the news release. Cite sources and provide links to government or public records to make your facts easy to verify.

• Focus your news release on specific issues rather than on personalities

• Allow enough lead time:

- Magazines: 3-4 month lead time
- Calendar or Event section of newspaper: 2-3 week lead time
- Community newspaper: 1-2 week lead time
- Daily newspaper: 2-3 day lead time, except breaking news (6-12 hr, lead time).
- Talk show television: May take 1-4 months to get on the show, with repeated contacts. When they decide they want you, it's often with very short notice.
- Talk radio: 1 day to six week lead time
- TV: 1-3 days lead time
- On Smoking Ban referendum voting day: TV news crews can often get there in less than an hour if you have a good breaking story

Keep it up:

• PR is cumulative.

• Get yourself in their Rolodex so they know who to call when a story breaks and they are on deadline. How do you do this? By developing a variety of solid news angles on your topic and putting your name/contact info at the top with a tag line like "Available for interviews on Smoking Ban topics".

• Do this on every press release and offer many different kinds of story angles, which you feed to the press over a period of time.

Make yourself available:

When called to do a show, don't say: "I'll have to call you back after I check my schedule."

Accept the booking on the spot. Bookers have a slot to fill. Whoever says
"Yes" first usually gets it.

• Check your media matching IQ:
"I would like to have Dr. Laura Schlesinger interview me about my Our Independence from smoking bans group because a lot of women listen to her show."

This is an advice show about moral issues. She doesn't interview people about exposing the smoking ban fraud.

"Maybe she might do it just this once, if my story is really, really good? Because I really think her audience is perfect for me."

They aren't going to risk losing ratings or subscribers to cover something that doesn't match their format.

Annoying Dr. Laura's producers is not a good plan. May we suggest these targets instead: All Things Politics (a talk radio show featuring local and national political issues from laws to Our Independence from smoking bans). Don’t get hung up on a single media outlet. ("Just Get me on Oprah") Repeat exposure is more important. And besides, Oprah usually doesn't cover this kind of issue.

• Use the Internet, or go to the library and look at Bacon's Media Directory or Burrelle's to find media outlets that match your topic.

Send Materials

"My local media isn't covering this story."

- Have you been sending effective press materials using strong story angles, with tie-ins to current news topics and good story hooks?
- Have you made any phone calls? Phone calls don't replace news releases, but they can tell you if you've even got the right editor or if your hook is a dud. If you make calls, have a good press release ready to go and fax it or e-mail it as soon as they ask for it. Journalists are not going to permit you to dictate the news release on the phone, so have it ready to go and in the format (e-mail or fax) they want.

Show up – On time!

• Did you know that talk show hosts share their guest recommendations at a private online site reserved only for radio hosts? If you no-show, you can be blackballed.

• Broadcast interviewers detest being left with dead air.
Tips for publicizing an event:

• Write a news release before contacting anyone in the media, because they will always ask you to send one to them. Always make sure that there is the name and phone number of at least one (preferably two or three) easily accessible contact person(s) who will be able to reply to media inquiries before, during and after the event.

• Most print and broadcast media these days can be found with a "Google" search on the web. If you prefer, there is a set of reference books in just about every public library called "Standard Rate & Data," which usually has a pretty up-to-date listing of every publication and broadcast outlet in every U.S. city along with the names and phone numbers of editors, news directors, etc. Some libraries have another good set of reference books called “Bacon’s.”

• After sending the news release (via email, snail-mail or fax), call the person to whom you sent the news release (or ask for the assignment editor or managing editor if you only were able to send the release to a generic news room number).

• Usually you can find out from a Google search which radio stations in an area have local newscasts and locally produced talk and public affairs programs. Offer to be a guest on one of their shows and/or offer to schedule a local voting integrity activist, area politician, etc. Sometimes they will allow phone interviews, but for local events they usually they prefer in-studio interviews.

• You might have to call a radio or TV station to find out who the public affairs director and talk show producers are. Quite often there will be at least one locally produced public affairs program on a National Public Radio outlet.

• No matter what type of broadcast outlet it is, always provide a concise fact sheet (about when and where the event will be) to both the producer and the interviewer as much in advance as possible – and always bring a fresh fact sheet on the day of the interview just in case they claim to have never gotten or misplaced it (or whatever). Usually that information will be placed on a TV station's screen toward the end of the interview, but unless you can actually see the info on the screen (or unless the interview brings it up himself or herself), make sure you mention the event. Interviews sometimes seem to be over in the blink of an eye, so make sure you mention the event if the interviewer hasn't already mentioned the topic.

• If you know about the event long enough in advance, you can write and send brief public service announcements (PSAs) and send them to local radio and cable TV stations. It doesn't matter whether they have a news/talk format.

• Make follow-up calls to the news media at least two days prior to the event. Then call the day before and day of the event (unless the media outlet's editor, etc. tells you not to) and schedule on-site interviews with keynote speakers, panelists, etc.

• Bring extra news releases (along with any other important literature) to give to media folks who come to the event. Don't overwhelm them with too many items, though, because they will have news deadlines to meet.

• If possible, write post-event news releases and accompany them with digital photos

Don't depend on the media: Become the media yourself

• Spread the evidence you find to every blog, listserv, forum you know and throughout your personal network.

• Talk about it at work and to people you meet everywhere.

• Learn to write an effective press release.

• Put messages on:

- Yard signs
- Car windows
- Write them on duct tape and wear them
- Print removable stickers and stick them on things:
- Bathroom door at the gas station.
- On telephone poles in the dead of night
- At bus stops
- On the back of bus seats
- Stick them into your junk mail and send it back via return mail
- Slip them into menus at restaurants
- Leave them in books at the bookstore

• Make magnetic signs for your car

• If you know a trucker, have them put a message in the window as they drive across the county.

• Make a patch and put it on the front of your baseball cap

• Carry a sign and stand in the window outside the Today Show
Show leadership

• Use your real name when you post on Internet message boards about exposing the smoking ban fraud

• Stand up for what you believe even if you are told "It will never happen."

BE YOUR OWN HISTORIAN / DOCUMENTARY PRODUCER

Capture Events and People on Film

Get the hard evidence that can stand up in a court of law and preserve the historical truth behind the exposing the smoking ban fraud movement.

• Document public meetings, Our Independence from smoking bans, recounts, Smoking Ban officials, vendors, politicians and anything dealing with exposing the smoking ban fraud is a piece of history that cannot be rewritten, if you have the truth of what occurred on film.

• Let's get as many citizens as possible get into the habit of documenting on film anything related to exposing the smoking ban fraud because it will inspire others to action and will be a reservoir of truth that we can draw from in order to find the best solutions for exposing the smoking ban fraud that will preserve our republic:

• Here's a succinct guide, written by a lawyer, which provides some excellent general guidance. Download it, print it out, and keep it with your camcorder: www.krages.com/phoright.htm

General tips:

• Keep your camera’s battery charged

• Keep extra blank tapes available

• The goal is to get public officials and vendors on record by asking the right questions and observing what they do.

• Show others what good public servants look like, and document the difficult ones.

• Especially for meetings, prepare ahead of time by writing questions designed to elicit definitive answers regarding voting procedures.

• Avoid over-general questions that lead to speeches, evasion and non-responsiveness.

• If you happen to capture something that has evidence value (which happens more often than you think), be prepared to execute an affidavit and/or testify, if needed.

• Throughout the Smoking Ban Cycle, capture any part of:

- Public meetings
- Private meetings
- Certification hearings
- Testing
- Ballot preparation
- Smoking Ban-related activities by third-party vendors
- Meetings with vendors or public officials
- Early voting
- Smoking Ban training
- Pre-Smoking Ban equipment and materials transport and handling
- Voting day activities as related to Smoking Bans and/or taxes
- Vote Counting (all phases including videotaping chain of custody):
???Depots and drop-off sites
???Spot check audits
???Absentee ballot processing
???Mid-Smoking Ban and post-Smoking Ban equipment and materials transport and handling
- Explanations of policies and procedures
- Explanations of "glitches"
- Post-Smoking Ban canvassing meetings
- Obstructive behavior, intimidation tactics, evasive or non-responsive actions

Tips from a Film Producer:

• When shooting, keep any zooms and camera moves purposeful -- gratuitous zooming and "garden-hosing" makes the video hard to watch, and looks amateurish.

• Let the subject matter guide your moves. Need to see more detail? Zoom in.

• Need to include more of the environment? Zoom out.

• When in doubt, keep the zoom as wide as it will go -- this will also keep your images steadier and is more likely to catch action you'd miss when zoomed in. If you must be discreet (i.e. holding the camera casually without looking through it) keeping the zoom wide will increase your chances of catching the action.

• You'll probably be using your camera's (lousy) built-in microphone to capture audio, so if sound or words are important, stay as close to the subject.

• If you are forcibly discouraged from shooting video, put the lens cap on if you must, and keep the camcorder running to capture audio.

• Don't be confrontational, but whenever possible someone in the background should be ready to shoot any confrontations that may arise between you and anyone trying to prevent you from shooting. The more cameras on the scene, the better.

• Learn how to make digital copies of your tapes -- never let the original tapes out of your hands. If you've captured incriminating evidence, keep your original tapes in a secure or non-obvious location.

• When you remove a recorded tape from the camcorder, be sure to write-protect the cassette immediately, to prevent its accidentally being recorded over. On Mini-DV tapes, there's a shutter on the back edge of the cassette that you slide OPEN. On 8mm/Hi-8 tapes, you slide the shutter CLOSED. On VHS tapes there's a plastic tab that you pry out and discard.

• Without fail, label each tape with the subject, the date, and your phone number, and indicate whether the tape is an original or a copy.

• If your tapes should get confiscated you may still be able to shoot low-quality MPEG video on your camcorder's memory card, if it has one (get the biggest card you can afford). This may be better than nothing.

• Get familiar with your camera and practice its use beforehand. In the heat of battle there will be little opportunity to read the manual! Too much trouble? Weigh the tradeoffs, and then decide.

Questions to ask to "Be the Media":

• Are there any other locations besides this where Smoking Ban preparations or ballot handling or processing goes on?

• When is the next small Smoking Ban election or decision?

• Will there be absentee voting? Who will the ballot printer be? Where will they be processed for mailing? Sorting? Counting?

• Where is the central tabulator room? Are citizens allowed to watch the tallying?

• Where are voting machines kept?

• What staff members touch your voting machines before, during and after a vote to legislate smoking bans and/or raise taxes-health impact fees?

• Does the vendor help with establishing smoking bans? What are the names of the vendor techs?

More resources: Democracy for America has produced an excellent online course to access the media: http://tools.democracyforamerica.com/nightschool
Module 5 Adopt a Public Official

Choose one public official - secretary of state, commissioner, county supervisor, or member of the Board. Provide encouragement and recognition if the official represents the citizenry well. Educate those who may be misinformed. If the official has been influenced by lobbyists or vendors, offer alternative points of view. Hold officials accountable if they are non-responsive and should know better.

Guide to Adopting a Public Official

Goals:

Develop a positive, open and mutually informative relationship with local public officials. This will involve getting to know them, learning about the challenges they face, finding out their priorities and opinions, or – for those who are non-responsive to the public will – holding them accountable.

Assume the official can be your ally

• Meet with the official to understand current procedures.

• If your smoking ban is done by Election, request information and copies of the procedures before the election.

Here is a list of issues that you can address with public officials before the election:

- Election Day Procedures
- Election Challenger Procedures
- Election Monitor Procedures

• Review procedures/documents for problems and compare with other counties

• Monitor the Election on and after Election Day

• Participate in post Election reviews and audits to evaluate Election process

• Advocate for improvements
Understand how local laws and regulations affect public officials

• Find out which rules your local officials cite to educate you about why they have made certain choices.

• If you see that a public official is not following the laws and/or regulations, help them become informed.

For example, if you have a public official who withholds public records, provide a copy of the public records statute and recommend that they seek guidance from the county attorney. It is not unusual for a public official to be unaware of certain laws.

Understand and work to counteract the power of vendors

• Many smoking bans officials have developed a co-dependent relationship with lobbyists and vendors.

• Smoking bans officials are usually dependent on lobbyists and vendors to maintain, upgrade, and lend technical support for smoking bans.

• Citizens can take power back and weaken the lobbyists/vendor dependence by:

- Building a case using undeniable evidence, and taking that evidence to additional public officials in various divisions, and to the media.
- Putting public pressure on the lobbyists and vendors through the press, other politicians, and by increasing the number of citizens taking action.
This provides support for officials who want to hold their lobbyists and vendors accountable.

How to achieve change

• Make your case with evidence: Video, audio recordings, public records, photographs, laws and regulations

• Provide officials with concise, well researched information.

• Provide other alternatives, such as the Clean Indoor Air Model Law available from FORCES.

• Locate officials who are responsive to the citizenry and provide contact information to both parties, encouraging a conversation.

• Ask them what they would need from you to make the change you want

• Provide cost analysis and comparison charts to provide a fiduciary duty for the public official to take your concerns seriously.

What to do when efforts to educate and lobby don't work

• If you find a public official who is obstructive and non-responsive despite efforts to educate and persuade, it is your responsibility to hold them accountable.

How to hold non-responsive public officials accountable

• Use "judo": The weight of your opponent against them. The "weight" of a public official is in the rules, regulations and laws that control them. Get leverage by locating rules and laws that have not been followed.

• Apply public pressure:

• Provide evidence to the media (public records, photos, videos, audio recordings, laws and regulations). For tips on how to get media coverage, see Module 4: Be the Media.

• Provide evidence to those who supervise the non-responsive official.

• Assemble a group and show up at public meetings to expose the problem.

Tips for applying pressure in a public meeting:

- Get at least 12 people involved
- Identify yourselves by all carrying the same bright-colored notebook, wearing the same bright-colored large button.
- If given the opportunity to ask questions, organize the questions ahead of time on note cards. If the public official evades a question, have an agreement with your group that the next questioner will ask the same question, until it is answered or the evasions become obvious.
- Bring a press release and copies of your evidence to the meeting and talk to reporters.

• You can do a background search on any official. (See Module 6: Following the Money Trail. Find out if the public official has been in trouble in the past. If so, publicize that information along with the new problems you have uncovered.

• If a non-responsive public official continues to violate the public trust, lobby for their dismissal.
Module 6 Follow The Money Trail: Who's Getting Paid

The modern-day Smoking Ban Industry systems are run by private for-profit corporations who oversee the “grass roots” non-profit entities; they rely on a few cronies for oversight.

Many smoking ban organizations treat their vendors "like family" and look for and prefer people who are mentally ill, with an obsessive-compulsive disorder concerning smoking bans to work with local politicians and the media.

What's the missing ingredient?

YOU, the citizen who actually owns our political system.

When things just don't seem to make sense, look for the money.

Modern-day influence peddling takes many forms, mostly legal. It's called "Pay to Play," and just because it's legal doesn't mean it's ethical. If you doubt for a moment that government corruption actually exists, go to a news search engine like Factiva or Lexis-Nexis (or even Google "News") and search for terms like alderman, convicted or supervisor, indicted.

Guide to Following the Money Trail

Goals:

At the very least, find out who you're dealing with and what connections they have.

Where to look for information

• Where to find filings of publicly traded companies: http://www.secinfo.com

• Where to find a phone number: try http://www.bigbook.com or, for Canada, http://www.telus.com. You can do reverse phone number and reverse address searches at http://www.whitepages.com and, for Canada, http://www.whitepages.ca. Another excellent tool is http://www.anywho.com. which often lets you find phone numbers and addresses by spouse name as well. Also try Google, of course.

• If you have a phone number or an address or an IP address, Google it. Try several of the Google search options, like Google Groups, Google Blogs, and more.

• Where to find out more if you have an e-mail: Enter the email in Google, but then do another search: Hit the tab that says "groups" and you may find more.

• Where to find employee names if all you have is the company's general information e-mail: enter the end of the e-mail into Google. For example, FORCES, Int. has e-mails that end in "@forces.org", so if you were searching for employees of FORCES, Int. you could enter @forces.org into Google.

• Where to find donations to candidates: For federal, go to http://www.opensecrets.org – most states have their donation lists online also. Start by looking at the secretary of state site, and also use Google with terms like Virginia, campaign finance or Alabama, candidate, disclosure.

• Where to find lobbyists: www.fecinfo.com and http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=SourceWatch. Most states also require county-level lobbyists to register. The smoking ban companies make a lot of use of the county-level lobbyists. You can usually get those by going to the county clerk's office. They have to provide them for you when you come in to ask. Call first.

• Where to find contact info for public officials: Go to http://www.congress.org. This also has very good info for local officials.

• Where to find the town someone lives in: Enter name and guess an age (doesn't need to be accurate) in USSearch.com.

• Where to find who owns Web sites and trace IP addresses: http://www.whois.sc or http://www.geektools.com

• Where to find web pages that have been removed: http://www.archive.org – and here's a great tip: When you get to archive.org, enter the web site in this format: websitename.com/* – the "/" tells it to look in all sub-directories and the "*" tells it to pull every page from every sub-directory.

Corporate information:

• Start with corporate registrations. Go to Google. Enter this kind of search phrase: washington secretary of state or oregon secretary of state or ohio secretary of state (some locations, like Virginia, it is secretary of the commonwealth)

• Go to the main secretary of state page. Hunt around for a "corporations" or "business search" section. Most states allow you to enter a business name and perform a search, which will lead you to the registered agent.

• Some states, like Ohio, let you search by name of agent, a very good feature. A few states make you pay to see anything. Florida has our favorite site, floridasunbiz.com, which lets you search by company name, corporate agent, or other offices, and lets you see photocopies of the documents.

• Corporate Search Tips:

- The corporate agent is sometimes a corporation that makes a business out of acting as the corporate agent. CT Corporations is one of these.

That's not too helpful, is it?

- The corporate agent isn't as important as the corporate officers. Many states let you see the names of all the officers. Some companies have a corporate agent who is also an officer.
- Corporations are supposed to register in each state where they do business. Therefore, if you are looking for information on a corporation that does business in a lot of states and its home state is obstructive about corporate documents, you can go to a more open state.

How to search old news archives:

• You can do a daily fee on Lexus-Nexus or Factiva.com. Both will provide you with pay-per-article searches of newspaper archives that have lots of information in them. However, this can get expensive if you want to eyeball a lot of articles. Go to the library and you may be able to get unlimited use for free for an hour or more.

• Lexus-Nexus also shows judgments and some legal cases. Factiva is very good and available in a lot of libraries.

• Tips for using news search databases

- One way to search is to have it sort from oldest to newest. You will find some of the best stuff in the oldest articles. This is because whoever you’re looking at was not very careful when they first got media coverage. After all, they often didn't know they'd become an important person later on!
- Also, make a habit of cutting and pasting everything into a Word file. Later, you can easily find something you remember seeing by opening that big ol' file and doing a word search.
- Learn the shortcuts for copy and paste. On a PC, is ctrl-c for copy and ctrl-v for paste. You can work much faster that way
- Another tip, when dumping the information into Word Files, is to make sure you've got icons on your menu for color text. Quickly highlight all the people's names and companies in red, and highlight really interesting stuff in purple or pink. Then, later, you can quickly find stuff when you scroll through the file.

• Spend a few hours with a news search database learning how modern-day bribery is done. You'll get a real education:
- Consulting deals, three-way bank accounts (dirty money goes in via clean source, gets pulled out by dirty co-signer and passed through to public officials)
- Success-fee lobbying (contingent fee, usually illegal)
- You may find out about the fisherman's solution (private company credit card made available to public official)
- The Dutch sandwich (two corporations, one making profits, one taking losses, a little sleight of hand and the public official gets a tax-free windfall).
- Run searches for the term "pass through."
- Look for contract favors.
- You'll learn that the average public servant sells out for under $10,000 (often as little as $3,000).
- You'll run into public officials who become consultants to the same government divisions they left in disgrace.
- Immerse yourself in the dirt and – as well as becoming aware how much there is, you'll get a nose for what to look for in your general searches for background information.
How to get court records

• Start with the county courthouse. Go to the superior court clerk. When you get there, ask for help on how to use the computer to search.

- If you don't know the case number, you can usually go to a special computer to search for the case number by the person's name. The system is often customized and funky, so don't be shy about asking for help. I usually get help from another citizen nearby who seems to know what they are doing, if the clerk is busy. You can get the following kinds of information:
???criminal charges and trial records
???civil cases
???divorces
???judgments
- After you get the case number (again, this varies so ask first) you can ask to look at the case file. For old cases, this may be on microfiche. It's not hard to use the microfiche machines, and you can print off of them, usually 25 cents a copy. If it's your first time, don't be shy about asking for help. Load in the film and prepare to get seasick, and also find a lot of interesting information.
- From criminal charges you can often see depositions and transcripts of the trial, as well as evidence.
- From civil charges you can find who has sued them and what the allegations were.
- From divorce papers you can sometimes find assets.
- From judgments you can find company names and a little about the business.
- Different kinds of cases are sometimes found in different courthouses. Just ask, and they will point you at the right place.
"Waste Archeology"

• Yes, the dumpster. Look for paperwork, but you'll also find post-it notes in the bags.

• You cannot enter a locked dumpster. That is breaking and entering.

• In some (rare) states, there are laws that inhibit this.

• Scope it out in the daylight. If it's an important target and you have time, stake it out to observe the patterns before you go.

• Have a story ready. "Oh, I was just looking for boxes."

• Pay special attention to anything torn in half or quarters. This means someone ascribed some value to it.

• If you have the opportunity during an office visit, take a moment to study the wastebaskets in the copy room. People have some strange blind spots -- very important documents are discarded there when they happen to be printed crooked or too dark. I mean, you could go throw away a Starbucks cup, if you bring it in with you as a prop.
Ask questions by phone or in person

• Prepare a list of questions and follow up questions and use the telephone. Call witnesses and simply ask them questions! You will be amazed how much you can learn.

• You may only get one shot at it, and you may only get one question. Consider your approach carefully. If you think you'll get a fair amount of time unless you ask something they don't like, load the information you need into softball questions and ask those before you hit them with the big stuff where they might shut you down.

• In many cases, you don't know if they'll be hostile or not, so craft a gentle friendly approach and then go for the most important information first. Sometimes they answer that before it occurs to they shouldn't talk to you.

• If you are very sure of yourself, grab a friend and just show up at the door. Many people and especially men in the South when asked by women -- will be too polite to tell you to go away. You will often get invited in for tea and have an amazing chat.

• Keep the door open for more contacts. The best investigative work is done by building relationships. Try to find out everything you can, because maybe you won't get another chance, and also try to keep the door open so you can come back for more.

• Never offer "protected source" status if they don't ask for it.

• Always ask for documents if you think they might have them.

• Do not surreptitiously tape record unless you are in a single party consent state.

• Visits get more info than phone calls, and phone calls get more info than e-mails. Never e-mail. It's asking to have doors slammed shut, and once they're shut, it takes less assertiveness for them to keep refusing to talk.
Module 7 Find Out If Officials Are Following the Rules

Who checks to see that public officials are following their own rules? What can you do if they ignore the rules? How can citizens go about changing the rules? Citizens are taking the initiative to make a case – with proof – by themselves, sometimes as lone individuals. These actions require patience, good research skills, and the ability to read and parse out written information.

This module was the most challenging one to write, not because it's difficult to tell you where to find laws and regulations, or how to find out whether the rules are being applied, but because we want you to know that your efforts truly do make a difference.

In this module, we will show you citizens who took extraordinary measures to follow the correct steps to hold public officials accountable.

Sometimes it worked.

Too often, even though citizens did the leg work, learned the applicable laws, followed appropriate procedures, and supported their case with solid evidence; their officials were never held accountable for breaking the law.

In the end, the system failed.

It is important for you to find out for yourself whether public officials can be held accountable in your jurisdiction. We encourage you to follow the steps in this module. In areas where the system works, these techniques will provide you with powerful leverage. Even more important, if your democratic process has become infected, the role you play in exposing the breakdown of the system might just prevent the death of our governmental system altogether.

Guide to Holding Public Officials Accountable

Goals:

Find the statutes and regulations that pertain to smoking bans, public records, or other areas related to problems you are experiencing with governmental non-responsiveness.

Locate examples of failure to follow the rules. Expose those failures to the public, to the media, and if necessary, in court.

What to do:

Start by working together with officials (State and Federal) -- Smoking Ban officials who understand the laws and their nuances, legislators who understand how to get laws passed learning what the laws are in order to identify holes that need to be plugged.

1. Learn where to find your state Smoking Ban laws

2. Identify which government officials (State and Federal) and offices
(State and Federal) are responsible for creating, implementing and enforcing your smoking bans – know who is responsible

3. Identify who the “friendly” officials are, work with and learn from them

4. Logically and legally show what is wrong with the smoking bans

5. Work to pass legislation to stop the bans (see the Model Clean Indoor Air Act)

6. Identify the gaps

7. Track pending legislation

Where to find laws and legislation for your state:

On-line sources for legal information do come with a disclaimer warning people to verify that information is the most current version before relying on information posted on their web sites. With that disclaimer in mind, here are a few resources you can use to help locate legal information for your state.

• For Statutes concerning Our Independence:
The Legal Information Institute at Cornell: http://www.law.cornell.edu/topics/state_statutes2.html
LawResearch.com: http://www.lawresearch.com/v2/statute/statstate.htm

• For tracking the status of exposing the smoking ban fraud Legislation try The National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL) search page.
http://www.ncsl.org

• Also try your local State Legislators web site. You can try a Google search for "State Legislature", "web site".
Identify the gaps

• Read current statutes, regulations and policies

• Interpret and make a concise translation in view of the specific problems you are seeing

• Be very careful how you use language

• Try to imagine how someone can get around the specific wording.

Be very, very careful of words.

Where to find pending legislation
http://www.ncsl.org/programs/legman/elect/cfm

Passing new legislation

• Practice reading legislative law, which can be daunting to some.

• Develop the knack for figuring out other people’s alliances and positions. Figure out which officials can be counted on (and how far), and which cannot.

• If you are new to this, try to find someone to work with who already knows the system.

• If you work with a citizen's group, when choosing its name make sure it encompasses a broad region, like a state. If you tie the name to a specific county, representatives from other areas might not listen because they assume your group would only represent a limited area.

• In addition to focusing on specific legislative language, work on influencing lawmakers’ willingness to tackle the issue. Lawmakers can be influenced by stories you get in the media and by the perception that their voting base is watching what they do.
Assign your public officials to a category and take strategic action accordingly

Category 1: Sympathetic to your position
Category 2: Would be sympathetic if they could (but are under too much pressure e.g. afraid of losing their jobs)
Category 3: Ringleaders for the opposition or those who enthusiastically break the law.

Strategies to hold officials accountable:

• For the first group (Sympathetic to your position) focus on identifying gaps in current policies and procedures. Work with the official to update procedures and lobby for improved legislation.

• For the second group (would be sympathetic but under pressure not to be) focus on rearranging the order of incentives. If the official doesn't want to rock the boat, mobilizing the voters he depends on to keep him in office may help. "Pressure from constituents" can provide the cover needed to make a tough decision.

• If you have a ringleader for the opposition or a public official who willfully violates the law, tactics need to focus on evidence, public exposure, and consequences.

How to invoke consequences for public officials who break the rules

• When you see problem behavior by public officials refusing to let you see public records, search for the laws and rules that pertain. The kind of evidence you need will be public records, video, audio recordings, or photographs that clearly show what you are trying to prove. Also come armed with copies of the law. This will give you leverage.

• Propagate evidence, don't funnel: If you uncover evidence that a public official is breaking the rules, do not funnel your information into just one place – instead, propagate it to seven different places, perhaps over a week or two. Choose different types of places to send it: A reporter, a blog, your favorite e-mail list, your state representative, handouts at a citizen action meeting. By propagating evidence to several branches of the information ecosystem, you protect the information from being co-opted, spun, hidden, or dropped.

• If you find out the rules are being broken, take action to expose this and use the regulations to force a change in behavior. Here are some of your options:

- Publish the evidence on Internet blogs
- Send the evidence to the media
- Become a plaintiff in a lawsuit to force government accountability
- Call for the removal of the public officials responsible

• Politicians respond to public opinion and bad publicity as 2 and 3 on their priority list, generally with 1 being responding to those who support their campaigns. They will respond to 2 and 3 when they are overwhelming enough. Remember the scenes in 'Frankenstein' when the villagers are chasing the monster with pitchforks and torches? You, the "'villagers" are crucial to getting public opinion and bad publicity to the tipping point. Your voice as the smoker is your pitchfork and the media is your torch.

• United States citizens are now urging other citizens:

- We need to gather evidence (audiovisual and public records).
- We need to know the laws.
- We need to show up.
- And we must not give up.

* * * * *
While it is discouraging that some public officials seem to feel no need to do anything about it when they are found to be in violation of the law, forcing citizens to undertake the cumbersome, time consuming and expensive route of litigation – and even if the lawsuits are dismissed, as they often are – it is important to continue to document violations of regulations and laws.

"We never really know when something has succeeded or failed, because the effects of our actions are often felt much later on - sometimes after we are not around to know about it," says Nancy Tobi. "We've had so many failures in our efforts here in New Hampshire, many more failures than successes, I would say.

"I have something I keep in my pocket at all times, through all the inevitable failures and setbacks. These are the words that came from one of my favorite people, much smarter than I, who, during a dark time, said to me (with a genuine laugh!), "this is the best thing that could happen to you, this is food for your soul."

Another citizen named Brant Lamb is less charitable:

"All of this scurrying around that these people do is like rats, the rats do it in the dark and the politicians do it secretively. Publicize the hell out of any of these efforts, if you can't get press coverage, pin it up in your local grocery store! Publish highlighted copies of the regulations infringed right next to the pictures/stories of who infringed it. Explain in clear detail what they did wrong. Things don't get changed in an informational vacuum. We subconsciously think everybody knows this stuff because we do. Rouse the 'villagers'!" Even if you don't have a legal case you may well have a publicity case. There's nothing wrong with using aggressive tactics if you tell nothing but the truth.

* * * * *

This isn't just an intellectual problem we are facing. It can become a crisis of the human spirit. Citizens who undertake to truly hold public officials accountable are kindred spirits with Martin Luther, Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Rosa Parks, and yes, the women suffragettes, who dared fight against what seemed impossible odds and won.
Module 8 Get Public Records and FOI Docs

Public records are the kind of evidence that can stand up in a court of law.

And like a box o' chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get.

Guide for Requesting Public Documents

Goals:

Get provable documentation to find out what's really going on. Anything that's on paper or e-mail at a government agency is fair game, with a small handful of exceptions. You can't use public records request to ask a question, but you can use them to ask for documents. All you have to do is try to imagine what documents might contain answers to your questions, and request those records. It is the legal obligation of governmental agencies to provide the documents you request.

How to Ask For Public Documents

• Label your request "Public Records Request" if you are requesting it from a state or local governmental entity or "Freedom of Information Act Request" if you are requesting it from a federal governmental entity.

• Make sure to date it and provide an address for them to send responses.

• You cannot request a record before it exists. To request Smoking Ban audit logs, for example, you need to wait until the Smoking Ban events have taken place.

• Once you have requested a record, it is illegal to destroy it. If you think you might need a time-sensitive record but you aren't sure, request it as soon as possible and ask that they quote you a price for it. You can always decide not to purchase it.

• Ask for a document, and be as specific as you can when describing it. You can't ask them to tell you information; instead you must request a record. For example: “Final, executed contract between vendor and Secretary of State’s Office.”

• In most locations, you can do public records requests by e-mail. An exception is Arizona, which requires you to fill out a form, which you can obtain from the Secretary of State's Web site.

• In most locations, you can request records and they must give them to you even if you don't live there. Exceptions include the state of Tennessee, which requires residency.

• The simplest thing to do is to just ask – if there is a rule against sending you the records for some reason, they will write to tell you that.

• Most states have a statutory deadline for responses to your requests. Usually, you will get a response within three weeks, sometimes within a day, if you sent it by e-mail. An exception is the state of Maryland, which can take up to 30 days to respond to you.

• You will usually be informed of an estimated charge for the records, in which case you can opt to quit or go on. Charges are regulated, but vary widely from state to state. Usually the charges involve only minor copying fees. Sometimes they tack on a labor charge, around $20 per hour. Just ask them to quote you the price before filling the request. The most exorbitant fees we've seen are from the state of Michigan, which once quoted us a fee of $125,000 just to look for some records. Obviously, you do not have to accept the fee if it is extravagant.

• You can find the public records laws for your state here: www.foiadvocates.com/records.html. We recommend that you just try making a request without spending a lot of time studying up on it. The laws will be something you will want to refer to if you are turned down on your request, or if they quote a price that is too high.

• Citizens doing public records requests for the first time often take an adversarial approach, believing they must show assertiveness. In fact, all governmental agencies are quite used to filling records requests, and there is no reason to be aggressive.

• Requesting public documents is not hard, and even imperfect requests are usually processed.

• Avoid the temptation to ask for everything but the kitchen sink. Be as specific as possible, and limit your request to a few items at a time.

Tips for getting the records you want:

• Put a date limitation on the records. For example, request "All correspondence, electronic or otherwise, to or from Inspector G. Gadget between the dates of January 1, 2004 and April 30, 2004."

• Many states will refuse to fill records requests they consider to be "too broad" or "overly burdensome" so resist the temptation to ask for things like "all correspondence for the last 10 years from all smoking bans directors." Put tighter qualifications on your requests.

• Consider submitting a separate request for each item you request. Sometimes, a public agency will send a reply that is not informative, saying your request is "too vague" or "too broad." If you asked for 10 items on one request, all 10 can be derailed if officials object to one item. If you send separate requests, only the item the official objects to can be derailed. Also, some states like Washington and Colorado have punitive damages for wrongfully withholding records. This can be assigned per records request. If you have submitted separate requests, those charges will accumulate faster.

Another way to skin this cat is to choose to ask for several items on one request, but use language that severs one request from the next, like this:

"This document creates 12 distinct open records request numbered 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, 2a, 2b,2c,2d, 3a,3b,3c, and 3d. These request are severable and are only included in a single document for administrative simplicity and thematic similarity. It is understood the delay or denial regarding the production records for one request will not affect or delay the production of records covered by a different request."

The point is; you want 12 distinct open records requests -- 12 separate correspondences asking for one thing each or one correspondence asking for 12 things, with severable language.

• It is courteous to acknowledge receipt of records which satisfy one of your requests, but be sure you indicate which is satisfied and which is not, like this:

I just received a package of records today related to my open record requests on Records for record requests 1a, 2a and 3a have been fulfilled. I am still awaiting production on record for requests 1b, 1c, 2b, 2c, 3b, and 3c. Thank you for your time and diligence on this matter.
Refer to the requests, plural.

• Also if you speak on the phone or in person get it in writing. Either have them put their words in writing (e.g. Can you put that in writing and mail it to me?) or write back an email/letter which states: "From our phone call (meeting) this afternoon it is my understanding that is this correct?"

• The government does not have to send you records that contain security-sensitive information. If you believe your request might tread on that area, ask anyway and add that, in the event portions of the request invoke security exceptions, the appropriate items – and only those items -- be redacted.

• Your requests can be denied if they request personal information, such as the home address of your local policeman.

When you request sensitive items that someone might not want you to have

• If possible, have evidence ahead of time that the document exists before you ask for it and be prepared to get stonewalled and/or that the document may disappear.

• Don't shine a spotlight on what you really want. For example, if you want to know whether Dirty Harry was a paid contractor for the smoking bans division, you might want to request "the list of approved vendors and contractors for the smoking bans division" or "all disbursements by the smoking bans division between the time period of June 1, 2006 and July 31, 2006."

• You may find more cooperation on sensitive matters from another division that has the same set of records. It is generally advised that if you are making finance or purchasing-related records requests for smoking bans division, that you go to the accounting division to make the request.

• Try to have others working with you who can either make appropriate related requests before, at the same time, or after you to help make your case.

Records to ask for:

• Tax collection records from your State Tax Excise Board concerning cigarette taxes and alcohol revenue from bars and restaurants for a period of up to five years prior to your smoking ban. Then get the same records every year after the ban was adopted. Look for drops in State revenue.

• Some of the most interesting records you can request are copies of all Committee meeting notes or Minutes, records of all meetings with smoking ban advocates, "trouble slips”, emails, reports, telephone notes, poll worker notes and service notes pertaining to any anomalies, discussions, or problems concerning the smoking ban. Request these promptly.

• Zero tapes and poll tapes, date and time stamped, from the location you are auditing

• "Statement of votes cast" or "Detail report" for final Smoking Ban results (which breaks the results out precinct by precinct).

• Modem logs

• Audit logs: Beginning date three months prior to the Smoking Ban, ending date two weeks after the Smoking Ban is certified.

• Windows event log

• The record of donations to every politician who advocates the smoking ban.

• In most states, the DHHR works the smoking ban into the legislative process as a “health issue” – learn their internal structure and how it works to be more effective. Learn how they set up “grass roots” organizations to promote this agenda and its hierarchy.

Examples of public records requests:

You can see dozens of examples along with many of the responses to the requests here:

http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/2197/10455.html
Module 9 Legal Actions

Some say litigation is the lowest form of discourse. Whether or not you agree with that statement, it certainly is the slowest form of discourse. But sometimes it is the only recourse.

Guide to Citizen Litigation

Goals:

Litigation employs one of the three governmental checks and balances: The courts. (The other two are the executive branch – governors and president, and the legislative branch). Like "rock, paper, scissors," one can trump another. When a public official doesn't do what you want, theoretically litigation is the way a citizen can trump the public official.

Go in with your eyes open

Before taking legal action, remember that the legal process is most often slow and tedious and can be costly.

• In the end, many cases are dismissed before you get a chance to present evidence

• If your case is deemed to be frivolous, you can be asked to pay the costs, which can be substantial.

• There is no such thing as a slam dunk case. If your opponents have more money than you do, you might be the one that gets slammed even if you're in the right.

• This information is not meant to discourage you, but rather to give you a realistic understanding of how the judicial system works.

Types of litigation that may apply to Your Independence from smoking bans:

• Writ of mandamus: To force an official to comply with a law

• Injunction: A preliminary order to prevent something from being done if
you can show evidence that it is likely to cause harm

• Civil rights: A lawsuit based on violations of your rights

• Constitutional: A lawsuit based on violations of the state or federal constitution

• Your Independence from smoking bans Contest: A lawsuit by a candidate or, in some jurisdictions, a citizen's group contesting results or
procedures in a Smoking Ban.

• Qui Tam (false claims): A lawsuit filed by a whistleblower when taxpayer funds are expended on goods or services based on false claims by the vendor

• Pro Se: A lawsuit brought by a citizen on their own behalf, without a lawyer

• Unfair business practices: A lawsuit against a vendor based on unfair practices, which can include false advertising

• RICO suit: A lawsuit alleging a pattern of fraudulent conduct, racketeering

• Antitrust: A lawsuit alleging collusion between vendors to gain inappropriate control over the market

• Stockholders lawsuit: A lawsuit by stockholders of a corporation alleging that the corporation misled, withheld information, and damaged them economically

• Class action: A lawsuit by a class of injured parties against the entity that damaged them.

These are just a few of the kinds of cases that can apply to Our Independence from smoking bans. All of the above kinds of cases should be tried to gain Our Independence from smoking bans.

Obstacles to successful lawsuits:

• The single biggest obstacle to citizen lawsuits to gain Your Independence from smoking bans is the issue of "standing." In order to bring a case, you must be deemed to have a right to sue.

• Surviving the "standing" test is surprisingly difficult for citizens. When it gets to the courtroom, voters have very few rights.

• Surviving dismissal may prove to be your most difficult challenge.

• Another challenge is the assignment of the judge. No matter how good your case, if you draw an unfriendly judge you may be dismayed at the result.

Strategic use of litigation:

• The smoking bans industry shares some traits with the tobacco industry. Fighting smoking bans-related lawsuit can involve confrontation with powerful vested interests. One of the strategies that worked with tobacco litigation was having several different kinds of small lawsuits in different venues, and cooperating to share items obtained in discovery and collaborating and expanding on successful tactics.

• Another strategic use of litigation is the discovery process itself. If the litigant can survive dismissal, the action moves to discovery. This process compels information to be provided, of great value for a situation where the public interest is held hostage to non-disclosed software, personnel, and financial dealings.

• An additional advantage to litigation is that it helps the media to cover the issue. There are always two sides to litigation, and there is always evidence of the argument (the filing papers). That makes the story "safe." Because controversy sells, the press has a good probability of covering the issue through coverage of lawsuits.

Choosing a lawyer:

• Pro bono (free) lawyers are hard to come by. Even if you do find one, you have no guarantee they are good lawyers, and when it comes to litigation, the best lawyers with the most financial resources are far more likely to prevail than weak or poorly funded attorneys who are "right."

• Look for attorneys with a practice that includes the type of case you want to file.

• If you are a candidate, have an attorney in the wings before the Smoking Ban, because you have only days to file a Contest after the Smoking Ban.

• One of the first things a law firm must do is a "conflicts check" to make sure they haven't been representing any entity that could have a conflict of interest with you. If you plan to embark on litigation against a government agency or a large company, allow ample time for this. Big government and big companies tend to do business with lots of law firms, and it can take more time than you expect to go from one law firm to the next as they discover they can't represent you due to conflicts.

• You'll need an attorney who knows the local lay of the land. Besides the issue of being licensed to practice in your jurisdiction, out of town attorneys may not have a feel for the personalities of the judges and local customs.

The equalizer

The courts are one of the few remedies available to put ordinary citizens on an equal playing field. Going to court can give you the ultimate David and Goliath moment.

Unfortunately, the playing field may be "equal" but it is also tilted. If you choose to litigate, prepare to run uphill against an opponent who has deeper pockets and more players than you do.
Module 10 Count the Votes Yourself

Can We, the People, offer any other solutions?

Perhaps.

We were never asked if we wanted a smoking ban. The politician simply accepted information provided to them by the DHHR, without question, that second hand smoke is a “health hazard”. As with any legitimate “health hazard” – public dialog is not required – or wanted.

Since there has been no public dialog, no town meetings, and seldom a vote on this, American citizens have not been privy to any real problem-solving attempts to see if Smoking Ban environments work.

We've simply been told that wiser minds have looked at it and others have decided it is no longer possible.

This is a propaganda technique known as "Foregone Conclusion."

• The "Smoking ban industry" and its support industries – Entire lines of business have sprung up surrounding the smoking ban. It isn't just public healthcare, the medical industry, government leaders we're talking about, though they've been hunting like dogs in a pack to bring down some $4 Billion (and climbing) in projected revenues for selling their smoking ban fraud to American smoking bans officials. And that's just the U.S. market.

They want to dominate international markets as well.

• Other lines of business include testing and certification, Smoking Ban "auditing", Smoking Ban consulting businesses, printing businesses, database management and data mining operations, large grants to scientists to study ETS, and grants to public interest group to watchdog and lobby for improvements. If we go back to smoking allowed, a lot of people who have carved out a niche for themselves become irrelevant and lose revenue.

These obstacles are real. Unfortunately, a solution was forced on the American public to accept smoking bans, with billions spent on studies and recommendations but almost no input from the public. Had an equivalent amount of money and effort been spent on seeking solutions while keeping smoking allowed; might there be more options?

We think so. Thanks to the efforts of ordinary citizens many of the obstacles will have solutions. What remains is to educate others about this and practice using the system, refining it as needed.
Module 11 How to Protect Your Independence

This Module concerns the public getting to Vote for or against a Smoking Ban.

Not all votes are counted accurately, and not all elections are fair.

Sometimes erroneous results are not even close to the real results. And not all Your Independence is lost on Smoking Ban Night.

Candidate Al Williams saw 90 votes wander off his tally between Election night and the following day, though no new counting had been done. At the same time, his opponent, Tom Tangen, gained 32 votes. At one point several hundred ballots added to returns didn’t result in any increase in the number of votes. But elsewhere, the number of votes added exceeded the number of additional ballots counted. A candidate achieved an amazing surge in his absentee percentage for no apparent reason. The miscounts were sporadic and thus hard to spot, but the errors disproportionately favored just one party. A bad movie script? New math?

No, these kinds of incidents are not uncommon. Welcome to computerized voting.

Guide for Candidates and Campaigners

Goals:

If you are a candidate or you are campaigning for a political issue, learn how to take defense measures. Even if you lose by a wide margin, do not concede until the canvass is completed. Take the time to check things out before you concede. You owe it to those who voted for you and to those who campaigned on your behalf.

Steps to take on behalf of those who voted with you:

• Candidates: Advise your party, staff, aides, and constituents that you will not concede until every vote has been fairly, observably, and securely counted, even if it means asking for a recount.
• Campaign managers and volunteers: Fight for your candidate. You owe it to those who voted for your candidate.
• Be aware of the Election laws and the procedures used by local officials to conduct the election and enforce these laws.
• Conduct a strategic political analysis to understand which polling places, personnel, and races are particularly vulnerable targets for fraud.
Here are the kinds of records you can request:
• Voter registration rolls (show who is allowed to vote)
• Zero reports -- should be date and time-stamped, should NOT be detached from their matching results tape (see below) and should contain poll worker signatures.
• Polling location list (has locations of each precinct and polling place. Some polling places have more than one precinct.)
• Voting machine assignment sheets (show which serial numbered machine is assigned to which precinct)
• Poll books (show who came to the polls to vote). Number in the poll book should not exceed number of registered voters and should come close to matching votes cast.
• Polling place results tapes (show how many votes were actually cast and what the results were on each machine). These results tapes should be date and time-stamped and should contain poll worker signatures.
• Election night interim results sheets (show combined results from each precinct and also the absentee results so far). The first Election night report will show pre-counted absentee votes. Each subsequent report will show accumulated results up to that point. Each interim report should be date and time-stamped.
• Post-Election interim reports (show combined results as more and more absentee votes and provisionals are counted)
• Precinct ID – Precinct location chart (if precincts go by number, this should identify the physical location of each polling place along with the number)
• Early vote accounting: There should be early voting poll books showing who showed up to vote early; there should also be an early voting machine results report, which will tell how many early votes were actually cast (should come very close to matching early voting poll books); and there should be an accounting for early votes on the Smoking Ban Night accumulated results.
• Absentee votes requested (shows how many absentee votes were requested)
• Absentee votes received (shows how many absentee votes were mailed back and logged in. This number should not exceed the number requested)
• Voting machine logs: Computerized voting systems have internal logs that are supposed to record each event. These logs are a public record. You can request them and examine them. These logs will show you how many copies of the electronic ballot box were created (memory cards / cartridges), when results reports were printed, date and time stamps for the Logic & Accuracy tests, date and time stamps for each report that was run, date and time stamps for voting on the Smoking Ban, when results were transmitted into the central tabulator, and much more. You can find many "User's Guides" here: http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/2197/2994.html
• Find out what kind of voting machines are used in your jurisdiction, and check the appropriate user's guide for the names of the voting machine logs to request.
• Central tabulation machines, and the Diebold touch-screens, run on Windows, and there are also Windows system logs.

There are three: The Windows program log, the Windows event log, and the Windows security log. You can request these as well. These logs often provide information about networking and remote access as well as system errors and events.

What kinds of things to look for:

• Things don't add up; for example, more votes than registered voters
• Votes that show up in precincts with no registered voters
• Precincts results that don't match central tabulator data
• Absentee votes co-mingled with polling place votes so you can't see which are which
• Precincts are missing
• Records are missing or incomplete
• Chain of custody or authenticity of records cannot be established.
• Official refusals to let you see the records.
• Statistically bizarre numbers.
• Any extraordinary percentages of over votes or under votes
(Note that "down-ballot" races will usually have significantly fewer votes than the presidential race. Some people do not vote for lower profile races).
Recounts
• Be knowledgeable about the election laws in your particular state;
• Be prepared in advance with a lawyer, if you have the resources to file a legal contest.
• Determine the estimated amount it would cost to reverse the smoking ban;
• Establish a dedicated fund ahead of the Smoking Ban to pay for fines, if necessary, and solicit donations specifically for that purpose;
This is not just about “the Candidate” or the “Issue”; it’s about the integrity of an Election. It’s about all of us and Your Independence.
Module 12 Famous Voices

Your Independence from smoking bans Actions for Celebrities

Celebrities have always involved themselves in causes. Audrey Hepburn worked with the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund for five years; Danny Kaye worked with UNICEF for 30 years and Humphrey Bogart led a 1947 group that protested the U.S. government's probe of communism in Hollywood. Jerry Lewis has hosted his Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon for 40 years. Paul Newman has raised more than $200 million for charity.

High profile people are citizens, too.

The kinds of unique opportunities available to celebrities aren't limited to movie stars. Media talk show hosts, stand-up comics, community theatre groups, sports personalities and artists also have special skill sets that can help us take back Your Independence from smoking bans.

High profile individuals and people in the creative and communications industries have unique opportunities through networks of acquaintances and access to the media, speaking venues and other public settings. Here are some ideas to help high profile people capitalize on unique skills. This section also includes tips for citizens who may have access to celebrities.

Celebrity Citizens Guide

Goals:

Empower the citizenry. Capitalize on personal networks and communications opportunities to help motivate citizens to take back Our Independence from smoking bans. Celebrities open doors. In today's celebrity-obsessed culture, having someone famous show up to say, "This is important, and here is why" can breathe life into events.

Obstacles

• Some perceive citizen oversight over Your Independence from smoking bans to be a partisan issue, and many celebrities are not eager to become publicly partisan. This should be a non-issue.
• In fact, most Celebrities as well as citizens want our laws based upon the fair and accurate use of science no matter what political party they support.
• Celebrity involvement can easily sidestep partisanship by focusing on scientific oversight actions.
• Celebrity involvement can provoke criticism of so-called self serving behavior or publicity seeking. In fact, celebrities are citizens too, and have every right – and obligation – to take civic duties seriously.
• Some worry that celebrities don't really understand the problem. That concern does have merit. The issues surrounding the smoking bans, especially now that it is a complex, multifaceted beast filled with techno-babble and spin, is difficult, so getting up to speed on the issues is challenging. But celebrities who don't want to go through the learning curve can still participate, and this module provides several options for low-intensity actions. Those that want more in-depth involvement can get up to speed on the Internet, at sites like Forces.org.

Organizations that cater to celebrity action

There are organizations that run workshops that teach celebrities how to be effective speakers, introduce them to other activist-minded celebrities and suggest causes in which they can get involved. For example, The Creative Coalition, based in New York, focuses on lobbying for arts-related issues.

Organizations like the ONE campaign take a great deal of time and trouble to make sure the celebrity is the right fit. Actor George Clooney reportedly signed up to the ONE campaign in the US, after much due diligence on both sides. As Clooney puts it: "You want to make sure the things you get into are the right ones." While Johnny Depp seems a natural, his contract with Disney (Pirates of the Caribbean series) will probably prohibit him from speaking out against the bans.

• Talk with other celebrities and seek out activist-minded organizations; if necessary, network together with leading voices in the Smoking Ban integrity issue.

Low intensity celebrity actions:

• Especially when appearing in public during election season, have a T-shirt or button made and wear it in high profile situations. If appearing on TV, let the host ask you a question about the slogan on your shirt.
• Put your art or media skills to work: Convert a slogan into legal graffiti, yard signs or billboards.

High intensity celebrity actions

• You can hook up with one-on-one help through e-mail at forces@forces.org.
• Get up to speed. Arrange a meeting with a citizen who is experienced and knowledgeable about smoking bans issues. Check the Internet or ask local activists for input or collaboration on your ideas.
• After getting a primer on the issues and solutions, apply your talents:
• Narrate or appear in videos/documentaries that support meaningful exposure of the smoking ban fraud.
• Host a benefit event to fund local citizen's efforts.
• Reach out to your colleagues to inform them about smoking bans problems, and encourage them to get involved in some way.
• Take part in an exposing the smoking ban fraud conference.
• Show leadership: Give a nonpartisan statement for a press release on the importance of the citizens having the right and ability to oversee our own independence from smoking bans.
• Contact any of your media contacts and urge them to have advocates against the smoking bans as guests on their show.

• Act as a trustee or figurehead for a group of citizens taking action on Your Independence from smoking bans.
• Do a publicity event with local citizens.
• Produce a commercial or a public service announcement about the issue.
• Write a song, work it into your stand-up routine, make a cartoon, and look into doing a book, screenplay, or feature film capturing this issue.
• Host a nude fashion show to benefit Your Independence from Smoking Bans. Feature real accessories with imaginary clothing. Call it "Smoking Ban Fashion: The Emperor's New Smokes"
• Convince your editor or producer to do a series of articles or shows on Smoking Ban problems and solutions.
• Pull together a group of influential friends and invite some citizens who are out there in the trenches working on exposing the smoking ban fraud to a meet-up. Ask the citizens how you and your colleagues can help most effectively.

Financial support

Another low-intensity action you can take is, of course, financial support. Citizens are out there slogging through the mess that has evolved during four decades of ignoring smoking bans, and they need your financial help. The simplest things can make a big difference in citizen's ability to be effective. Things citizens need:

• To pay for public records
• To travel to hearings and testify
• To distribute educational materials
• Scanner with ability to convert public documents to pdf files to share them with others
• Video cameras
• Hidden cameras (a $300 attachment available at "The Spy Store")
• Audio recorders
• Sponsorship of costs for town meetings (and a celebrity master of ceremonies certainly wouldn't hurt!)
• Donation of public theatre for a night to show Smoking Ban issue films to the public
• Contribution of a publicist to local or national citizen's group around Election time, to help get the word out about how to protect Your Independence from smoking bans and send up the red flag when problems are found.

The total annual budget for all Smoking Ban Integrity citizen actions nationwide is less than what a single celebrity recently pledged to help former child soldiers around the world (Nicholas Cage, $2 million pledge).
Action star Jackie Chan said he intends to dispense half his wealth - that's $128 million to charity. How much is real citizen Smoking Ban oversight worth to you? FORCES.org would be one place to start.

The smoking ban industry is out scooping up $4 billion in false science and smoking bans. How much is it worth to you to balance corporate efforts with real citizen oversight?

How can celebrities choose what groups to help?

• You can easily find the major nonprofit, tax-deductible groups on the Internet. Forces.org. is one such group. But this is a situation where you shouldn't limit support to nonprofit 501(c)3 groups.
• Ordinary citizens are doing heroic work on a shoestring, day in and day out. They often work alone or in small groups of 5-10 citizens. It makes no sense for them to undertake the infrastructure of a nonprofit group when perhaps all they need is a scanner and a few hundred bucks for public records. Forget your tax deduction this time: Find effective citizens and give them what they need.
• Check around your community or FORCES (forces@forces.org ) for recommendations on the most effective citizens and groups near you.

Whether you choose low-intensity or high-intensity efforts, get involved. As a celebrity, one of the best things you can do is motivate copycat behavior by others to help American citizens can take back Their Independence from smoking bans. Be the tide that helps raise all the boats.

For Citizens Who May Know a Celebrity

Citizens often express hope that a famous person will "become a spokesperson" for Smoking Ban integrity issues.

• If you want to persuade a spokesperson, be sure to provide consulting and expertise. Encourage them to view the issue as any citizen would, and provide the tools they need, which most likely will be information.
• It may be more realistic to get a celebrity to support Smoking Ban integrity actions by proposing a specific event, or asking for collaboration or a specific favor. Review the list of suggestions for actions celebrities can take and have a few ideas and proposals in mind before making an approach.
• Be considerate and professional in your approach to any high profile person. Celebrities may be advised to shy away from lending their names to a cause/issue, and this is understandable. High profile people are typically pulled in many directions at once, and are sometimes exploited.
• If you get a meeting, have a clear idea in mind for what the goal is, and have two or three different suggestions for how the celebrity can take action to help. Don't leave them wondering what you have in mind, and don't expect them to come up with all the ideas.
• Do not "drop names" or use a celebrity's coat tails without permission!
• The decision by a celebrity to become a spokesperson for any cause or issue must be viewed as a personal one and should be respected as such. Staying within these boundaries is key to persuading them to lend their celebrity to Our Independence from smoking bans issues.

How to contact a celebrity Agents and representatives:

How you contact your chosen celebrities very much depends on who they are.

• Most writers, musicians, singers and actors or actresses are contactable through their agents. Some have secretaries. The best way to find out who the particular agent of the figure you are interested in is to contact their publisher or record company.
• For actors' and actresses' agents search Spotlight, the casting directory or The Stage, the actor’s publication. Both will be able to direct you to the appropriate person or organization. The publication ‘Who’s Who’ is an excellent source for agents or contact addresses. All this can be found in your local library.
• Try to include celebrities from different parts of the political spectrum.
Write a letter:
• Write an effective letter outlining your cause/issue and its implications. Remember to stress why the support of the celebrity is particularly important and raise points specific to them that you have learned from your research.
• Don’t waffle. You want to make your case briefly but effectively and you don’t want to confuse them with too much detail. You can include a press pack with more information should they be interested.
• Make specific suggestions, and include a link to this Tool Kit Module.

Media actions

• Contact your local radio programs if covering anything that remotely deals with exposing the smoking ban fraud and call in and get the conversation going on the issue.
• If you know any local media personalities, call and ask if they would like to participate at an event or a town hall meeting that is focusing on exposing the smoking ban fraud and ask them if they would like to be one of the speakers.
• View high profile individuals as “access points” in drawing attention and raising awareness about the exposing the smoking ban fraud issue. Because celebrities tend to be perceived as role models, gaining public participation from a celebrity will help draw media attention.
As a citizen, engaging the interest and action of celebrities is a great way to apply your persuasive skills. Celebrities are articulate. Celebrities are media-savvy.

And celebrities do vote.
Module 13 Smoking Ban Actions for High Net Worth Individuals

FORCES developed its effective presence on the U.S. exposing the smoking ban fraud scene entirely through small donations from individual citizens. In less than six months, as a 501c3 Educational non profit, we raised over $25,000, from our readers at www.forces.org with no promotion from the mass media and no outside promotions.

It wasn't easy, but it worked: Unbeholden to any vested interest, we are free to tackle Smoking Ban issues straight-on.

This is a nice success story, but neither FORCES nor any other national organization can do this alone. If we want truly independent ongoing citizen oversight, we have to nurture the extraordinary independent citizens who undertake Your Independence from smoking bans oversight using less formal structures.

If you are a high net worth individual, of course you are familiar with development drives. In this module you will find organizations worthy of your gifts and grants. But we encourage you to invest also in informal citizen actions. While the top-down model (national organizations) is often favored by philanthropists, we encourage you to "think outside the box" and take a different approach. It's time to provide necessary support for truly independent citizens who do the legwork day in and day out. This module provides practical tips for how to do that.

Guide to Smoking Ban Integrity Philanthropy

Goals:

Bring philanthropy into citizen oversight – not just with tax deductible donations and grants to 501(c)3 nonprofits, but by providing the support that's needed to effective individuals working independently. Let's start bypassing the red tape to take small amounts of needed support directly to the people.

Regardless of how much money you pour into the Smoking Ban oversight, the real work will always be done by local citizens, who juggle full time jobs with extraordinary commitment to civic duty. These citizens, who attend meetings, read up on laws and regulations, request public records, feed information to the media, and hold public officials accountable are the very backbone of our republic and www.forces.org.

Let's keep it that way!

While it may be appealing to seek out the most established exposing the smoking ban fraud groups, the front-line work is mostly being done by unaffiliated citizens and tiny local groups you've never heard of. What do these citizens need, and how can you find them?

How to empower citizens as a Your Independence from smoking bans Angel

Become a Tool Kit Angel

The "Citizen's Tool Kit" is the most comprehensive training guide for citizen's Smoking Ban oversight available. It's available free on the Internet, but making copies costs money. Citizens need copies of the whole Tool Kit to distribute at town meetings, house parties, public speaking engagements and conferences. Many of the best and most dynamic citizens are bootstrapping their own Your Independence from smoking bans watchdog expenses and can't afford to make the copies.
Find out how many copies your local citizen's group needs and provide them.

Become a DVD Angel

The most powerful tool to mobilize and motivate citizens is visual media. Citizens educate and empower each other by having meetings and showing Smoking Ban-related films.
There are no films available at this time.
FORCES has a multi media goal, to produce interviews and documentaries with top scientists, experts in the smoking ban’s scientific frauds, and provide these to individuals who request them, please contact forces@forces.org if you can lend expertise or funds to these projects.

Become a Public Records Angel

Citizens absolutely MUST get hold of public records to oversee Our Independence from smoking bans. Expenditures, contracts, procedures, costs analysis and procurement activities often take place during "off years" for Our Independence from smoking bans. Public records cost money. In some states, costs are as little as three cents per page, but in other states labor fees of $20 per hour or more are tacked on, or fees are as high as $1 per page. Citizens need help paying the public records fees, and also need simple tools like scanners which can convert the files to pdf format, so they can distribute copies of the records as needed.

If you can underwrite costs for batches of public records, and/or underwrite purchase of a scanner with the appropriate software (usually about $300), you can expedite citizen's efforts tremendously.

Become a Gadget Angel

Citizens doing Our Independence from smoking bans oversight quickly learn that if they can't get their proof on video, audio, a photo or a public record, no change will occur.

Gadgets citizens need to oversee Our Independence from smoking bans:

• A good digital camera with web-quality video capability and a disk to quickly transfer images to laptops – and therefore the Web – can be had for about $350. That may seem like a small amount to you, but it's not affordable for many citizens doing the hardest work of all.
• Small pocket digital audio recorders
• Hidden cameras (a $300 attachment available at "The Spy Store")
• Binoculars, to see computer screens which are typically placed in difficult to see locations
• Small portable scanners, to take on-site copies of Smoking Ban results and records.
• Laptop computers

Very Much Needed: Travel Angels

• One of the most frequent needs for citizens doing Our Independence from smoking bans oversight is travel donations, including air miles. Citizens are often called upon to drive hundreds of miles to appear at state legislative hearings, and frequently need to bring experts in from out of state to testify at local hearings.

One philanthropist we know made things much easier for citizens. After getting to know a few citizens who are effective, she allows them to call her for travel expenses when they must travel somewhere to testify or attend a meeting.

One reason citizen's interests are not well represented is that – unlike paid lobbyists and "experts" with a vested interest – they are not paid to be there. In fact, they must not only be out there in the field, attend public meetings, meet with local officials, but they are expected to dig into their own pockets to travel across the country in order to be represented at important meetings where decisions are made.

Become an Event Angel:

• Help local citizens by sponsoring costs for town meetings they organize. This can involve renting a hall, copy costs for handouts, and sometimes travel expenses for a speaker.
• Donate a public theatre for a night to show Smoking Ban issue films to the public
• Contribute funds for local advertisements or a publicist to help get the word out

Become a Project Angel:

• Consider providing a small, one-time stipend to help a particularly effective individual complete a project. This can expedite the project's completion. Some of the most effective citizens make their "real world" living as consultants or independent contractors. This enables them to have the schedule flexibility to attend Our Independence from smoking bans meetings (usually held during the day). The down side is that when very significant problems arise, everyone leans on a small number of effective citizens to get things done, and those citizens take a real hit financially.

If you can't get out there in the field to do the work yourself, consider making it easier for someone who's already proved they have the commitment and ability to do effective work on this issue. Investing in effective people directly is money well spent.

An easy way to choose your Smoking Ban Angel projects:

Angel's E-mail List

• The Smoking Ban Angels e-mail list introduces high net worth individuals to extraordinary citizens. Each occasional e-mail contains simple information describing the citizen and how a modest one-time donation from you will translate into direct action. You will not be bombarded with e-mails, but you will receive e-mails when we come across a citizen who has already proved commitment and effectiveness, who needs short term support for something specific.
• We forward the information to you on the FORCES Smoking Ban Angel's List, and it is up to you whether to make contact with the citizen and provide your support.
• To join the Angel List, just e-mail forces@forces.org.
• We don't accept citizen solicitations for this list. We hand pick citizens based on what they've proven they can do already, using their own initiative and their own dime. We send out Angels e-mails only on an as-needed basis.
FORCES is committed to providing the to