Lawmakers and Legislatures

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Chapter 11
Lawmakers and Legislatures
What makes an effective legislator?
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10/26 Journal
What makes an effective legislator (lawmaker)?
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Analyze the photograph of Congressman Joe Schwarz
and read about his background.
Congressman Joe Schwarz Republican, Michigan
Seventh District Born November 15, 1937, in
Battle Creek, Michigan Education B.A. University
of Michigan, 1959 M.D. Wayne State University,
1964 Occupation Doctor, U.S. Navy 19651967,
served in Vietnam served in the Central
Intelligence Agency,19681970 private medical
practice, 1970present Previous political
experience Battle Creek city commissioner,
19791985 mayor of Battle Creek,19851987
Michigan State Senate, 19872002 elected to U.S.
House of Representatives, 2004
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Preview
Answer the following questions in your notebook

• From the photograph and biography, what facts do
  you know about Congressman Schwarz?
• What things about Joe Schwarz do you think are
  typical for a member of Congress? What things
  might be atypical?
• What aspects of his background do you think would
  help make Joe Schwarz an effective legislator?
  Explain.
• What things do you think Congressman Schwarz and
  his staff will need to do, or learn to do, to
  help him be an effective legislator?

Once you have completed the Preview, share your
responses with a partner or with the class.
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Preview
In the Preview you identified things that might
make someone an effective legislator. In the
chapter, you will learn more about the powers and
functions of the legislative branch and what a
legislator needs to do and know in order to be
effective.
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Reading
Be sure you understand the Speaking of Politics
terms for this chapter. Use them in your answers
as you complete the Reading Notes.

• constituent
• pork
• standing committee
• joint committee
• conference committee
• appropriations
• joint resolution
• casework

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Reading
Consider possible answers to the Essential
Question What makes an effective legislator?
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Reading
Read Section 11.1 Then respond to this
question Which qualities described in this
section do you think are most important for an
effective legislator? Why?
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Reading
Read Section 11.2 and follow the directions in
Notebook Guide 11 to complete the Reading Notes.
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10/28 Journal

• Get with/find your partner from last class
  answer the following
• If you were elected to rewrite the school rules,
  In what ways would you change the school?
• How might your life be different because of your
  new position?
• What responsibility do you have?

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Reading
Read Section 11.3 and follow the directions in
Notebook Guide 11 to complete the Reading Notes.
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Reading
Read Section 11.4 and follow the directions in
Notebook Guide 11 to complete the Reading Notes.
Enacting Laws
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Reading
Read Section 11.5 and follow the directions in
Notebook Guide 11 to complete the Reading Notes.
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Notes to teacher Do not project this
slide. Make two copies of Student Handouts
11A11H Orientation Materials. Collate the
handouts and Placards 11A11H Orientation
Materials into two sets of eight folders (one set
is shown below), for a total of 16 folders. Each
folder will contain one two-page student handout
and the corresponding placard or pair of placards.
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Social Studies Skill Builder
Congratulations! You are now staff members for a
newly elected member of Congress. You and your
partner will participate in an orientation for
new congressional staff that will prepare you to
help your member of Congress to be an effective
legislator. Listen as you are officially
welcomed to the congressional staff orientation.
CD Track 11
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Social Studies Skill Builder
Get a copy of Student Handout 11I and tape it
into a clean page in your notebook.
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You will now analyze information from eight
orientation packets (AH) to learn about
different aspects of being an effective
legislator.
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Social Studies Skill Builder
When you receive a packet, follow these steps
Step 1 Carefully analyze the placard(s). Step
2 Discuss each of the placard questions. Step
3 Carefully read the excerpt from Freshman
Orientation. Step 4 Discuss each of the reading
questions. Step 5 Find the corresponding section
of your new congressional staff orientation
notes. Record at least three things you learned
that will help your new member of Congress be an
effective legislator. Step 6 Organize all of the
packet materials, exchange them for a new
orientation packet, and repeat these steps. Get
your first orientation packet and begin!

• One thing I learned
• Another thing
• A third thing

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Social Studies Skill Builder
When called on by the teacher, share what you
have learned for one of the topics that would
help your new member of Congress be an effective
legislator.
Selecting Congressional Office Space
Hiring Congressional Staff
Requesting Committee Assignments
Choosing and Working in Caucuses
Working on Legislation
Doing Constituent Casework
Protecting the Interests of the District
Running for Reelection
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Placard A represents selecting congressional
office space.
The teacher will give eight volunteers one copy
of Placards AH. Volunteers come to the front
of the classroom, hold up their placard, and say
which topic it represents. In pairs, discuss
which of the topics you think is most important
for being an effective legislator. Volunteers
should go back to their partners to discuss the
question.
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Volunteers return to the front of the classroom
and stand between the two ends of the
spectrumLeast Important and Most Important.
One student in the audience nominates a topic as
most important to being an effective legislator
and explains why. The student holding that topic
moves closest to the Most Important end of the
spectrum.
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Other students can debate if that topic is the
most important or if another topic is more
important and give their supporting reasons.
Volunteers should reposition themselves along
the spectrum after each speaker.
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What interesting details do you see in the bar
graph? In the circle graph? How would you
categorize voter turnout for the 2006 Michigan
Seventh District Republican primary?
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Do you think turnout like this will benefit the
incumbent or the challenger? Why? Do you think
Congressman Schwarz is represented by Candidate A
or Candidate B in the circle graph? Why?
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Social Studies Skill Builder
So, what happened to Joe Schwarz in the 2006
election?
On primary election night, the Schwarz campaign
was back at Schulers Restaurant in Marshall,
Michigan . . . Key staffers once more gathered in
an upstairs conference room . . . The mood was
anxious. Everyone who had worked on the campaign
expected a tight race, much like the primary two
years earlier that had ended in celebration . . .
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Social Studies Skill Builder
Rebecca Schneider, the congressmans district
director, . . . recounted, It was kind of
eerie. There was a weird energy in the room . . .
It was pretty clear that if you were not directly
involved with gathering election returns, you
were not welcome in there. It was tense. As the
numbers came in, it grew more tense, and it
became clear that the folks inside the war room
did not want noise or distraction . . . But I
could see in . . . the bosss face, that things
were not going well.
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Social Studies Skill Builder
As the evening wore on, the congressman spent
more and more time in the office off the lobby of
the war room . . . Eventually, Joe did go
downstairs and indicated to the crowd his sense
that things were not going well for the campaign
. . . A short time later, Joe went downstairs
again, and, flanked by his daughter and his chief
of staff, conceded the race . . .
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Social Studies Skill Builder
The final vote tally of the Republican primary in
Michigans Seventh District was 53 percent
(33,244 votes) for Walberg and 47 percent (29,349
votes) for Schwarz. Joe was disappointed by the
turnout, which was less than 15 percent in his
home county, and less than 20 percent
district-wide . . . Anybody who studies
elections, and understands them, knows that
well-organized, aggressive minorities do well in
low-turnout elections. Matt Marsden was a bit
less circumspect . . . Im guessing a lot of
people woke up after the election and said . .
. Maybe I should have gotten out and voted.
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Social Studies Skill Builder
On September 7, 2006, Congressman Schwarz
reflected on his defeat in the Sunday edition of
the Washington Post, beginning, I am the
political equivalent of a woolly mammoth, a
rarity headed for extinction . . . Yes, Im a
moderate.
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Social Studies Skill Builder
. . . He voiced his concern for the political
center, noting that fewer and fewer sensible . .
. candidates will have any chance of being
elected, although politics needs a middle for
effective public policymaking. Somehow, some
way, Joe concluded, moderates must . . . learn
to fight as hard for the policies of the sane and
rational center as the far right and far left
fight for the extremes. from Freshman
Orientation by Edward I. Sidlow (Washington,
D.C. CQ Press, 2007)
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Power, Politics, and You
Read the Power, Politics, and You section of
the chapter. Then, be prepared to respond to the
following questions

• What factors affect how members of a legislature
  decide how they will vote?
• How did the legislator in this scenario vote on
  the bill to lower the voting age in state and
  local elections from 18 to 16? What factors did
  she/he consider?
• Do you agree with how and why the legislator
  voted in this scenario? Explain.

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Processing
Create a report card that evaluates how effective
a legislator is by doing the following

• Select one of your own members of
  Congressrepresentative or senatoror another
  national or state legislator.
• Identify three to five criteria that you will use
  to evaluate that legislators effectiveness.
• Find information about what your selected
  legislator has done in each area.
• Design a report card and assign a letter grade
  for each item, along with supporting evidence to
  justify the grade. Then give an overall grade for
  the legislators effectiveness, along with a
  summary explaining the grade.

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