Practical Legislating
During our meetings and speaking events over the past few months, one common underlying theme for Chenele and I is “practical legislating”. That is, how do legislators actually accomplish the work
they were elected to do. We try to shed light on what happens behind-the-scenes, the conversations, characters, and decision-making processes.
Yes, being an elected official has perks such as going on informative tours, attending catered events, being sought out for your thoughts and opinion, and engaging in interesting conversations. These aspects of the position are enjoyable and represent an important part of the job –
being accessible and involved in the community.
But being a community “celebrity” isn’t the job. The core function of the job is representing and advocating for your constituents in the legislative process. This means solving problems and improving the community by transferring thoughts, ideas, and concepts to paper and getting those ideas passed into law. This entails selling your great ideas to others, and
either supporting or opposing the great ideas of others, depending on the impact to your constituents.
Without these ideas, there is no legislative process. Ideally, these concepts come through a process of researching and working to understand a problem, then formulating a solution or identifying a need, and finally arriving at an appropriate fix. The process requires a certain amount of intellectual curiosity,
competency, and personal desire to bring an idea to fruition. As citizen legislators, we all bring various backgrounds to the job, formed by personal and professional experiences and beliefs. Our decision-making processes vary, as does the weight we give certain values, principles, and desired outcomes. Legislators may share a goal but see different paths to achieve it. Different isn’t always wrong, different sometimes is just different.
As much as I can, and as appropriate, I incorporate my decision-making process in public speaking events. I talk about the quandary between either letting a bad bill pass and simply voting “No” or perhaps giving an impassioned floor speech or issuing a press release opposing it. Sometimes, it means trying to make it marginally better to the benefit of my constituents but knowing that I now voted “Yes” on a bad bill and will have to answer
for it. My vote may define my next campaign and be the subject of numerous mailers and doorstep conversations. How often do I want to talk about this bill?
The actual job of being a state legislator requires pursuing knowledge, reading, thinking, working on solutions, selling your product, negotiating, and compromising if others don’t like it. Ultimately, all legislators have to answer to their constituents
regarding the outcome. Selling them on the fact the outcome is the best outcome for them, that you fully and truly advocated for and represented them throughout the process and discussions. And legislators are human – we make mistakes and have regrets.
Seven hundred plus bills may come to a chamber floor for a vote. Hundreds more don’t make it out of committee. Hundreds more don’t get public
hearing. We can take a thousand votes during a session. What is the likelihood even one constituent would vote exactly the same on all those bills? I will leave it to a mathematician to work out the probability – but my guess it is effectively zero.
One of our Common Ground goals is to engage with voters in conversations about what the job truly entails, to open up about the complexity, angst, and uncertainty
most of us feel at some time during the session as we cast votes and engage in the dynamic process. We want to offer voters a different lens to evaluate who to vote for. A lens that raises the weight they give to work ethic, professional competencies, honesty, integrity, community engagement, accessibility, and open communication. In turn, we hope this appreciation of the process and the humanity of all of us working within it will encourage people to come forward to help us
understand their perspectives so that we can better represent them.
Sitting at a desk late at night reading legalese, referencing statutes, and analyzing possible short and long-term impacts isn’t what the voters see. Instead, they most often see legislators taking pictures, shaking hands, and publicly opining on the problems and how magnificent, imaginative, and simple their solution is. We want to change that –
let us know how we can help you facilitate conversations and engage your constituents. Common Ground is focused on doing the work, not simply talking about doing the work – because as state legislators, that is what we do.
Charlie
