May 6th, 2014

1. a) Two provisions used in the Bill of Rights to protect individuals who try to influence policy are protected by the first amendment. The first amendment allows freedom of speech and press which are important aspects of policy influence.
b) Grassroots mobilization helps influence over policy by forming a passionate group in order to be heard by the policy workers. Lobbying of government institutions is effective because interest groups can go right to the source, a policy worker, and confront him/her about their interests, instead of leaving voice mails and letters that an official will probably never look at. Litigation is helpful because no company wants to be involved in a lawsuit. Chances are, big companies will prefer to listen to the complaints of interest groups or pay money before they are willing to go to court.
c) A government regulation on interest groups is the registry participants need to fill out with the House of Representatives.

2. a) A key characteristic of the merit system is the idea that each employee should be hired according to their skill level and expertise, as opposed to being hired based on patronage.
b) The structure of the federal bureaucracy helps with independence because they are all designed to carry out the works that the executive branch and even the legislation branch can't do themselves. The complexity of public problems calls for a lot of time and effort to do a decent job in figuring out and the busy officials don't have enough time to deal with it all in a complex manner. The bureaus are made to organize people to dive deep into the various aspects the government needs to deal with. For example, the Federal Bureau of Investigation detects crime and puts criminals away.
c) The congress can check the bureaus by overseeing the appointment of head agency heads and detailing legislation. The courts can check the bureaus by holding hearings to make sure all members are abiding by the law. Lastly, interest groups can check bureaus because they are often involved in an iron triangle with congressional committees. They are all dependent on each other causing each to meet the others halfway in order to keep the peace and ultimately have policy influence.

* you didn't tell us the years so I couldn't give a link*

1992_2

(1999_2)National interest groups often target national-level policymaking institutions to achieve their policy objectives.

Select one of the following national interest groups.
- AARP
- AMA (Medical Association
- NAACP
- NAM (national assoc. of Manufacturers)

For the group you selected do each of the following.
- a identify one major national-level policymaking institution that this group targets.
- b describe one resource or characteristic of the group you have chosen and explain how it influences the choice of the target you have identified in (a)
- c describe another resource or characteristic of the group you have chosen and explain how it influences the choice of the target you have identified in (a).

A) NAACP targets legislation for better representation in America.
B) The NAACP is an organization of colored people which is a minority in this country. They chose legislation because most congressman are white males.
C) The NAACP has won victories in voting rights and criminal justice, which further influences their aggression in making more victories within congress.

http://www.naacp.org/pages/naacp-recent-victories
http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/sample_govpol_us_99_q_7035.pdf

1991_1

(1999_1)In the 1990’s presidential election campaigns have become more candidate centered and less focused on issues and party labels. The change has been attributed both to how the media cover presidential campaigns and to how candidates use the media. Identify and explain two ways in which the media have contributed to candidate-centered presidential campaigns.

1) Presidential candidates have used the media for publicity and backgrounds checks. The media is always in search of a hot story to tell, and presidential candidates are what people are interested in. With a look into their past, the media can give an interesting story to the people while also bringing a personable touch to the candidates image. The more stories about a candidate, the more knowledge and publicity the candidate gets. Anything helps on voting day for unsure voters. 

http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/sample_govpol_us_99_q_7036.pdf