Other Group

Herd on the Hill

Website:

herdonthehill.org/%20(defunct)

Location:

Washington, DC

Type:

Congressional Outreach

Founded:

2016

Fiscal Sponsor:

ActBlue

President:

Debbie Matties

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Herd on the Hill is a left-of-center Washington, D.C.-based advocacy organization that organizes volunteers to hand-deliver printed letters from constituent activists to congressional offices. It is fiscally sponsored by ActBlue Charities, a nonprofit associated with the left-of-center fundraising platform ActBlue. 1

Background

According to an August 2018 report in the New York Times, Herd on the Hill initially developed as a project of Debbie Matties, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney. After the inauguration of president Donald Trump, Matties (a resident of Washington, D.C., which does not have a voting representative in Congress) said she “felt left out of the democratic process,” and joined an advocacy group of “other disillusioned liberals” living in D.C. with the aim of taking advantage of their physical proximity to Congressional offices. The group then proceeded to contact “friends and family” who did not live in D.C. and offered to print out their messages to congressional offices, which they would then hand-deliver. 2

This group of volunteers, under the direction of Matties who became the group’s inaugural president, coalesced into Herd on the Hill, which as of 2018 consisted of at least 300 volunteers, who variously committed to using their lunch breaks and other free time to deliver the letters the organization received. 3

Issues

According to the New York Times, many of the letters sent during Herd on the Hill’s first years of activity concerned “migrant family separations,” the nomination of now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the confirmation of former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Trump’s proposed ban on travel from certain Muslim countries, and legislative efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act (popularly known as Obamacare). 4

Status

As of February 6, 2023, the official website of Herd on the Hill, HerdontheHill.org, was not accessible and the Organization’s last Tweet was posted on September 5, 2020. 5 6 Notably, however, a page for the organization remains active on The Action Network, a project that acts as an organizing platform for left-of-center organizations and initiatives to organize and raise money. 7

Leadership

Debbie Matties is the president of Herd on the Hill and an attorney at Outside GC, a technology-sector law firm. 8

Prior to joining Outside GC, Matties was the general counsel for the Washington D.C. Office of the Chief Technology Officer, where she worked alongside the general counsel for Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) on vaccine mandates and vaccine incentives. She has also worked as vice president for privacy at CTIA, a trade association representing the wireless telecommunications industry; an appointee to the Federal Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee, where she advised the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on policy, operational, administrative, and technological issues; a litigator and then senior and legal policy advisor for the Federal Trade Commission; clerk for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia; clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit; and an associate with the law firm Covington & Burling. 9

Additionally, Matties has worked with VoteWithMe, an app project of the New Data Project promoting get-out-the-vote operations catering to left-leaning organizations; served as an elected Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner in Washington, D.C.; and provided pro bono legal services through the Neighborhood Legal Services Program. 10

References

  1. Archived: “Donate.” Herd on the Hill. October 25, 2021. Accessed February 6, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20211025082454/https://herdonthehill.org/donate/
  2. Yoon-Hendricks, Alexandra. “Giving Others a Voice in Congress, One Hand-Delivered Letter at a Time.” New York Times. August 17, 2018. Accessed February 5, 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/17/us/politics/herd-on-the-hill-constituent-outreach.html
  3. Yoon-Hendricks, Alexandra. “Giving Others a Voice in Congress, One Hand-Delivered Letter at a Time.” New York Times. August 17, 2018. Accessed February 5, 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/17/us/politics/herd-on-the-hill-constituent-outreach.html
  4. Yoon-Hendricks, Alexandra. “Giving Others a Voice in Congress, One Hand-Delivered Letter at a Time.” New York Times. August 17, 2018. Accessed February 5, 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/17/us/politics/herd-on-the-hill-constituent-outreach.html
  5. “But what will you do…” Twitter: @HerdonHill. September 25, 2020. Accessed February 6, 2023. https://mobile.twitter.com/HerdOnHill/status/1309662977843277824
  6. “Sorry!” Herdonthehill.org. Accessed February 6, 2023. http://herdonthehill.org/cgi-sys/defaultwebpage.cgi
  7. “Herd on the Hill.” Action Network. Accessed February 6, 2023. https://actionnetwork.org/groups/herdonthehill
  8. “Deb Matties.” Outside GC. Accessed February 6, 2023. https://www.outsidegc.com/deb-matties-outsourced-business-attorney
  9. “Deb Matties.” Outside GC. Accessed February 6, 2023. https://www.outsidegc.com/deb-matties-outsourced-business-attorney
  10. “Deb Matties.” Outside GC. Accessed February 6, 2023. https://www.outsidegc.com/deb-matties-outsourced-business-attorney
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Herd on the Hill


Washington, DC