Lobbying Tips for Women

1. Know What You Want

   Before you begin, ask yourself what your goals are, both personal and civic/professional/organizational. Do you want to:

   • Correct an injustice
   • Bring more public resources to bear on a problem
   • Defeat what you feel is a dangerous piece of legislation
   • Change the way a state agency does business
   • Build more influence for yourself, your business, your organization, other women, or people who suffer similar problems ot share the same concerns you do
2. Know Where You Fit in the Big Picture

   As an activist working to support or oppose specific legislation, you will need to interact with and understand the roles of a host of players, including:

   • Legislators - House and Senate leadership, Majortiy and Minority party staff, Committee chairs, the prime sponsor and other sponsors of the bill, and your own senator and representative(s)
   • Legislators' constituents
   • Governor, state agency heads and other officals
   • Advocacy groups, coalitions, business/trade/professional associations, lobbyists
   • The public
   • The media
   • The experts (e.g., attorneys, medical professionals, law enforcement personnel, economists, scholars of all kinds, ministers, educators, social workers, psychologists, statisticians, etc.)
   • History (e.g., recent legislative history, state political history, demographic and economic trends)
3. Empower Yourself

   It is your privilege and your right as a citizen to communicate your views to your legislators. You don't have to have a special dispension to call legislators at home or write them a letter.

4. Plan Your Strategy
   • Keep a united front. If youare supporting a bill, consider the bill's prime sponsor (the state senator or rep. whose name appears first in the list of sponsors) to be the leader of your team, and find out how s/he wishes the bill to be promoted. If an advocacy organization is taking the lead in building community support or opposition, be sure to coordinate your efforts with them.
   • Decide how much work you can do, depending on how important the issue is to you, how much time you have, and who else is working on the bill.
   • Your lobbying activities might include all or some of the following:
     1. Researching the bill and assisting in its drafting before the legislative session
     2. Monitoring the progress of the bill through the legislature via the Calendar and Journal (available at the House Sargeant At Arms office, State House, 3rd floor, and on the Status of Bills computer system online at the State Library or by subsription through your own computer and modem)
     3. Preparing and distributing fact sheets to advocates and legislators
     4. Publicity, including newsletters, press releases, press conferences, talk shows, letters to the editor, Op-Ed articles, columns, and public events such as workshops, rallie , demonstrations
     5. Observing committe and subcommittee hearings, work sessions, and executive sessions
     6. Stopping by a hearing to feill out a card that indicates your support and opposition
     7. Submitting oral and/or written testimony at a hearing
     8. Recruiting others to testify or write/call legislators
     9. Alerting others to act via a mailing, telephone tree, fax network, or computer network
     10. Contacting legislators in person at the State House of calling, writing, etc.
     11. Asking key legislators to help persuade their colleagues
     12. Polling legislators to estimate the votes as closely as possible beforehand
     13. Thanking supporters for their consideration
5. Seek and Cultivate Allies

   You may begin yout journey as a lone voice crying in the wilderness, but when it comes to a lobbying campaign you will need friends. Expect to make alliances even with people who may not ordinarily share your views or beliefs. Just know what you what (see tip #1) and keep your vision intact.

6. Build Goodwill

   Lobbying is a communications skill. Charm, tact, patience, reasonalbleness, and listening skills are every bit as important as scoring points in a debate. As a woman lobbyist, you can build goodwill by taking advantage of the special attributes that people often ascribe to women, and combating some stereotypical negatives. Jewel Lansing's 101 Campaign Tips for Women Candidates (R&E Publishers, Saratoga CA, 1991) includes some tips useful for activists and lobbyists. Here's a sample, which I have adapted for lobbyiss: "People perceive women as possessing special attributes

7. Do Your Homework
8. Don't Lie
9. Learn Hallway Politics
10. Prepare to Play Hardball. . .or at least a good strong tennis match
11. Know When to Compromise
12. Say Thank You
13. Prepare for the Next Session Now
14. It Ain't EVER Really Over. . .there's always next year!