U.S. Congress & Public Policy Writer/Expert

[an...@progressivepunch.org]

U.S. Congress & Public Policy Writer/Expert

VoterPunch needs an expert on U.S. Congress & Public Policy to write
Congressional vote descriptions for our searchable database of
Congressional votes. We’re looking for people who are very lucid and
succinct expository writers (think magazine writing not theses.) You
must have a very comprehensive knowledge of the inner workings of the
US Congress – e.g. parliamentary maneuverings such as motions to
recommit, previous question motions etc. as well as a broad command of
the range of policy issues confronting Congress and the politics that
surround Congressional votes. WE’RE LOOKING FOR SOMEONE WHO HAS THIS
INFORMATION DOWN COLD, not a first year Ph.D. student who’s just
learning it. The individuals who have written the descriptions that
are currently posted on our sites are journalists who specialize in
writing about Congress, PhD candidates in political science at the
University of California, Berkeley, and a former Congressional Chief
of Staff. You don’t have to be an academic, especially since we aim at
a popular audience. Actual Capital Hill experience highly desirable,
not absolutely mandatory. BUT YOU MUST BE AN EXPERT ON CONGRESS, NOT
JUST SOMEONE WHO HAS AN INTEREST IN PUBLIC POLICY. Pay works out to
approximately $40/hour. We’re expecting a 3 day turnaround. The
number of vote descriptions that need to be written up total just
about 80% of all the votes cast in each house of Congress. (For a
discussion of which votes you would be writing descriptions for and
which ones you wouldn’t, see the “What Is a Progressive Vote?” link on
the bottom left hand corner of the ProgressivePunch.Org website.)

Send CV, cover letter & (preferably non-academic) expository (i.e. non-
polemical) political writing sample to Jo...@VoterPunch.org. If
academic writing is the only thing available, send that.

WE WILL ONLY CONSIDER PEOPLE FOR THIS POSITION WHO:
1. SUBMIT A WRITING SAMPLE WITH AN INITIAL APPLICATION AND COVER
LETTER
IN AN EMAIL &
2. (DO THIS WITH THE SUBJECT LINE “Vote Description Writer – Name).”

Your samples should describe/review a specific piece of legislation
and/or a floor vote in Congress by:
a) explaining the actual public policy implications of the
legislation,
b) explaining the politics of the matter (e.g. How Republicans are
trying to screw Democrats and vice versa),
c) demystifying/explaining the parliamentary maneuvering e.g.
explaining what “move the previous question” means, and
d) providing the rationales behind both the conservative and the
progressive perspective.

To see what the job entails, the best thing to do is to visit
www.ProgressivePunch.Org, a licensee of ours, and drill down until you
actually see paragraph long individual vote descriptions. To get to
this point, start by clicking on a member of Congress, then click on
an issue category, then click on an issue subcategory (to be sure that
it includes vote descriptions, select one that shows a percentage
ranking in the Progressive Score column), and then click on one of the
1-sentence vote description summaries to see the full length narrative
vote descriptions.