How to Select a US Member of the House of Representatives, Part 1 of 2

Referring to the foundation for this process as How to Select an American President by James A. George with James A. Rodger © 2107 Archway Publishing, here is how to apply it to selecting a representative to Congress.

To perform the responsibility as a citizen to recruit, evaluate, and select candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives, I propose the following process:

1.              Define the job

2.              Derive skill, knowledge, and experience requirements

3.              Solicit candidate resumes

4.              Compare resumes with the requirements and seek to verify the candidate's claims

5.              Score the resumes

6.              Select the highest scoring candidates

Also, refer to these additional articles:

How to Select a Senator, Part 2 of 2

How to Select a Senator, Part 1 of 2

First, begin by understanding the Job Model for a US Member of the House of Representatives.

“As per the Constitution, the U.S. House of Representatives makes and passes federal laws. The House is one of Congress’s two chambers (the other is the U.S. Senate), and part of the federal government’s legislative branch. The number of voting representatives in the House is fixed by law at no more than 435, proportionally representing the population of the 50 states.”
 http://www.house.gov/content/learn/

Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution sets three qualifications for representatives. Each representative must: (1) be at least twenty-five years old; (2) have been a citizen of the United States for the past seven years; and (3) be (at the time of the election) an inhabitant of the state they represent.

As with other Constitutionally-defined requirements, they are out of date and wholly inadequate. Yet, leave it to Congress to correct that. They won’t.

We the People and our political parties can force changes and improvements.

Understand that at the time of the birth of the nation, citizens didn’t live that long and rose to maturity in life early. The economy was largely agrarian and the population was sparse. The nation has grown and is vastly more complex as are the needs of the people.

Job Model of a US Member of the House of Representatives

“Whether working on Capitol Hill or in his/her congressional district, a representative’s schedule is extremely busy. Often beginning early in the morning with topical briefings, most representatives move quickly among caucus and committee meetings and hearings. They vote on bills, speak with constituents and other groups, and review constituent mail, press clips and various reports. Work can continue into the evening with receptions or fundraising events.”
 http://www.house.gov/content/learn/ 

Task 1: Represent the needs and issues of constituents of their respective Districts.

Subtask 1.1: Meet with and listen to constituents

Subtask 1.2: Communicate with constituents

Subtask 1.3: Share their sources and contributors to legislative content

Task 2: Create laws, amend, and retire them.

2.1: Create implementation schedules.

2.2. Define systems for implementing laws and regulations.

2.3. Enact budgets and funding mechanisms.

Task 3: Caucus and participate in Committee meetings.

Subtask 3.1: Collaborate with members

Subtask 3.2: Acquire knowledge about legislative topics through participation

Subtask 3.3: Negotiate and compromise

Task 4: Research and review sources of legislative input.

Subtask 4.1: Engage external sources of expertise

Subtask 4.2: Consult with Department heads

Subtask 4.3: Engaged representatives of the Executive Branch

Task 5: Vote for or against political measures, motions, and bills

Task 6: Impeach as necessary.

“The House is charged with the passage of federal legislation, known as bills, which, after concurrence by the Senate, are sent to the President for consideration. In addition to this basic power, the House has certain exclusive powers which include the power to initiate all bills related to revenue, the impeachment of federal officers, who are sent to trial in the Senate, and in cases wherein no candidate receives a majority of electors for President, the duty falls upon the House to elect one of the top three recipients of electors for that office, with one vote given to each state for that purpose.

The presiding officer is the Speaker of the House, who is elected by the members thereof and is therefore traditionally the leader of the controlling party. He or she and other floor leaders are chosen by the Democratic Caucus or the Republican Conferences, depending on whichever party has more voting members. The House meets in the south wing of the United States Capitol. 

The party with a majority of seats in the House is known as the majority party. The next-largest party is the minority party. The Speaker, committee chairs, and some other officials are generally from the majority party; they have counterparts (for instance, the "ranking members" of committees) in the minority party. committees) in the minority party. 

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Former Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and Former Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller confer with President Barack Obama at the Oval Office in 2009. 

The Constitution provides that the House may choose its own Speaker.^[33] Although not explicitly required by the Constitution, every Speaker has been a member of the House. The Constitution does not specify the duties and powers of the Speaker, which are instead regulated by the rules and customs of the House. Speakers have a role both as a leader of the House and the leader of their party (which need not be the majority party; theoretically, a member of the minority party could be elected as Speaker with the support of a fraction of members of the majority party). Under the Presidential 

Succession Act (1947), the Speaker is second in the line of presidential succession behind the Vice President. 

The Speaker is the presiding officer of the House but does not preside over every debate. Instead, s/he delegates the responsibility of presiding to other members in most cases. The presiding officer sits in a chair in the front of the House chamber. The powers of the presiding officer are extensive; one important power is that of controlling the order in which members of the House speak. No member may make a speech or a motion unless s/he has first been recognized by the presiding officer. Moreover, the presiding officer may rule on a "point of order" (a member's objection that a rule has been breached); the decision is subject to appeal to the whole House. 

Speakers serve as chairs of their party's steering committee, which is responsible for assigning party members to other House committees. The Speaker chooses the chairmen of standing committees, appoints most of the members of the Rules Committee, appoints all members of conference committees, and determines which committees consider bills.Each party elects a floor leader, who is known as the Majority Leader or Minority Leader. The Minority Leader heads his party in the House, and the Majority Leader is his party's second-highest-ranking official, behind the Speaker. Party leaders decide what legislation members of their party should either support or oppose. 

Each party also elects a whip, who works to ensure that the party's members vote as the party leadership desires. The current majority whip in the House of Representatives is Steve Scalise, who is a member of the Republican Party. The current minority whip is Steny Hoyer, who is a member of the Democratic Party. The whip is supported by chief deputy whips. 

In the 112th Congress, the Democratic Party has an additional Assistant Minority Leader, Jim Clyburn, who ranks between the whips and the caucus/conference chair.After the whips, the next ranking official in the House party's leadership is the Party Conference Chair (styled as the Republican Conference Chair and Democratic Caucus Chair). 

After the Conference Chair, there are differences between each party's subsequent leadership ranks. After the Democratic Caucus Chair is the Campaign Committee Chair (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee), then the co-chairs of the Steering Committee. For the Republicans it is the Chair of the House Republican Policy Committee, followed by the Campaign Committee Chairman (styled as the National Republican Congressional Committee). 

The chairs of House committees, particularly influential standing committees such as Appropriations, Ways and Means, and Rules, are powerful but not officially part of House leadership hierarchy. Until the post of Majority Leader was created, the Chair of Ways and Means was the de facto majority leader. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives

Be sure to read Part 2: http://howtoselectanamericanpresident.blogspot.com/2017/02/how-to-select-member-of-us-house-of.html 

U.S. House of Representatives 

How to Select a Senator, Part 2 of 2

In the first part, I described the Job Model for a U.S. Senator. From that, I will derive the skill, knowledge, and experience requirements.

See the link: http://howtoselectanamericanpresident.blogspot.com/2017/02/how-to-select-senator-part-1-of-2.html

By way of comparison, you may refer to How to Select an American President by James A. George with James A. Rodger © 2017 Archway Publishing. What is the difference between the job requirements for a President and those of a U.S. Senator?

There is one big difference, a U.S. Senator is not a chief executive or commander-in-chief. A Senator who also possesses CEO experience might be a very good candidate for President.

The job of Senator is very much focused on the law. A Senator writes, amends, retires and changes laws in concert with other Senators. The job requires collaboration and consensus. It requires exceptional communications skills.

Something strange about the American Political System is that specific domain expertise comes to the Senate randomly. For instance, the nation may need a Senator with legal and scientific or medical expertise. It is accidental that states will produce incumbents with the knowledge that is needed.

A high priority for the nation is to engineer a sustainable economy around a renewable energy paradigm. What expertise should a Senator possess to be able to help produce essential legislation that serves that purpose?

First and foremost, a Senator should be trained in the law. After that, they should reflect the knowledge and expertise that maps to what will be necessary for the nation to optimize return on national resources for the next 6-12 years or more.

As with the President, citizens should want their Senators to be of high intelligence. They should have demonstrated integrity and ethical behavior.

They should have credentials from the best universities that can include the best in their state of representation and beyond.

Senators must have demonstrated allegiance to their country and that includes having served in the U.S. Military or other public service. They should have demonstrated loyalty to their political party through hands-on engagement.

Look at the candidates’ resumes.

Here is an outline to guide your consideration and to encourage candidates to tell their story following this guide.

·      Candidate name:

The kind of candidate I am: (Their words)

·      Met the statutory requirements: Age requirement: 30 years, Citizen of the US: 9 years minimum, Be an inhabitant of the State for which chosen to represent

·      Birth date:

·      Place of birth:

·      Residences during the past 9 years:

·      Intelligence Quotient (IQ): (Provided by candidates from an accredited source)

·      Education:

o   High School (School Name/Location)

o   College Graduate (College/University Name/Location

·      Degree Type:

o   Major areas of study:

o   GPA:

o   Honors/Distinctions:

o   Post Graduate (University Name/Location) (for each)

·      Professional Certifications:

o   Bar

o   CPA

o   Engineer

o   Medical Doctor

o   Other

·      Occupation/Vocation/Profession:

·      Health Status: Healthy, sick, recovering, recovered: Verified with doctor’s report

Voter’s assessment of candidate age: (Will the candidate be able to complete two terms? Does the candidate have sufficient knowledge and experience as evidenced by the time spent to acquire it?)

·      Young 30-50, Middle 51-60, Older 61 >

·      Affected Class:

·      Candidate description:

·      Verified by Census filing

·      Voter assessment of character and behavior

From reviewing past president’s we identified certain terms that are helpful in differentiating and describing candidates listed in alphabetical order.

o   Adaptive

o   Allegiant to the Constitution and nation

o   Brave in the face of adversity

o   Leader, follower

o   Listener, talker

o   Passionate, impassionate, easy-going

o   Process-oriented (how), task-oriented (what), results-oriented (outcomes)

o   Thundering or reassuring

o   Visionary, administrator, integrator, independent, loner

This category is refined further, though this is a thought starter.

Voters’ assessment of leadership style

Similarly, we captured some words used to describe leadership styles.

o   Collaborator

o   Creative and inventive

o   Delegator

o   Detailer

o   Do it yourself

o   Hands on

o   You’re fired

·      Education and Training (Professional Development)

Life-long learning – It is beneficial to observe how presidential candidates have stayed abreast of contemporary knowledge and skill requirements.

·      Knowledge:

o   American government system

o   Concept of operations

o   Concept of the role of the president in optimizing the nation’s government performance

o   Constitution

o   Economics

o   Entitlements  

o   Foreign policy

o   Information and communications technology

o   International trade

o   Knowing each governmental department and primary expectations for them

o   Knowing how to create laws

o   Knowing how to work with Congress

o   Law

o   Operational architecture

o   Primary presidential tasks and associated outcomes

·      Skill:

o   Administrative

o   Budgeting

o   Strategic planning

o   Writing

o   Speaking

o   Negotiating

o   Collaborating

o   Debating

o   Planning

o   Problem-solving

o   Decision-making

o   Sense-making

o   Predicting

o   Modeling

o   Recruiting and staffing

o   Organization development

o   Program evaluation and management

·      Life History (Childhood to adulthood status)

The kind of person that can relate to me; the kind of person to whom I can relate; my kind of person:

o   The person next door

o   The person who lives on the best street

o   Successful

Ability to manage the economy: The job of president is to create an environment in which private enterprise can flourish as that is what increases revenues.

·      Optimization = Increasing GDP and higher quality service for the least cost and labor intensity

·      Presidential Platform and Agenda: Priorities, Issues, Causes, Programs, Solutions, Vision

·      Banking

·      Fossil fuels

·      Energy independence

·      Entrepreneurs

·      Food supply

·      Green renewable

·      Housing

·      Infrastructure

·      Job creation

·      Manufacturing

·      Nation-building

·      Nuclear

·      Peace-building

·      Preemptive war

·      Promote democracy

·      Sustainable economy

·      Transportation

·      War is last resort

Relationship with Powerful Forces: Military Industrial Complex, Wall Street, PACs and Lobbyists

·      Political Party

Relationships with party leadership

·      Values:

o   Attitude about big business

o   Attitude about campaign contributions

o   Attitude about educators

o   Attitude about free speech

o   Attitude about government regulation

o   Attitude about gun control

o   Attitude about health care

o   Attitude about immigrants

o   Attitude about organized labor

o   Attitude about public service

o   Attitude about rural America

o   Attitude about small business

o   Attitude toward women

o   Attitude toward immigrants

o   Attitude toward minorities 

o   Patriotic

o   States’ rights versus Central government

o   Work ethic

·      Military Experience:

o   Rank

o   Combat Veteran

o   Unit

o   Command

o   Wars and battles

o   Citations and awards

·      Public Office Experience:

o   Vice President

o   Judge

o   Department Secretary

o   Governor

o   Senator

o   House Representatives

o   Mayor

o   State Legislature

o   Other Public Service

·      Private Sector Experience:

o   CEO/President

o   Large Corporation

o   Medium Corporation

o   Small Business

o   Vice President

o   Director

o   Professional Manager

o   Entrepreneur

o   Inventor

o   Patents

·      Memberships: Organizations and Leadership positions

·      Voters’ assessment of candidates on religion: Faith matters; Faith is irrelevant; Faith is private

Arlen Spector, best US Senator example