• How to Start and Grow a Think Tank
• Grassroots Leadership Guide to K-12 Education Reform
  • Prologue
  • Decide What Type of Organization You Want to Become
  • Building and Maintaining an Effective Board
  • Get Things Up and Running
  • Legal Reference Material
  • Organize Your Staff and Volunteers
  • Examples of Programs and Operational Materials
  • Building Coalitions
  • Getting Your Message Out/Media Relations
  • Talking with Legislators
    • Overview
    • Working Effectively with State Lawmakers
    • How to Lobby Your Legislator
    • The Personal Touch
    • Tips for Drafting Effective School Choice Legislation
  • Raising Money
  • History of School Choice
  • Education Reform Research and Resources
  • Resources
• Taking Donors Seriously
• Fundraising Fundamentals

Jump to another manual

• 
• 
• 

Working Effectively with State Lawmakers

by Bob Williams, Evergreen Freedom Foundation

We decided early in Evergreen Freedom Foundation's existence that we wanted to be more than a traditional state think tank. We wanted to be a "do tank." We decided to measure the value of our work based on how effectively we could move our research into the marketplace.

I'll admit there have been plenty of times we've followed the cheeky advice of Matt Brouillette from Pennsylvania's Commonwealth Foundation, who advised many of us that sometimes we just need to be a tank. Period! Sometimes that's the only way to communicate critical ideas to lawmakers who take upcoming elections more seriously than current policy concerns.

But the best way to make sure our research and recommendations have an impact on policymakers is to establish a relationship with them. We have to earn their ear and their trust whenever possible. This takes time, but it is time well-invested. Without a personal connection, we're simply another face in the crowd, another email on the screen, another fax in the pile-all clamoring to get a lawmaker's attention.

I served as a state legislator for ten years before moving into the world of think tanks. As a legislator, I needed and wanted information that was center-right on the ideological spectrum. I regularly called the Heritage Foundation and the American Legislative Exchange Council to get suggestions and model legislation that would present a free-market solution to our state's problems.

Many legislators today are searching for the same input, and they will be delighted to know that the organizations represented in the State Policy Network exist. Other lawmakers have good intentions, but are short on follow through. Still, they need us whether they know it yet or not.

So the question is: Do your lawmakers know you exist?

Here are some suggestions for working effectively with legislators and other state officials based on our experience over the last decade.

What to do

• Meet with the governor and key staff quarterly, regardless of party. Some of our greatest successes in policy initiatives came under a self-described liberal Democrat governor, Mike Lowry. I'll never forget the first meeting our executive director Lynn Harsh and I had with him. We told Lowry that no one in state government could tell us how many public employees there were, how much the state was spending on travel, or how many "exempt" license plates the state issued. The governor said our assertions couldn't be true and turned to his budget director for confirmation. Her reply: "Governor, EFF is correct."
  
  We made enormous progress toward increased government accountability under Governor Lowry, including convincing him to insist that every state agency have a clear mission statement, goals and objectives, and performance measures. Unfortunately, being a fan of government-provided services from cradle to grave, he spent the savings we were able to help gain on new programs instead of taxpayer relief. But the budgeting principles that changed under his watch will be powerful tools in the hands of a fiscally conservative governor.
  
• Get to know policymakers' staff and make sure they learn to know and trust you.
  Hold training sessions for legislative candidates. Many candidates are hungry for ideas on which to build their platform. Furnishing them with solid, persuasive information builds a trustworthy working relationship should they get elected.
  
• Make sure legislators know your area of expertise. Legislators are far more likely to call you if they know you have something intelligent to say about an issue they're working on. Avoid being an empty talking head and don't feel compelled to know something about everything you're asked. Make referrals to other credible sources when necessary.
  
• Identify the legislator who chairs the American Legislative Exchange Council in your state. ALEC is an excellent resource and this gives you access to other legislators who are members. Consider inviting ALEC analysts and staff to testify when appropriate.
  Host or co-host state coalition meetings. Patterned after Grover Norquist's (Americans for Tax Reform) Wednesday Meeting, these connect you with like-minded organizations in your state. It binds right-of-center leaders together in areas of agreement, instead of focusing on differences. We all understand that policymakers generally respond to pressure from the outside in. Provide it!
  
• Summarize material for legislators. Legislators are busy and they get a lot of mail. Know who likes snail mail versus email. Summarize lengthier publications. Refer them to up-to-date website sources with more data. Many state capitols have mail distribution centers so you can easily drop off copies for all legislators. Make your material stand out with a distinctive, easy-to-read style.
  
• Consider investing in a booth at the annual ALEC convention. Both EFF and SPN participate in this event with excellent results.
  
  Host weekly brown bag lunches for legislators. Find a convenient location where legislators can bring their own lunch and discuss a key policy issue with you. Anticipate questions and don't waste their time.
  
• Work with talk radio. If you have good local radio hosts in your area, a weekly radio update is a very effective means of influencing policy. You can share information and inspire activists. We've witnessed the quick death of bad policy thanks to radio hosts who encourage listeners to call the capitol. If you can't persuade legislators to do the right thing because it's right, remember Matt's comment and be a tank.
  
• Always be honest with legislators. This may be a one-way street sometimes, since they're not always frank and honest in return, but the reputation of your think tank is at stake and it's easier to knock it down than build it up.

What to avoid

• Don't become a shill for a political party or big business. Republicans loved us when they were in the minority and we were hammering Democrats for spending too much. When the power shifted and Republicans started spending too much, we held them accountable, too. They didn't like that. Democrats decided we were even-handed. We have also duked it out with one of our state's largest employers over corporate welfare. Be known as people of principle.
  
• Don't compromise your principles or your work plan. This means you must have some, and everyone who works for your think/do tank must know what they are.
  Don't promise legislators anything you can't deliver. On the flip side, make sure you deliver what you promise. If you said you'd draft model legislation, do it!

If you're not already working closely with your state legislators, you should be. It's both frustrating and rewarding, but if you are determined to write history for your state, there is no other way.

Bob Williams is president of the Washington state-based Evergreen Freedom Foundation.