Lobbying Handbook

 

What is lobbying and why is it important?

Lobbying is relationship building: Public officials can be helpful to the mission of your organization. They play an important role in the operation and success of community and state economic development efforts. If you don=t have a positive relationship with them, they will be less likely to help when you need them most. Specific projects, for example, can be facilitated, expedited, delayed, or even killed because of how much public officials know about their costs, benefits, and other impacts.

Lobbying is advocating a position on a specific issue: From time to time, economic development professionals must advocate a public policy position with elected or appointed officials. Such positions could include, for example, local zoning changes or variances, Empire Zone boundary amendments, state legislation that would affect the powers of Industrial Development Agencies, or the application of prevailing wages on private projects. Issue advocacy can occur in face-to-face meetings with public officials, through written correspondence, or through outreach to the media. You can=t influence the outcome of issues that affect the mission of your organization unless you have a relationship with your state and local elected officials.

Laws can make or break economic development: Most powers and resources of state and local economic development organizations and programs are derived from state law. That means that legislators can add to or take away from the authority and tools used by economic development organizations to attract capital investment and create jobs.

Public officials play an important role in the success of economic development organizations. Maintaining a good relationship with them should be a priority for every ED professional. Therefore, economic development organizations should develop a strategy for meeting regularly with key local, state, and federal public officials to keep them apprized of what their agency is doing and how they can help.

Meeting with legislators

Meet regularly with elected officials. Local economic development professionals should meet with key state and local elected officials at least twice a year in their local office (or district office in the case of a state Senator or Assemblyman or woman). Whether these meetings are informational or related to a specific issue, they should be scheduled and held on a regular basis. If your legislators don=t know you, you are not doing your job.

Informational meetings: The purpose of this type of meeting is to inform elected officials about what your agency can do, is doing, and has done. Bring statistical information about the economic benefits of projects your organization has assisted (Jobs created/retained. Capital investment leveraged. Other economic multipliers.) Make sure you know the Acost@ of projects, too. (For example, Real Property and Sales Tax abatements.) Also, bring written information that describes how your organization is structured, who the board members are (if there is a board), and the powers and mission of the agency. You should also bring at least one owner/manager of a project your organization has assisted. They are your best advocates. They should be prepared to explain the valuable role your organization played in the completion of their project.

Issue advocacy meetings: The purpose of this type of meeting is to persuade an elected official to support your position on a specific issue or project. Bring a memorandum or letter that you can leave with the elected official that explains your position. The document should be no longer than two pages. Also, bring letters and memos from other organizations or influential leaders in that support your position. There is strength in numbers. So, whenever possible, bring representatives of allied organizations, impacted project owners, or key community leaders to demonstrate broad support for your position.

Scheduling meetings: Request meetings in writing, and provide specific dates and times. Schedule the meeting in the legislator=s local or district office. Confirm the meeting by phone. Make sure the elected official knows the specific purpose of the meeting. Meetings should last no longer than 30 minutes, unless extended by the legislator. Shorter if possible.

Meeting with staff: Legislators are busy people, too. They may have you meet with a staff person. Staff are important players in the legislative process. Legislators rely on their expertise and advice fro making decisions on important issues. Nurture your relationships with staff just as you would the legislator. 

Emphasize the local impact of an issue: Provide local examples of the impact of specific legislation. Legislators want to know how issues will impact constituents, businesses, and local projects. Showing them local impacts may be the most important result you can achieve in a lobby visit.

Don=t make up answers: Know when to admit, AI don=t know,@ and offer to follow-up with information. Then provide the information within a day or two, at the most.

You are there to build a relationship - not win a debate: It is important to be polite and professional at all times. Even if the legislator does not agree with your position on a particular issue, he/she may be helpful in the future on other matters.

Listen: It is important to show a willingness to be open minded. Rarely is legislation passed in  EXACTLY the language you want. The legislative process often involves compromise. You should not only be willing to compromise, but you should also be prepared to offer alternatives that would accomplish much, if not all, of what you want.

Follow-up is important: Be sure to send a thank you note after the meeting. If commitments were made in the meeting, repeat your understanding of them. If staff members were present, write to them, too. They can often be important allies.  

Writing to legislators

Always put your position in writing: Legislators meet with many people on many different issues. In order to document a record of your position, even if you are meeting in person with the legislator, you should explain your position in a letter or memorandum. Characteristics of a good letter include:

Finding your legislator=s address and other contact information: Office and e-mail addresses, and phone and fax numbers for all New York State legislators and Executive branch staff can be found at NYSEDC=s web site: www.nysedc.org.

Length: A letter or memorandum should be no longer than two pages. Shorter, if possible.

Get to the point: Tell the legislator what you would like him/her to do in the first paragraph. Also, the legislation on which you are commenting should be identified in the first paragraph. Bill numbers, such as S.1234 or A.1234 for Senate and Assembly bills, respectively, should be included whenever possible, as should a brief description of the issue. (Example, I am writing to ask you to support S.1234, which would make all of New York State an Empire Zone.) See attached sample letter.

Write your own letter: Form letters are easily identified and easily dismissed. Personally written letters have much greater impact.

Send identical letters to legislative leaders: Since legislative leaders play such a strong role in deciding what gets done in Albany (Or, in a county legislature or city council), it is important that they are aware of your position. Therefore, you should either send copies of your correspondence to them, or send them the same letter.

Request a reply: Respectfully ask the legislator for a reply indicating his/her position on the issue.

Say, Athank you:@ If the legislator supports your position, write him/her a letter thanking them for their support.

Important dos and don=ts

Do not be partisan: It is important for economic development professionals to be as INCLUSIVE as possible, all the time. Excluding some elected officials from ribbon cuttings, ground breakings, or from the information Aloop@ because of their party affiliation will cause those who are excluded to be less helpful in the future.

Know your Aenemies:@ Every issue has two sides, and you should assume your legislator has already heard from the Aother side.@ Know their position, and be prepared to counter it.

Know your allies: There is strength in numbers. Identify other state or local groups or individuals who support your position, and make sure they are communicating with your legislators. Or, include copies of their letters or position papers in correspondence you send to or leave with your legislator.

The media is important: Legislators respond more positively to issues that have received Afavorable@ press. Know what newspapers in your community and around the state have written on the issue. If the articles or editorials support your position, send them to your legislator.

If the media in your community have not formed an opinion about an issue, meet with them (reporters or editorial boards) before they do.

Always talk to the media when they call. Media influence opinions. Talking to them is an opportunity to provide useful information on a story they may be doing, or influence THEIR opinion before one is formed. If you avoid talking to them, they will stop calling.

Call reporters to compliment them on stories, or to bring to their attention errors in stories. Just like you, reporters like to receive compliments on their work. If they wrote or said something that was erroneous, politely let them know.

Establish an on-going relationship with key media people in local outlets.

Write letters-to-the-editor in support of your position on a specific issue. (See attached example.)

Make lobbying part of your organization=s strategic plan: As economic development organizations develop strategic plans to guide their operations and future growth, they should include in it a comprehensive strategy to work with and influence their state, local, and federal legislators.