Texas Interest Groups Project
Pick a national or Texas interest group in which you are interested. That is to say, pick a group that does work in a political area that you want to know more about. ANSWER ALL OF THE FOLLOWING.
Answers must be typed and should indicate the number of the question being answered. Make sure you include proper citations from the Internet for each answer.
1. Name of the interest group (IG).
2. Website address of the IG.
3. Phone number of the IG.
4. Address of the IG.
5. Year the IG was founded.
6. Write a one-paragraph description of the nature and purpose of the organization. In your own words.
7. Name of current head/director/chairman/president of the IG. Brief describe the professional background of the individual. In your own words.
8. Find a piece of legislation that has been sponsored or advocated by the IG. This can be from any session of the Texas Legislature. If they are a major IG, odds are that they have
sponsored some legislation—this will take some research as well.
9. Watch a video about the IG. This can be from the IG itself or can be from a news show about IG. This could include if someone from the organization was interviewed on a news show. These videos are often on the organization’s website. The video should be at least three minutes long. Include a website link to the video so that I may watch it as well. In at least one paragraph, summarize the arguments and claims made in the video.
10. Do a one-paragraph summary of an article or OP-ED that discusses the activities of your IG. It can be written by someone who works for the IG or by someone outside the IG. Summaries shouldn’t have any quotations; they should be entirely in your own words. Include a link to the op-ed so I can read it.
11. Think about all you have learned about the IG and answer the following questions in a four-paragraph essay (12 pt font, single-spaced).
a. What is your assessment of the goals of this interest group? Are their goals in the best
interests of Texas? Why? Are there other goals they should have or goals that they do
have they should abandon?
b. Specifically, how does this interest group try to achieve its goals? Do they tend to
hold conferences, run ads, lobby legislators, publish articles or books, and raise and spend
money for specific things? Different interest groups employ different methods…show me you understand how this interest group tries to achieve its goals.
c. Finally, has this interest group been effective in achieving its goals. This will require
some research. Don’t just say yes or no. Provide data that show specific failures or
successes of this interest group. Think about how one would go about evaluating the
effectiveness of an interest group.