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Build Public Relationships with Elected Officials
There are many tools that grassroots groups can use to get elected officials involved in making changes for the public good. Small, individual meetings with elected officials can establish credibility for your group, gauge the officials' support for or opposition to the issues the group is working on, and get a sense of other issues the officials are working on. Larger meetings, called forums and accountability sessions, focus public attention on specific issues your group is working on and put pressure on elected officials to vote in favor of your positions.
This Organizing Toolbox addresses the planning your group needs to do to get the most out of small individual meetings with elected officials. Future articles will address larger public meetings.
- As a group, decide on a clear purpose for your meeting with an elected official. You may have more than one objective for the meeting, but these should be clearly stated by the group. For example: We want the county supervisor to vote in favor of paying a living wage of at least .00 an hour to all county employees. We also want the county supervisor to vote in favor of doing a study of county water quality. We also want to know what the county supervisor thinks are the other important issues the county faces and how she intends to address them during her term in office. We also want the county supervisor to become familiar with the mission of our group and develop respect for our ability to work effectively on public issues.
- Use your list to discuss with the group the order of the agenda for the meeting and which members of your group should attend the meeting with the elected official.
- When meeting with an elected official make sure that most or all of the members of your group are actual constituents of the official. This means the members of your group who meet with the official should live in the district the official represents.
- Members of your group who live in the official's district and also have knowledge of the issues you want to address are good candidates to meet with the official. But it is also a good idea to use this and every meeting as an opportunity to increase the leadership skills in your group. You can do this by sending a team made up of two people who already have a great deal of experience and knowledge on the issues as well as one person who is relatively new to the issues or group. In this way the new person gains experience that will be helpful to the group in future meetings.
- Also consider asking a young person to participate in the meeting. This is a good way to include high school students in the activities of your group.
- Decide on the best way to contact the official with whom you want to meet. Sometimes a member or members of your group already know the official and will volunteer to make the contact. This is acceptable, but always follow-up with a brief, one-page letter to the official confirming the date, time and place of the meeting and a list of the items you want to talk about. Another way to set up the meeting is to send the letter requesting a meeting first and then have a member of your group contact the official to arrange the time, date and place. Always consider both options as a group and then make a decision together.
- You can send the official background information for the meeting, but don't over do it. Your one-page letter should clearly state the items you wish to talk about and brief reasons for wanting to talk about them. For example: As taxpayers and your constituents, we believe we can improve the quality of public services in the county and reduce turnover, training and social service costs by paying our lowest-paid workers a living wage. You may include copies of studies or news clippings about your issues or the group itself, but don't assume that the official will make time to read attached materials carefully before the meeting.
- Make sure that the small group of about three people you are sending to the meeting take time to meet together in advance to go over the order of the agenda and decide who will speak on each item. If you have asked the official to meet with you for a half-hour, make sure that you can cover your agenda in 15-20 minutes. Officials often arrive late and leave early. Make sure that you address your most important topics first in case the official is called away to another meeting.
During the meeting, be sure to ask lots of "why" questions. Draw the official out if she is opposed to your position ? and ask if the official has any information to document her position on the issue. For example: "You say that paying a living wage will distort the free market and cause wage inflation. We have studies that dispute this. Do you have any studies that support your position?" Also ask the official if there are any conditions under which she could support your position. For example: "Would you support conducting a public hearing on this issue in order to hear from more of your constituents on this matter?"
If the official is in general support of your issues, use the meeting time to discuss the best ways to move forward. For example, if the official says she supports your position on living wage, but that the other county supervisors will not, ask questions about the best ways to contact and move the other officials' forward on the issue.
Concluding the meeting by asking the official what other issues she thinks are important and what she plans to do about them gives you information about the official's interests and possible areas for working together in the future. If the official says she is concerned about job creation or literacy, for example, these may be issues your group is concerned about, too. If the group eventually decides to work on them, you can approach the official about them when you are ready.
Try to end the meeting early if you can, and on time if you can't. Let the official know in this way that your group is focused on making progress on issues in a business-like way.
- You need to go back to your group and discuss what you learned at this meeting and compare notes with group members who have met with other officials before deciding what steps to take next. Make sure the small group who met with the official takes a few minutes to talk right after the meeting is over about how the meeting went and what you learned about the official's positions. Keep notes on what happened at the meeting to share with other members of the group. Also talk as a small group about how the meeting went in general. Did you feel confident in talking to the official? What went well and what needs to go better next time? Would the new, less experienced person in the group feel confident about playing a bigger role in future meetings with officials?
- Some groups hold small meetings with individual elected officials on a regular basis, for example twice a year. In this way the group maintains public contact with the official on key issues and establishes an ongoing public relationship over time. Never meet unless there is a clear reason to meet, but also look for opportunities to build working public relationships with elected officials through small face-to-face meetings. For example, it's a good idea to sit down with state legislators each year well in advance of the legislative session to go over any legislative issues you will be working on in the upcoming session and identify any key bills the legislator plans to work on as well. These small meetings make it easier to make contact with legislators during the legislative session, when schedules are very busy. By laying the general groundwork early, it's more likely that you be able to get the legislator's focused attention on your issue when you need it in the middle of a busy legislative session.