PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus use an image from my favorite sport, golf. Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as a Congressional press secretary in Washington, D.C., an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and a private sector lobbyist. This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.

There’s a lot of confusing information these days about what I’ll call “the lobby game.”

Much of it comes from publicity about bad actors, especially at the federal level who don’t play the game marked by honest and ethical conduct. Usually the reverse. They are in the game to get what they can — and policy and even politics be damned.

When that happens, the media goes nuts, reporting all of the misdeeds with major headlines and, at least to a degree, the reporting may be appropriate, given the depth of the misdeeds.

Such a focus, of course, obscures the reality that most lobbyists work hard and honestly to represent clients before elected officials and government agencies. That’s what I tried to do in Salem for about 25 years as a private sector lobbyist, preceded by 15 years working for state government where one of my responsibilities was to represent the agency where I worked before the Legislature.

All of that said, this blog posits a range of credentials, which I think are traits of solid lobbyists at the State Capitol in Salem.

But, first, let me provide a quick definition of what a lobbyist is, definitions which I used with my late mother to help her understand what I did for a living.

I had three definitions to explain my role as a lobbyist.

• The first was that I was like an attorney. I had a client or clients and my courtroom was the State Capitol. My client paid for my services, usually pursuant to a contract where I pledged to do the work of lobbying and the client pledged to cover the cost.
• The second was that I was like a trader on a busy commodity-trading floor. I had compete to get attention against a host of others who wanted to make their views known.
• The third was that I was like a salesperson. In my case, I was selling ideas, not, for example, a house or a car. I was looking for those who might accept or endorse those ideas.

Let me go on now to a list of important credentials and I will do so by using one of my favorite tactics to organize large bodies of information – the Top 10 List made popular by late-night entertainer David Letterman.

3. Know your audience: This is important for anyone in the sales game. You don’t need to change your basic proposition, you just need to tailor your approach to the audience.
4. Take time to understand where someone lives, where that person works (if he or she has a job outside the legislature), why he or she ran for office, and why he or she won. Answers to all of those questions will help to develop the sales-pitch to prompt them to consider the points you advocate on behalf of your client.
5. Persevere to achieve an outcome: Consider the long legislative session in Oregon to be a marathon, not a sprint. Work hard to achieve objectives for your client. Be at the Capitol early every day. Stay late. For you never know when you will get an opportunity to make a solid impression on a legislator or an Executive Branch official.
6. Don’t just try to win or avoid losing; be open to middle ground: This is critical because lobbying for clients should not just be a win-or-lose proposition. There is middle ground to be sought, which is the very definition of politics in the first place. In today’s lobby game, many will want to produce wins and losses as the primary objective. As a good lobbyist, don’t.

Recognize one of my pet phrases: “What goes around comes back around.” It is a saying meant to indicate that you, as a lobbyist, may disagree with a legislator on one issue on one day, but agree on an issue on the next day. It pays to understand this reality of process at the Capitol in Salem. Don’t make an enemy one day and try to win the person as an ally the next.

5. Respect the process: It can be easy to assume that the legislative process is only designed to be just that – a process with no product. But the process exists for a reason – good government, which, in Oregon, includes public notice of meetings, public meetings themselves, and on-line copies of all pieces of legislation available to members of the public. Plus, there is a process by which bills are considered in the House and the Senate and, then if a bill passes, it goes on to the governor. Lobbyists should be familiar with and respect the process.

Further, there are ins and outs in the process. Know them. You can use legitimate process variations to achieve objectives for your client. As an example, when our firm was trying to pass a bill to require insurance companies to cover environmental damages to property (yes, that should have been a given, but many insurance companies were reneging on what could be considered their obligations), our bill failed to move in the Oregon House. So, I headed over to the Senate to find a bill with an appropriate “relating clause” (the first words in any bill that limits what it can include, even by amendment). With the help of the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I found one and asked for our insurance regulatory language to be “stuffed” into that bill. The Senate chair agreed. The bill passed the Senate, then after a close battle, ended up passing on the House floor and the governor signed it.

6. Maintain your credibility: Maintaining credibility by action and style is critical for any lobbyist. If you lose credibility, you will no longer be effective. For instance, if you convey a point, then have to change your position, explain the change to all who heard you the first time, and the correction will enhance your credibility.
7. Recognize the importance of ideas: As you help your client decide whether there is an “ask” in the Legislature, don’t forget that, as the process works in Oregon, good ideas still matter. If you can translate your idea into a story – perhaps with interesting graphics that illustrate your point of view – good. Stories about good ideas are a solid way to drive your point home to legislators who may not have a lot of background, understandably, in the subject area your client espouses.
8. Don’t accept clients when you disagree with their views on the basis of principle: This was one of the keys to my 25 years as a state lobbyist. My firm did not accept clients when we disagreed with those clients based on principles. There was no way we could speak for such a client.

As examples, we never represented pro-tobacco interests, pro-abortion interests, pro-homosexual interests or pro-gun interests. Didn’t. Couldn’t.

9. Communicate as much with your client as with legislators and agency officials: Clients need to understand the context of the Legislature and they are likely to get most of that context from you. So keep in touch with them.
10. There is no replacement for solid ethical, honest behavior as a lobbyist. Those you are lobbying should be able to respect you and your word. I like to say that a lobbyist’s favorite axiom should be, “my word is my bond.”

What follows could be #11, but I’ll stick with 10 and make this a conclusion. Good lobbyists are ready to tout their successes and explain their failures in communications with clients at the end of a legislative session. I often used the tactic of a “Top 10 List” to summarize work over the previous six months, as well as to set the stage for the next session.