Apart from addressing any specific bill or issue,
the effective legislative activist has five primary goals:
You are not looking for
someone to play golf or
go to a ballgame with.
The friend-making here
is to create an exchange
where you and your
input are welcome.
This means you do not
challenge them, you
do not put them on the
spot demanding a
position answer and
you do not make them
seem wrong.
The goal, in the
presence of opposition,
is to move the discussion
from a binary situation
to a multiple option
situation. That is, there
is another way; they
don’t have to be
wrong to be with you.
Friends don’t demand
of friends. Be gentle,
be consistent, be
friendly!
Never lead with printed
materials – the minute
they are introduced, they
then get the majority
of the attention of the
person you are speaking
to. They stop hearing
you and continue reading
what you put in front
of them.
Printed materials are left
behind as conversation
closers – things for
them to look at after
you have left.
You can’t drink from a
fire hose – don’t blow
people away with rapid
fire, high power streams
of data. Let them know
good, solid, reliable
data exists and go
from there.
Be careful not to speak
in absolutes. You do not
have THE answer, you
MAY have AN answer.
The most useful thing
you can offer a member
or their staff is a new
way, or a new reason
to look at things.
Trim your input down
to succinct ideas and
strategies as to how
your idea will improve
the situation.
An absolute homerun in
this effort is for you to
emerge from the con-
versation as a trusted
resource who is willing
to help them do a better
job on your issues as
well as their own.
Never, never, never lie.
Don’t over-speak your
data. If you don’t have
an answer, say so –
Create language
pictures that make your don’t wing it or ad-lib
an answer that can later
idea logical, easy to
understand and relatable. be verified and make
you look like an idiot.
Present your ideas in
an alternative manner.
Avoid causing them to
need to be wrong in
their current view to be
able to entertain your
view.
Follow through – if you
promise to track down
a data point, provide an
article or an analysis,
DO IT. Give them a date
by which you will get
back to them and make
your deadline.
Be reasonable, rational
and logical. The more
extreme your view, the
harder it will be to be
heard.
One of the most
important things you
can do is to feed areas
of interest, areas of
concern, pet projects,
etc. so that they can
be included in future
conversations and can
be built upon.
Be very honest in
your feedback. If the
response was bland
and pure vanilla, don’t
try and be a hero by
reporting more than
there was. If they didn’t
give you the time of
day, your colleagues
need to know that as
much as they need to
know the elected
official’s mom is under
chiropractic care and she
loves her chiropractor.
Feedback from the
member is great, but
so is feedback from the
staff. Every possible
entry point to be
amplified needs to
be conveyed.
Legislative Action 101 | TCLonline.today | 11