Advocating for Your Agency with the Legislature
Michael Covington Governmental Relations Officer South Carolina Department of Transportation
Todays Outline
I. Understand the Process II. Know Your Environment III. Communicate Effectively
Advocating for Your Agency with the Legislature
Governmental Relations Rule #1
Sincerity is the Best Policy
Advocating for Your Agency with the Legislature
Step 1: Understand the Process
1. Know your agencys position on issues and its policy on legislative involvement by employees
Advocating for Your Agency with the Legislature
Step 1: Understand the Process
2. Familiarize Yourself with the Legislative Process
How is the Code of Laws laid out? How are bills and resolutions drafted? How do bills get introduced? How does the appropriations process work? How is testimony/input received?
Advocating for Your Agency with the Legislature
Step 1: Understand the Process
3. How are regulations developed and adopted?
Advocating for Your Agency with the Legislature
Step 1: Understand the Process
4. How best to monitor the legislative process?
www.SCStatehouse.Gov (or, your equivalent) o Review meeting schedule o Set up Track Legislation account o Review meeting schedule and daily calendars Employ a monitoring service, or create your own Request notice of committee meetings
Advocating for Your Agency with the Legislature
Step 1: Understand the Process
5. Review state ethics laws
Are you required to register as a lobbyist? Is your agency required to register? What are the Rules of Engagement?
Advocating for Your Agency with the Legislature
Step 1: Understand the Process
6. Read:
Covingtons Rules of Legislative Procedure
Advocating for Your Agency with the Legislature
Step 1: Understand the Process
7. Be Prepared. Read:
* Understand Your Enemy * Winning Without Battle is Best * Strategy, not Power, Wins Battles
The Art of War By Sun Tzu
Advocating for Your Agency with the Legislature
Step 1: Understand the Process
8. Be Warned. Read:
Motivation Distraction Ends Justify the Means
The Prince By Niccolo Machiavelli
Advocating for Your Agency with the Legislature
Step 2: Know Your Environment
1.
Have a basic awareness of politics
Republican Democrat Rural Urban Top Current Issues
Advocating for Your Agency with the Legislature
Step 2: Know Your Environment
2. Familiarize Yourself with the Leadership
Learn Committee Structure Learn who chairs the committees Who are in leadership positions?
Advocating for Your Agency with the Legislature
Step 2: Know Your Environment
3.
Understand what motivates both your allies and your adversaries
Be attuned to their predispositions Pay attention to their judgment of others to understand how they project their own views onto the political environment Look at campaign disclosure reports. Who are their supporters? Substitute names of politicians when playing Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon
Advocating for Your Agency with the Legislature
Step 2: Know Your Environment
4. Dont be overcome by the Shock and Awe of the environment.
Advocating for Your Agency with the Legislature
Step 3: Communicate Your Message
1. Legislative Relations is both an art and a science
Advocating for Your Agency with the Legislature
Step 3: Communicate Your Message
2. Come with your hat in your hand, but wear your big boy pants
Advocating for Your Agency with the Legislature
Step 3: Communicate Your Message
3. Prepare yourself
Research the issue Talk through the issues in advance Use your experts Seek Third Party Endorsement
Its hard to fly with the eagles when you are surrounded by turkeys
Advocating for Your Agency with the Legislature
Step 3: Communicate Your Message
4. Manage your issues:
Weigh your chances. Consider the probability of success. Establish priorities
Advocating for Your Agency with the Legislature
Step 3: Communicate Your Message
5. Collaborate
Make alliances Build coalitions Use other agencies and organizations o State and Federal Agencies o Trade Associations o Advocacy Groups o Colleges and Universities Work with private sector lobbyists Use Grassroots if appropriate
BEWARE OF COVINGTONS RULE #10
Advocating for Your Agency with the Legislature
Step 3: Communicate Your Message
6. As an agency representative, it is your job to EDUCATE, not LOBBY.
Facts Research Policy Analysis Practical Advice Public Good
Advocating for Your Agency with the Legislature
Step 3: Communicate Your Message
7. Its easy to object If possible, offer solutions
Stick to policy, not politics Be a problem solver, not a trouble maker Give them a way out.
Men fight hardest when they have no way to retreat.
Sun Tzu
Advocating for Your Agency with the Legislature
Step 3: Communicate Your Message
8. Tell both sides of the issue
Dont lead them down the garden path
Advocating for Your Agency with the Legislature
Step 3: Communicate Your Message
9. Empathize. Get the right perspective.
To understand a person, you must first walk a mile in his moccasins
Native American Proverb
Advocating for Your Agency with the Legislature
Step 3: Communicate Your Message
Everything I ever needed to know about governmental relations, I learned from Hogans Heroes.
Advocating for Your Agency with the Legislature
Step 3: Communicate Your Message
10. Confront the issue. Stay on point.
Advocating for Your Agency with the Legislature
Step 3: Communicate Your Message
11. Put Out Fires
Youll know theres a fire when somebody starts blowing smoke. Find the source of the fire. Put it out before it spreads.
Advocating for Your Agency with the Legislature
Understanding the Rules
Rule #3 Perception is 99% of reality.
Advocating for Your Agency with the Legislature
Understanding the Rules
Rule #12 The most innocuous bills are always the ones that get amended with damaging language.
But little Mouse, you are not alone, In proving foresight may be vain: The best laid schemes of mice and men Go often awry, And leave us nothing but grief and pain, For promised joy! Robert Burns
Advocating for Your Agency with the Legislature
Understanding the Rules
Rule #17 Good bills dont become law just because they make sense
Also see Rule #24 If you think you have a good idea, as soon as it is introduced as a bill you will find out where your reasoning is flawed.
Advocating for Your Agency with the Legislature
Understanding the Rules
Rule #22 Once a legislator has deduced a simple understanding of your bill, you will never get him to understand the complicated reality of it.
Advocating for Your Agency with the Legislature
Understanding the Rules
Rule #30
Compromise is useful only when victory is impossible.
Advocating for Your Agency with the Legislature
Remember, Theres Always Next Year
Advocating for Your Agency with the Legislature
Discussion
Michael Covington SC Department of Transportation 955 Park Street Columbia, SC 29201 (803) 737-0593 covingtonmd@scdot.org
Advocating for Your Agency with the Legislature
