Lobbying Day

Sorry to be out of touch lately. Ballot access issues have been consuming a lot of my time lately, and it will only get worse for the next several months.

Thursday LPNC Chair Thomas Hill and I went to Raleigh to lobby House Finance Committee members for the Electoral Fairness Act. It's that crazy time of the session, well after the beginning of the state's fiscal year without a budget in place. They do this every two years and act like it's totally unexpected every time. We are trying to be a squeaky enough wheel that our bill is one of those loose ends they clean up in the one or two weeks after they finally pass a budget but before they close up shop until next year. Our bill will still be alive next year if not, but we can't wait that long.

Anyway, since this is not the political blog, I just wanted to share some impressions of some of the folks we met there. Of course I can only say nice things since I don't want to lose any votes for our bill. ;-)

One guy I really liked a lot is Rep. Dale Folwell of Forsyth County. We caught him in his office early in the morning. He looked like he had just gotten out of the shower and was still putting on his tie, and obviously didn't really give a damn what we might think about that. He had that kind of excited "boy legislator" vibe that you generally only see in movies. This day he was in a rush to get to the Governor's signing ceremony for his bill. He had worked so hard for it and was just so very proud. Not in the sanctimonious manner of some selfappointed professional do-gooder that is so common in public policy, but more like he was running home to show Mom and Dad the prize he won at the junior high school science fair. It's the kind of attitude that makes me look forward to "Legally Blonde 3." The bill itself is pretty neat, combining the annual vehicle registration fee with the county car property tax in the same mailing, which would save the county and state governments millions of dollars by eliminating the extra mailing. I hope a few more terms in office doesn't grind that sweet, affecting attitude out of him.

Being an unabashed North Carolina booster myself, I always enjoy meeting people who get their kicks from showing their love for this state and its people. Rep. Dewey Hill of Columbus County is just such a guy. I felt he didn't just respect me as someone who was lobbying for a bill, but a genuine appreciation because I cared so much to try to make this state better. He was wearing a shirt embroidered with the "Goodness Grows in North Carolina" agriculture logo, and the rest of his office was decorated with similar promotional images. Here again, the complete lack of cynicism I felt while in his office was most pleasant. He seems to derive a simple and pure joy from representing the people of this state the best way he knows how. We need a heck of a lot more of that attitude in Raleigh.

Rep. Jerry Dockham of Davidson County took the time for a nice long chat which ranged far afield from my purpose. We found common ground over our agreement that politics does not have to be taken so personally. One of the small yet great tragedies of politics, in my view, is the tendency so many people have to cash in personal friendships and collegial relations over political differences. It doesn't have to be that way, as long as we all accept that most all the time people only support the policies they do because they simply believe it's what's best for the people, or even for their own narrower interests. That's what you're supposed to do in politics, and it's very rare to find any actual malice in these motivations. We can go hammer and tongs at each other over one issue and that's fine, but we are well served if we always remember that we can still be friends as soon as the subject changes, and that we can be strong allies when the next issue arises.

I don't mean to neglect anybody by leaving them out. I'm especially grateful to Paul Luebke of Durham, Hugh Holliman of Davidson, Martha Alexander of Mecklenburg, and Deb Ross and Jennifer Weiss of Wake County, for their strong support of our bill and their willingness to give us the insider's perspective on how to most effectively lobby the legislature. I even ran against Paul myself last election, and I'm sure Jennifer remembers when I sent her the email a couple years ago referring her gun control bill as the "Rapist Protection Act." (If not, well then I probably shouldn't have reminded her!) All of them exemplify the principles I discussed with Jerry Dockham, that things work best when you don't let political differences get in the way of working together for a shared goal.

I'd highly recommend a trip to the legislature to meet with these elected officials. That's the best way to remind oneself that these are real people we're dealing with here and not just caricatures of the partisan politics we see in the news.