Hobbying Lobbying

I went to RI NOW's annual lobbyist training session tonight.  Its purpose was to prepare us, as a Political Action Committee, to approach representatives at the State House and speak with them about bills that need to be acknowledged, supported, or shot down.  Here is a brief, bulleted list of what I thought of it.


Things that were cool:

• Awesome lobbyist Susan Sweet, of Sweet and Associates, was really up front and honest about the lobbying process.  She also assuaged my fears that professional lobbyists are generally evil.  She is really awesome, truly believes in what she advocates, and is a seasoned, down-to-earth veteran of what it means to wheel and deal with state representatives.

• Awesome awesome Betsy Dennigan, nurse/attorney running for Congress to replace James Langevin, spoke to us about the power of lobbying, the ability of anyone to run for office, and was generally inspiring with her views.  She told us a great story about a debate that was happening on the floor over abortion.  The room was filled with mostly men, arguing about partial abortion.  Betsy whipped out her OB/GYN textbook and started going over the technical definitions of what they were actually talking about.  It is wonderful that someone who has experience treating people is going to support not only women's reproductive rights, but also effective healthcare bills that can actually work with existing hospital management and financial structures.

• Then we participated in a roleplaying game to put us in the situation of meeting with legislators of varying opinions on passing a marriage equality bill.  My group was placed with a republican representative who was co-sponsoring a bill that proposed to limit marriage to be defined as between a man and a woman.  This man, Representative Savage (that is his real name!), actually exists, and is the representative of East Providence and the Deputy Minority Leader in the House.  Needless to say, the game was fun.

Things that were not so cool:
It makes sense for them to give this advice, but both Susan and Betsy said to just stay away from opponents when lobbying.  But this means that the opposition won't hear the actual, shifting opinion of their constituents. There's no dialogue there, so how can ideas be exchanged?  This then, emphasizes the importance of stressing to legislators with similar political beliefs to stick to their guns, to push for certain bills, to understand that [X] issue is what is important to you, a constituent, or a concerned citizen, or as someone who was touched by this issue for one reason or another.

Here are the most important lessons I've learned tonight:

You do not need to be a professional lobbyist to lobby.  You do not need to be a professional lobbyist to get your ideas across to your representatives.  And you do not need to be perfect to run for office.  Anyone with concern for a certain bill can arrange a meeting with the people who represent you in your state government.  You just need to be prepared, with the number of the bill in question and what the bill is addressing.  No one in state office has read every single line of every single bill, but if their constituents come up to them with compelling cases, requesting support for a certain bill, they will be sure to show up for that bill's hearing and vote.

One of the notes on which Betsy left us was that only 15% of Congressional seats are held by women.  Whenever she gives speeches at colleges or schools, she calls up a random male and female to the front, and asks them both if they had ever considered running for office.  She says on the first try, the female will always say "no," and with further prompting will say, "well, maybe if I did a lot of research, and educated myself on all the issues and became more familiar with the law, then maybe I'd consider myself ready to run."  The guys, she said, generally reply, "yeah, sure, I can do that."  Betsy wanted us to understand that literally anyone under the age of 18, as long as they haven't committed a felony, can run for any office, and if you think you can do a better job than the person who is currently in office, you should run.  It was so inspiring; tonight was the first time since I was in 10th grade that I've considered running for office at some point in the future.  For right now, though, I'll stick to getting through LSAT studying.

Here is Betsy Dennigan's website.  I am definitely volunteering with her campaign.

http://betsydenniganforcongress.com/

That's all for now.

Take care.

An easy first step in addressing health care

Today, I want to take a brief look at the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), otherwise known as Food Stamps, otherwise known as an Electronic Benefits Transfer Card (EBT), and see the simple ways of making this system better without spending ridiculous amounts of taxpayers' dollars.

The first thing you should know about the application, at least in Rhode Island, is that it is long.  It is a seventeen page PDF file.  It is also only available in English.  It is also only searchable if you can read, though if you go to the Food Stamp office in person, you can get assistance there.  But for the people who are desperately working as many hours as possible to feed their family, being able to get to DHS is difficult.  You can request a telephone interview, which is helpful for those who cannot read or speak English, but still, if you do not know where to turn to, this can be incredibly difficult.

There are a few problems with the system in terms of accessibility and organization.  It is, compared to other government systems, rather quick once you are in the process of getting stamps.  There is little problem with this.  However, gaining access to the right to food stamps is for more privileged citizens.  I will not complain here about the fact that legal immigrants have more stringent rules for application (i.e. having had to live in the U.S. for 5 years before being able to apply for an EBT card), because that delves into politics that people will have more trouble agreeing upon and sorting out.  Instead, I will note that some citizens cannot read; some citizens do not speak English; and some citizens, overwhelmed with problems of poverty and malnutrition, simply cannot find the energy or time to fill out a 17-page application in their own time.


Here are some changes to the system that I propose, then.  A simpler application, found at any grocery store, available in both English and Spanish, if not Portuguese, Cambodian, and other languages that are prominent in Rhode Island in particular.  I do not know how the Food Stamp programs work in other states, but I do know that Rhode Island is a state in particular need of assistance to its large unemployed population. 

I just spoke with a friend who works for Farm Fresh Rhode Island, the local farmers market, and learned more about how important EBT is to supporting local farms.  For every dollar you spend at these Rhode Island farmers markets, Farm Fresh will match you up to $10 in Fresh Bucks tokens used for debit or EBT.  So, if you want to spend $20 in food stamps, you will receive $30 in tokens to be used at any of the booths that sell groceries.  Farm Fresh received funding for this program thanks to Wholesome Wave and The Rhode Island Foundation. It is pretty wonderful, and I am looking forward to receiving contact information from this friend about helping the URI Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program.

This semester, I believe I am going to apply for a grant with my co-educational literary fraternity, St. Anthony Hall, asking for money to print out applications, sit in front of grocery stores, and ask people if they need help filling out an application, if they need a Spanish translator, and will inform them of the programs at the farmers markets.  I know that a significant amount of people avoid farmers markets because they believe they are akin to Whole Foods in terms of expense; however, a farmers market is just what Whole Foods aspires to be--fresh, nutritious produce that, when purchased, helps the local economy.  When one takes the matching program into account, one can find affordable groceries that are more fresh, nutritious, and delicious than bargain carrots at the bottom of a Price Rite bin that have sat there for too long.  The purpose of the SNAP program is two-fold: to help low-income individuals with their nutrition, and to help the food industry.  Since the recession began, families have spent less on food, and therefore put less money into local farms and grocery stores alike.  By helping push the Food Stamp program, money will circulate further and help out the economy, which is something that Rhode Island in particular desperately needs.

I will post the main pages of SNAP and Farm Fresh, so these websites are more easily found:

• SNAP: http://www.eatbettertoday.com/en/
• Food Stamps Application: https://www.foodstamps.ri.gov/admin/login.cfm
• Farm Fresh RI: http://www.farmfreshri.org/

Take care.