How Lobby Meetings Work
After I got over the shock of the 2016 election and finally stopped crying, I put on my big girl pants and decided to do something. I remember seeing an email from Vogue that basically said, “Are you pissed off? Us too. Here’s what you can do.” It gave a list of all the organizations you could join if you were concerned about women’s rights, gun control, immigration, climate change, and any other important issue the new administration was seemingly against. Under climate change, I discovered Citizens’ Climate Lobby and signed up that night. I figured if the huge corporations polluting our planet could pay lobbyist to fight on their behalf, then I could be one lobbyist fighting for our ocean. Soon after I attended their regional conference and started meeting with my representatives. Most of my friends have been following my volunteer lobbying journey since then but it wasn’t until my best friend asked about the details of these meetings that I thought the public generally doesn’t know what happens in a lobbying meeting. So, here are the basics.
First, the definition of lobby is to influence a politician or public official on an issue. You either want your representative to be a supporter of your cause or vote in favor of your cause. For meetings, in general, there are two occasions in which I’ve had a lobbying meeting–either a single meeting with your specific representative (usually at their local district office) or a lobbying day event where you cover multiple offices with a team at the state or national capitol. If you want to speak with your representative without a meeting you can also attend one of their local town halls and try to catch them afterwards like I have before.
The first type of meeting is a scheduled meeting with your in-district office to discuss what you would like to see from your representative. Anyone and any organization can request a meeting. You simply call their office and ask to either speak with their scheduler or ask for their email address. You can try just dropping by the office but it’s difficult to meet with the staffer assigned to your area of concern without an appointment. Most in-district or local meetings will be with staffers unless you catch your representative on a legislative break. This is okay because staffers have detailed knowledge of bills in their area of expertise and make recommendations to their bosses. They are also there to convey the will of the constituents, including documenting phone calls, emails, and social media actions. So, when you get those action alerts to call, email, tweet your representative those are important because each one of those is tallied and counts!
The second occasion is with a larger coordinated lobby day when either a solo organization or a coalition gathers 100+ volunteers and employees to try to cover every office in the legislature. These lobbying events can take place either at the state capitol or in Washington, DC. In this case, there is a coordination staff that will reach out to all the offices to schedule appointments and create schedules for each team of 3 – 5 people.
Before the meeting, the group assigns a note-taker and time-keeper. Lobbying notes are key to gauge where offices stand on different bills or issues. And you have a time-keeper to be respectful of the office’s time.
Meetings usually last 15 – 30 minutes depending on how busy the office is. The meeting starts with a quick round of introductions and handing the representative or staffer any documents and business cards of all the attendees. If there is a specific bill we are addressing, the leader will ask if the representative or staffer knows the details of the bill or issue the group would like to discuss. If they do not, then the leader summarizes. Afterwards, each attendee goes through a specific key point of the bill or a key factor for the issue.
When leading new lobbying volunteers, I tell them to include a stat and a story. I think of stories as a memorable snapshot and the statistic frames that story. Oftentimes I talk about how the beach is my happy place and I want my kids to enjoy the beach without the plague of plastic pollution. Unfortunately, every minute enough plastic to fill a dump truck enters our ocean.
After we’ve gone through our points we ask if the representative or staffer has any concerns with the issue or bill. Part of lobbying is listening to what the potential opposition could be and using that to form counter strategies or shore up current arguments. At the end we thank them for their time, summarize any follow-up items and take a group photo. For lobbying days there’s a specific form the organizers want to have filled out in order to tally potential votes on an issue and gather any other intel. Afterwards, a team member sends a thank you email and follows-up with any additional information.
For larger lobby days, there are usually events during the lunch break which are a good opportunity to meet other activists in your field. Or this is also a good time to explore the Capitol. Towards the end of the day there’s oftentimes a large group photo as well–gotta get that Instagram photo! Now that you know a little more about lobbying, are you interested in joining me in Sacramento or DC? What do you want to talk to your representative about? Tell me in the comments!
