You can lobby too!
Lobbying isn’t a four-letter word
Lobbying an elected official might sound formal, expensive, shadowy, or even intimidating but lobbying is simply the act of communicating with an elected official or government staffer with the goal of trying to influence their actions. Basically, it’s just talking directly to an elected official and asking them to support something. That’s it, no dark necromancy required. Ever persuaded a friend to go to restaurant A and not restaurant B– congrats, you’ve lobbied your friend. Even the simple act of seeing an elected official on the street and saying “yo! Fund the bus” as you walk past them is an act of lobbying.
While you’re probably not going to bump into President Biden anytime soon, you might be surprised by how easy it is to get in front of some politicians. That’s because there is a weird secret about politicians, especially local politicians who are the ones in charge of things like bus lanes & bus infrastructure, that I’ll let you in on. They are real people and they live in the community they represent! You can learn to recognize them by looking up their names and pictures of your elected officials– depending on the size of your town you might randomly bump into them without any effort.
My personal favorite moment of randomly bumping into an elected official was years ago at some San Jose downtown music festival. I was in the audience at the Bhangra stage learning some dance moves, a move had a side-to-side twist thing and while twisting back and forth I saw that I was dancing next to then-city-councilmember-and-now-Assemblymember Ash Kalra! I think I said something like “nice moves, downtown is great, needs more housing.” And technically that was lobbying.
While it’s always a fun time going to your town’s downtown music festival (and you can help start one if it doesn’t exist yet!) you don’t have to depend on chance encounters on the dance floor to do your lobbying. Elected officials are pretty easy to find when you know where to look– a lot of them even have newsletters where they announce their calendars and invite you to come say hi! They want to talk with you!
They are in the business of representing the community and they tend to like positive press so you can find them at community events, ribbon cuttings, official block parties, social events hosted by various local political parties, some even have open office hours where they hang out and chat with whatever constituents show up. Show up, say hi, be friendly and educate them on the thing that matters to you that they have the ability to change.
County, state and federal elected officials are a bit harder to access since they generally represent a bigger area, but they tend to come by the same sort of events. You can even stop in at their district office and chat with their staff. It’s nice to set an appointment, but a lot of times, you can just show up and have a quick friendly chat. The great news for transportation advocates pushing for things like bike or bus lanes is that the local elected officials who have the most power over those issues are especially interested in knowing the who’s who of the community. Go out there and meet people in your community and get to know them.
Of course, not all lobbying is taken with the same weight by an elected official. It’s one thing to have your request heard, it’s another thing to have your request seriously considered. And yes– having lots of money and making campaign donations are typically what people think of when they think of what lobbyists do to get taken more seriously, but money is just one of the tools in the toolbox.
The reason campaign donations matter at all is because it helps the elected official win re-election. If you can show the elected official that you can help sway their next campaign in a variety of ways, you’ll also be taken more seriously. For example, if you speak on behalf of a large coalition that can mobilize lots of volunteers and whose members touch a lot of voters–you’ll be taken more seriously.
But even if you don’t have lots of money or speak on behalf of lots of voters, you can still help move the needle on persuading elected officials to support something through direct lobbying when you do it right.
Here are some tips on how to increase the effectiveness of your lobbying:
Express a clear desire. Don’t just complain about everything, or conversely thank them for generally doing a good job. Pick 1 thing you want to highlight that they have the ability to take action on. They can’t fix the problem if you don’t tell them what’s wrong, and if you do highlight a problem, be sure to voice your preferred solution…or else you might get a solution you don’t like! If you want better bus service, don’t just say “the bus is unreliable” because then they might just pass a bill calling for a study on the problem. Say, “the bus is unreliable, fund more buses!”
Match your lobbying to the moment. If it’s a sit-down meeting, you have more time to talk deeper with each other about the issue. If you’re just bumping into each other on the street, be friendly, quick and casual about it (unless you want to “birddog”, but that’s a question for a separate post!)
Know what to realistically expect from the situation. I can almost guarantee that they will not make an explicit promise to do the thing you are asking them to do. Success looks like them saying they support the idea, they’ll look into the specifics and maybe they ask you for some follow up information or action. They might give you a firm no. Or sometimes they just mainly be silent and say thanks for your time. When you lobby on an issue a politician spends very little time thinking about (like pedestrian crossing islands), just getting them educated on the topic can be a big win.
Thank them, follow up, think of it as building a relationship. Follow up with an email thanking them for their time and attention and include some answers to questions they may have asked or more information that you think they would be interested in receiving. Remember that especially when dealing with local or county electeds, you are building a working relationship. It’s just the first conversation of many to come!
Interested in improving your skills and strategies for winning bike, transit, or pedestrian safety improvements in your community? Let’s talk. Email me at Carter@carterlavin.com
Please tune in to join me and experts working on the California High-Speed Rail as we discuss: What would it take to complete the California High-Speed Rail in 5 years? Click here to register.
Other free upcoming online events!
8/22 @ 5:30pm PT — Free Transportation Advocacy Training: “How to Build a Coalition and Win Bigger.” Learn more and register here.
8/23 @ 5:30pm PT— Join your fellow transportation advocates at the August Open Discussion Zoom Happy Hour! This month’s topic: "Getting Decision Makers literally on the bus, train, and bike. What works, what doesn't and why do it." Come share your thoughts and learn from allies. Register here.
8/30 @ 5:30pm PT— Free Bike Activism Training: “How to Overcome the Opposition and Win a Bike Lane.” Learn more and register here.
Update– I’m now on BlueSky, come say hi! (Will likely get on Mastodon next week)
Interested in sponsoring the training of an activist working on an issue you’re passionate about? Let’s chat. Carter@carterlavin.com