THE COMPLEX JOB OF A PUBLIC POLICY ADVOCATE

Meeting with and communicating with government officials usually represent only a small portion of a public policy advocate’s time. A far greater portion of time is generally devoted to other aspects of preparation: researching and analyzing legislation or regulatory proposals, monitoring and reporting on developments, attending parliamentary or regulatory hearings, working with coalitions interested in the same issues, developing strategy and evaluating tactics, and communicating with clients about the implications of various policies, proposals, and developments.

Second, as a public policy advocate , who you represent and what you have to say on their behalf are more important than who you are. The keys to successful public policy advocacy is providing a persuasive analysis of the issue on the merits, followed by explanations of the issue in terms of constituent interests and education on issue and the implications of alternative vote outcomes. Even professional public policy advocates often underestimate the importance of persuasive argumentation on the merits, overemphasizing the importance of constituent interests.

Third, part and parcel of persuasion on the merits is the advocate’s reputation and credibility. Public policy advocacy is by necessity honourable, because a public policy advocate is only as good as his reputation. A reputation is built by being forthcoming and honest. If you don’t provide the full story or all the information, not only will you not be trusted, but your reputation will reflect this. And then doing your job will become impossible.

The coin of public policy advocacy , as of politics, is trust . . . truth telling and square dealing are of paramount importance in this profession. If one lies, misrepresents, or even lets a misapprehension stand uncorrected—or if someone cuts his/her corners too slyly he/she is . . . dead and gone, never to be resurrected or even mourned.

To be a credible public policy advocate at EU level (in Brussels) or in Member States you have to provide credible, valuable information. The way you get your reputation is by consistently providing reliable information. The most effective public policy advocates are those who provide credible information in a concise fashion and who also present and address the opposing view.

Fourth, while a persuasive message and a credible messenger are necessary for successful advocacy, they are hardly sufficient. The modern advocacy environment is extremely competitive and strategies for successful influence are necessarily complex and multi-dimensional, requiring the messenger to also be a procedural expert grounded in the substance of the issue at hand. Indeed, to be successful public policy advocates need to be substantive policy experts and communications strategists able to run advocacy efforts like a sophisticated political campaign . Public policy advocacy is an enterprise that demands a multitude of strategic and intellectual skills, and adeptness at tactics and communications, all conducted at warp speed.

For the most part, public policy advocacy is necessary, difficult work performed by law-abiding, highly skilled professionals who help government arrive at better-informed, and hopefully better, decisions. Good public policy advocates can contribute a lot to good government. The practice is hardly perfect. There is plenty of room for improvement, especially concerning the public perception on how public policy advocacy works and affording the public a better understanding of the public policy process.

Ultimately, further improvement in the way public policy advocacy is conducted and the reputation of the profession is in the hands of public policy advocates  themselves. Public policy advocates should in good faith make every effort to comply with the letter and spirit of applicable laws (where they exist), and to advise their clients to do so. They need to learn the public policy advocacy ethics rules and take them as seriously as they do their advocacy.

There is need to help bridge the gulf between the inaccurate perception and the reality of what public policy advocacy entails: to debunk the myth and magic of public policy advocacy. Effective public policy advocacy is an important part of a pluralistic democracy and can lead to improved and politically acceptable government decisions. Today’s public policy advocacy is a highly competitive, complex, and professionalized enterprise. Credibility, accuracy, flexibility, and brevity are important tools, more so than campaign contributions and personal relations. Public policy advocacy not only requires skill and hard work, but is increasingly multidimensional, given the increased complexity of the world in which we live, the increased diffusion of power and complexity of government, the speed and volume of public policy, and the proliferation of competing, well-represented adversaries.