This is a chapter from the published third edition of the Academy Organizing Manual "Organizing for Social Change". We are making this chapter available because so many of the groups with which we work with conduct meetings with elected officials.

1. Introduction:

An accountability session is a large community meeting at which an elected official, or sometimes a high-level public administrator (the "decision-maker" or "target"), is held accountable to the community. Because accountability sessions ultimately rely on political pressure, they are rarely used against corporate targets. They may, however, be used to force regulators to hold corporations accountable. At the meeting, very specific demands are made about such things as legislation, funding, code enforcement, or community services, and your organization(s) expects a positive response on the spot.

An accountability session is a high power tactic. It is usually used toward the end of an issue campaign after a great deal of strength has been built up. It requires the ability to turn out hundreds of people, and a sophisticated leadership that can run the meeting and put heat on the target. Like other tactics, it is placed in the last column of the strategy chart.

An accountability session is not simply a community "speak out" or legislator's town meeting, although the community does speak out, and the official is invited to speak briefly. It is a much more rehearsed and controlled event, but the real difference is that it is a big show of organizational power. It is your organization's event and there is no reason to present the other side or give time to opposing opinions.

Power is always a relative term. An assessment of how much power your group has is the starting point for planning an accountability session. Begin with an analysis of the target, the person who can give you what you want. (To avoid such modern literary ambiguities as "he/she" we will refer to the decision-maker as she," in this chapter.) Ask these questions:

• What is her political strength?
• How close were the last primary and general elections? Was it a landslide or a cliffhanger?
• What is her ability to raise campaign money, and has she a big debt?
• Is she up for re-election in three weeks or three years?
• Is there an opponent in the wings, or is she considered unbeatable?
• Has she ambitions for higher office?

If the target is a non-elected official, the task of estimating power is harder. It is approached by asking three questions:

1. What are the person's political connections? All appointed public officials are ultimately answerable to some elected person, and part of their job is to protect that person from criticism. An accountability session can be used to embarrass the elected employer of the appointed official, or to hold the elected official responsible for the actions of a civil servant
2. What is the person's career self-interest'? No official wants to be publicly embarrassed. All want to appear to have good relations with the community and to be keeping things under control. Some officials are taking bribes or drugs, giving jobs to friends, or being generally incompetent. Such people don't want to draw attention to themselves. They have an interest in keeping everything nice and quiet.
3. What are the person's business and social connections? Where has she worked? Where does her spouse work? Is she old money or new money? Are there potential conflicts of interest between past employers and the person's present position? For instance, did the Commissioner of Streets previously work for an asphalt paving company that does work for the city? Knowing these things will often suggest secondary targets and additional pressure points.

Having established this background reading of the target's power and vulnerability to pressure, gauge the strength of your organization in relation to it. If you are a turf-based group, look at the political map and see how much of your territory is really in her district. If you are a coalition, you should know roughly how many of the individual members of the member organizations live in the district. (A look at the zip codes of member organizations' mailing lists will give you a rough idea of this.) How important are your members to her? Did they vote for her? Might they? If all of your people backed the other candidate or party and will probably do so again, then it won't mean a whole lot when you threaten not to vote for her. You will have to broaden your base. On the other hand, if you represent a strong body of support for her, which will appear to be going soft during the session, you are in a very good position. If some of her campaign contributors are in your group, all the better. Seat them in the front row. A potential opponent or two working the crowd is a nice touch.

If your conclusion is that you do have power over this person; test it out by sending an invitation. What is the response? Did a high-level staff person get back to you at once, or was it an assistant making a call after a few weeks? Did you get a firm commitment, or was it left a bit vague until closer to the date? Schedulers rarely say, "Well, if no one more important than you calls she'll be there", but you can tell it from the tone of voice. Later, when you start to frame your demands, return to this question of power and begin by asking, "Why did she accept the invitation in the first place? What is she afraid of?" All of this supposes that eventually you did get a commitment in writing, that she would come.

If you are refused the meeting, it is probably a good thing because it shows that you didn't have the power to win in the first place. A series of build-up tactics are now needed to increase your strength and visibility in order to get the official to come to the meeting. These might include press hits or letter writing drives, or doing actions against the main target or secondary targets. Avoid taking shortcuts. If someone says, "Oh, the Senator is a friend of mine, I'll invite her for you", don't do it! You want her to come because of your group's strength, or not at all. What's more, you will then have to contend with the friend saying, "No, you can't ask her that, it will embarrass me."

Note: The words Accountability Session are organizing language and would not generally be used in a letter. Instead say something like, "We invite you to attend a community meeting in order to tell us what you plan to do about... .

As with actions and other tactics, use a slightly modified version of the strategy chart to plan the accountability session. How each column of the chart is used will be explained in the next section.