thomascwaters.com

Last week, I wrote about how to contact your elected official, and the role of email , the phone and personal letters.  This week, I want to offer you a step by step guide to lobbying your elected official.  This may seem like a big step up from a phone call or a letter, but can be a very persuasive way to get your voice heard and influence your elected officials. This list is mostly geared towards working with your Pennsylvania State Senator or Representative, but the basics are the same for working with local or national officials as well.

 There are a few reasons why people often don’t feel comfortable or capable of doing this kind of work.  I’ll say more about that tomorrow.

 How to lobby your elected official

1)   Find out who is your elected official?

It is possibly to lobby/ do advocacy work with elected officials at every level of government. Here is a web page that will help you locate your national and PA senator and your representative:  http://eqfed.org/center4civilrights/leg-lookup/search.tcl?domain=center4civilrights&preview_p=1

 

2) Call and make an appointment.

State officials are generally in Harrisburg from Monday to Wednesday and then back in their districts on Thursday and Friday.  You can schedule to meet with them either place.  Call their office and say that you would like to schedule time to meet with [your legislator's name] and that the purpose of the meeting is to discuss [name of upcoming legislation or issue].

 The typical response to an appointment request, may be that you are welcome to drop off information. This is understandable because your elected officials are truly very busy. However, it is your right, as a citizen, to express your views to government people so clarify- you understand your elected official is busy, but you would prefer a meeting if possible.  Ask to meet with their aide if the official is unavailable.  Meeting with an aide may be very productive and they work hard to convey key aspects of issues. The aides have typically listened very closely, asked key questions and can be counted on to convey your concerns.  So, if you can’t get a meeting with your elected official, getting one with the aide is very good. Sometimes you just need to be persistent, and remember that your voice is extremely important and valuable!

 3) Prepare for the meeting.

This is extremely important. Your elected official or his/her aide is a very busy person, and so you want to use whatever time you get as well as possible.

a) Know what you want to say. Go over the talking points for the issue. Think about your personal story- what can you share about how this issue or legislation will affect you, your loved ones and your community. Practice, practice and practice! It isn’t essential to be able to recite word for word what you want to say, but it is important that you can speak clearly and comfortably using a brief amount of time wisely.

 b) Research your elected official! Look for any personal connection that can be an icebreaker for your conversation. Maybe your children attend the same school, or you notice a picture on the wall you like.  Don’t just jump right into the conversation-build a relationship first!

 c) Prepare an information packet to leave with the official. Use this packet to provide additional information about the issue or legislation so that the official has some reference material to return to at a later point. You do not need to create this from scratch- use prepared items wherever possible. Include in the research packet, a contact list, including your information, as well as local, regional, state and national organizations that can provide more information to your elected official.

 d) Plan on who will be a part of your scheduled meeting. Take along a friend, family member, or anyone who can help add to the value of the meeting with your official.

 

4) Arrive on the early side, and be prepared to be flexible for the meeting. Your legislator’s time is very limited, and s/he has staff people who play a critical role in keeping the official on top of all the current issues and legislation.

a) Your meeting will most likely include at least 1 aide. This is a good thing! The more you can develop a working relationship with the staff of the official, the better. If due to a problem, the official is not able to meet with you, meet with the staff person alone. That may be the best use of everyone’s time.

b) Remember that everyone in the room wants the same thing- what is best for “the State” and the constituents of the state. Your role is to assist the elected official and his/her staff to understand how the issue or legislation will accomplish that shared goal.

c) Be flexible, personable, and conversational, but at the same time, remember this is a business meeting.  You are there to learn more about your elected official, and help him or her learn more about your issue or legislation.

d) Be prepared to answer questions and help the elected official or staff person learn more about the issue or topic. Your meeting helps place this issue or topic into the context of real people and real life.  If you are asked something you don’t know the answer to, tell them, you do not know but that you will find out and get back to them with the answer.

e) Don’t be afraid to ask directly “would you be willing to vote for this legislation or perhaps even be a cosponsor?”   If they say no or seem reluctant, respectfully ask them very clearly to help you to understand their current views on the issue impacting their reluctance.  That gives you a step for further future dialogue, a chance to clear up any misconceptions. If you are working with a state or national organization, this is valuable information to pass along so that the organization knows where legislators are standing on the issue. 

 f) Ask for business cards of all the people who participated in the meeting, to assist you in being able to contact them again.

 5) Follow up after the meeting. Within a day or so, drop a thank you note to everyone you met with in the meeting. In the note, thank them, highlight your main points from the meeting, and use the correspondence to help build a good working relationship with the person. If there were any questions asked and you offered to follow up with more information, you can put that in with your thank you note. Let the official know that you would like to schedule a follow up meeting in the future. Close you note offering to help the elected official if they need any further information from you about this issue or legislation.

 6) Continue to develop an ongoing relationship with your elected official.  This person is there to represent you and your neighbors as well as the residents of the state. You take steps to improve life for everyone by giving voice to your ideas and opinions while at the same time, respecting diverse viewpoints. Change sometimes comes quickly, sometimes slowly. Even if it looks like you will never be on the same side of an issue. Hang in there, be respectful, and build a working relationship so that the door is open for a free exchange of information and ideas.

 Links:

http://equalitypa.org

http://www.heartsandminds.org/articles/lobby.htm

www.ecdet.org/Lobbyingprintable.doc

http://www.amnestyusa.org/get-activist-toolkit/plan-events-and-activities/how-to-lobby-your-member-of-congress/page.do?id=1101320

http://www.lavidalocavore.org/showDiary.do?diaryId=549

http://www.lwvwa.org/pubs/how_lobby_your_leg.html

http://www.skepticfiles.org/aclu/how_to.htm

www.nteu274.org/word%20documents/how%20to%20lobby%20Congress.Doc

http://www.yawp.com/ican/action/lobbyhowto.shtml