FUNDAMENTALS OF LEGISLATIVE LOBBYING

Public Policy Advocacy is both an art and science. As an art it has a general set of fundamentals  which when applied increase public policy advocacy quality.

Lawmakers have no legal requirement to make factual rational decisions. Few lawmakers read the legislative proposals on which they will vote. Most lawmakers do not have the time, technical background, staff support or resources to understand the factual content of legislative proposals. While lawmakers may well grasp the political facts surrounding an issue, technical facts are often ignored in the legislative process. As a result Public Policy Advocates cannot rely on good science to prevail in parliament. A good set of political facts is necessary.

The best time to engage in public policy advocacy is when you don't need anything. In contrast to demands and hyperbole, genuine relationship building sets the foundation on which political influence can prosper.

At the end of the day, effective Public Policy Advocacy in legislature is getting votes !

1. Your threshold question of each lawmaker is : "Why would that lawmaker give me his or her vote"? Until you can answer that question, you are not likely to get the vote.
2. Consider lawmakers as your customers. Customers buy to meet their needs, not yours.
3. Winning a lawmaker's vote is 10% access and 90% heat. Access is easy. Political heat is a few active, trustworthy constituents, both those in-and-out-of his/her electoral district.
4. A lawmaker's being nice to a Public Policy Advocate isn't a vote.
5. Public policy advocacy is a danse of seduction. Find and use each lawmaker's susceptibilities.
6. Facts don't vote. A lawmaker votes his or her own peculiar political calculus. Seldom are material facts alone sufficient to get votes; political facts may be.
7. 70% of winning a lawmaker's vote occurs before talking to the lawmaker.
8. 80% to 90% of lawmakers are irrelevant to your winning or losing your legislative proposal. The relevant ones are on key committees and the few, if any, who actually care.
9. Lobby first to get those few relevant lawmakers to "partner" with you. You must show each why partnering with you is good for him or her, politically.
10. Most lawmakers' votes are won or lost over breakfast, lunch or dinner, not in committee meetings.
11. Most committee meetings are theater since the votes were committed at breakfast, lunch or dinner.
12. There is no unimportant staff. You may not need a staff person's support, but you can't afford his or her opposition. Build warm relationships with staff.
13. The lower you shoot, the higher you hit. Lobby staff, then members of the committee of reference, its chair, its rapporteur, then gatekeeper committees.
14. The more work you do for lawmakers and especially staff the more likely your ideas will become law. Materials that don't help them to do their jobs end up in trash.
15. Legislatures operate on 3 types of rules: 1) written; 2) unwritten; 3) unwritten and unspoken. Violate any of the 3 and your influence with lawmakers will suffer.
16. Unwritten rule 1- you have to talk to groups you don't like, and who don't like you.
17. Coalitions are indispensable. They exist for advantage- not for love, loyalty, or debt. Don't pre-qualify or disqualify a potential partner. Politics makes strange bedfellows.
18. A Public Policy Advocate should be a good advocate for the legislature overall.
19. The best time to engage in public policy advocacy is when you don't need anything.