Effective Connections with Elected Officials:
How to Contact Them, What to Expect, and
How to Benefit — Three Perspectives

At the 1997 Illinois Library Association's Annual Conference, the Government Documents Forum sponsored a program titled "The Value of Connections: A Design for Future Partnerships Between Libraries and Local Congressional and Legislative Offices," moderated by Barbara Alexander, Illinois State University. A congressional staffer, a former lobbyist and current public library trustee, and a documents librarian all spoke on their unique perspectives of how to approach and benefit from contact with each other. Their presentations follow.

Sue Cleary, Staff Assistant, U.S. Congressman Lane Evans

There are a variety of ways to contact your local congressional office. The majority of our contacts are by phone. It is convenient, quick and requires minimal effort on the part of the caller. Although it is a good way to obtain additional information on an ongoing case, if we need to contact an agency to assist the caller, most agencies require written authorization to release information to us. Frequently, a follow-up letter from the constituent is required in order for us to assist them.

We also have a number of constituents who visit our office personally. Many people prefer to talk with you face to face. This can be beneficial for both parties. A leisurely conversation can help get to the root causes of the issue and it also affords the opportunity to complete any necessary forms. The drawback to a personal visit is the tendency for interruptions. Our office is very busy at times and the phones ring almost continually. This can make even a friendly conversation stressful.

The preferred way to contact your congressman is in writing. Most agencies will accept a constituent letter as written authorization to obtain information. When the issue is put into writing it is usually clear exactly what the issue is. For the staff, it creates a convenient record for setting up constituent casework. My recommendation for librarians wishing to initiate contact with a congressman is to write a letter of invitation. Explain the purpose of your contact and what you hope to accomplish by building a relationship with his/her office. Knowing the who, what, when, where and why will give them a better idea of your purpose and may lead to a scheduled meeting.

Depository librarians in our district send us reminders of their upcoming meetings and send us information regarding past meetings. Although we are not always able to attend their meetings, we appreciate the opportunity and look forward to the ones we can.

I have learned much from these meetings. Even though I had attended Black Hawk College, I was unaware of the resources available through the depository system. As a congressional office we have access to information. But the library has better access to more information and, in many cases, can obtain the information faster. Over the past few years congress has implemented many cost saving measures and eliminated some services we depend on. In the past when a constituent wanted a copy of a bill, we contacted the House Document Room and they sent it to us. Now, we do not have limitless access to information in the House Document Room. Fortunately, legislative information is available online through THOMAS. The complication is that we currently have one printer per office, making it necessary to limit printing information that will tie up the printer for long periods of time. Where do we refer constituents who want copies of lengthy bills or information we cannot find online? Their local depository library.

I recall a depository library meeting where we discussed the technological changes that were happening in our perspective work places. While I was excited, as I was soon to be online and have access to government documents more easily, I was also made

* Irene Herold, Public Services Librarian, Hewes Library, Monmouth College; Rebecca Hultgren, Trustee, Warren County Public Library, Monmouth; and Sue Cleary, Staff Assistant, U.S. Congressman Lane Evans, 17th District, Illinois.

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aware of the drawbacks of this technology. As I recall, libraries who cannot afford the new technology face losing their status as depository libraries. Additionally, as more information is put online, not all of it is being put in paper form for local libraries. I can only assume that not all libraries throughout the state have the resources to obtain the necessary equipment to access documents online. This must be a great disappointment to those who work hard to maintain their libraries and the people who depend on their services. And as you are all no doubt well aware, this wonderful technology we are becoming so dependent on is not always dependable. When a server is down, so is everyone who depends on it.

Recently, I had a man in my office who wanted information from the Freedom of Information Act. I checked a standardized Freedom of Information Act form used by the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the form noted where the Act was in the U.S. Code. I then went to the House Web site and clicked on U.S. Code. After the usual churning noises of my computer, I received one of those dreaded messages. "Unable to connect. Server may be down." So with the code and section number in his hand, my constituent headed a few blocks to the Galesburg Public Library. They have a copy of the U.S. Code on the shelf. To look at it does not require anything more technologically advanced than the ability to read.

How do I know they have a copy of the U.S. Code on the shelf? I received a tour of the Galesburg Public Library during one of the library meetings I was able to attend earlier this year. I am now aware of the services of the local library and do not hesitate to refer constituents to them or use them myself.

I hope all of you have a chance to share your knowledge and services with your local representatives, and I encourage you to do so.

Rebecca Hultgren, former lobbyist and current Warren County Public Library Trustee

I will focus my comments in two areas: First, how you and your association can involve yourself in the legislative process and, secondly, the legislative process itself.

As a lobbyist for organizations that either had little money to contribute to campaigns or were banned from contributing to campaigns, I was often asked:

• Why should members get to know their legislator?

• What difference does it make if my legislator knows me or not?

• Don't they have their mind made up already?

• I don't have deep pockets, how am I going to get their attention?

• I'm just one person, what difference does one person make?

One person does make a difference. Just ask those elected officials who have won or lost elections by small margins. You are important to your legislator because you vote! The lobbyist in Washington or Springfield, in all likelihood, does not cast a vote in your district. YOU DO!

The time to cement a relationship with your elected officials is before you need them on an issue. Making those contacts throughout the year with them and their staff will create a more speedy response when the going gets tough.

How do you do that? The best time to catch a legislator is during the non-session months. Arrange a meeting with your organization but be flexible, the legislator has a large number of people that want attention so scheduling sometimes becomes difficult. When you arrange your meeting be prepared.

• Be aware of the legislator's past votes, campaign positions, special interests and past contacts with your organization.

• Be informed about your issues too. Gather facts on the topics, especially those with local relevance that might be persuasive to the legislator.

• Anticipate any opposition and be prepared to respond.

• Show respect for the person and the office. Don't be rude or threatening, it will get you no where.

• Keep a sense of proportion and realize that the subject in which you are so interested may not be important to the person you are meeting with, unless you are able to make it so.

• Don't be afraid to admit ignorance on specific points. Find the information and get back to the office, which also makes a nice follow-up.

• LISTEN as well as talk; communication is a two-way street. Let your elected official present their side fully.

It isn't necessary to go to Washington or Springfield or even to leave your house to lobby. If you can make a telephone call or write a letter, you can be a lobbyist. Timing is important though.

Legislators often hear from constituents who want something or disagree with them. Legislators rarely hear from citizens when they are doing a good job. Don't forget to send a note of appreciation when your legislator supports your positions or does something you like. It won't be forgotten.

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Don't get discouraged. Rarely is legislative action definitive. Bills that don't get out of committee the first year may sail through the legislature the next. Developing legislative interest in the issue and establishing your own credibility can help lay the groundwork for future success. The legislative process builds on itself.

There are instances in which an individual was diligent in providing their legislator with information about an issue they felt was important, and because of that the legislator felt comfortable contacting that person when the issue was being discussed. In other words, individuals can become the sounding board for the legislator when topics related to specific issues are being discussed. We cannot expect our elected officials to be experts on every issue that comes before them. In general, legislators focus their attention on a handful of specific issues and rely on the lobbyist and local citizens to help educate them on the rest.

I believe the "citizen lobby" can be an incredibly powerful tool to influence change. If organized and perseverant, change can be realized and solid working relationships can be forged. It's not a difficult task, but it does take resolve, planning and diligence to be successful.

To illustrate these traits and offer an analogy of the legislative process, I'd like to use our prairie project at home as an example. My husband and I bought several acres of pasture ground four years ago. Our idea was to construct a home on the portion close to the street, and convert the back portion to a prairie. Our idea, much like those ideas of constituents, was met with skepticism on the part of many. Why would we want to grow weeds, many asked? You can't do it, was another response. Yet we knew our idea had merit.

The first year we found our allies, namely the State Department [no Natural Resources] of Conservation, biology professors from our local college and other nature nuts we knew. We seeded our 1.5 acre plot and commenced to watch the weeds grow. If you are familiar with prairie plants, you may know that it sometimes takes a year or two for a plant to sprout. So... we met our first obstacle. Yet we tried to be diligent in cutting the thistle, but it eventually won, at least in year one. The legislative process works much the same way. You introduce your ideas in the purest form you can imagine. But its very difficult to keep the weeds out; in other words, from having the content of your legislation changed so radically, it's hard to recognize it as yours.

The League of Women Voters (LWV) encountered this when they introduced their Household Hazardous Waste Collection legislation. Hoping to enact a statewide collection program. They encountered numerous obstacles. While discouraged, they chose to modify their proposal and reintroduce it the following session.

Back at the prairie, year two began with the burn. We wiped the slate clean. Over the winter we had also lobbied some of our potential opposition, namely our neighbor whose desk overlooked our prairie plot, and the farmer whose cattle grazed next to the prairie. With our clean slate and our opposition neutralized, we eagerly waited for the summer months. We plugged the prairie with more new plants, sought expert advise on keeping the weeds to a minimum and accepted reality — weeds were inevitable. Year two was more of a success, our coalition was growing, our negative influence was less, and by fall some of our hoped for grasses were in bloom. Such is the legislative process. With persistence, neutralizing the opposition, accepting compromise and being thankful for small steps, small miracles can occur.

The LWV expanded their coalition by working with environmental groups; even the firefighters union took an interest in the issue. Changing the program from a mandated statewide program to a one-year pilot program neutralized some of the opposition. At the same time they took the job of educating their own members very seriously. A well-informed membership could in turn help to educate their legislators. In effect, the LWV had a lobby team of thousands working for it.

On the prairie we have just completed year three. We have a fairly good stand of Big Blue stem, our summer flowers were beautiful and we only hunted thistle once a week instead of every day. The prairie is a field trip sight for local junior high school students. I know we have a long way to go to reach our goal but each year we take one step further, and such is the way with legislation. There are rarely any big steps in the legislative arena. Individuals must be willing to form coalitions, and accept those small steps as major triumphs.

It took the LWV three years to pass a household hazardous waste collection program. The League began their drive with an all-out, all encompassing drive to provide these collections in every community. The final result was a program three years later that provides this service to about 15 communities each year. It would have been very easy to be discouraged the first year, even the second, but the end result of their efforts can be seen each time a community provides this service to its residents. But, the LWV didn't do this because they hired a lobbyist to be present in Springfield; they relied in part in their membership to lobby. They also did not accomplish it by working independently; they built their coalitions and worked in partnership with them. I would like to encourage all of you to get to know your elected officials, beyond

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what you might read in the local papers or see on the television. I believe you will find most of them eager to listen, eager to learn and willing to consider your ideas.

Irene Herold, Public Services Librarian, Hewes Library, Monmouth College

From an early age I have been politically aware. My father was a state Superior Court Judge, and when I was in high school I served as a Senate page for our local legislature. During my years as a teacher in the public schools, I was elected three times as political action chair for the education association. During my term, I coordinated and participated in mailings, attended receptions and legislative days at the State Capitol and ran phone banks. I also was the state education association's liaison to a House of Representatives candidate's campaign. Once I became a librarian and head of documents at my library, I founded along with Sheila Nollen the 17th Congressional District Federal Documents Librarian (17th CDFDL) group. This group meets quarterly, and early on we decided that connecting with our local congressional representative would be a positive move in terms of meeting our outreach mandates as depository libraries and providing better service to our congressional district constituencies.

While attending the Federal Depository Library Conference in 1994,1 attended a session on talking to your legislator/congressperson. The following suggestions were made:

1. Make an appointment with the official and/or their staff at their office OR

2. Invite them to a meeting

3. Have a single issue or focus

4. Leave literature including how to contact you for questions

5. Ask what kinds of questions they get from constituents AND what they wish you could do to help

6. Tell them ways you can assist them with depository and other materials

This seemed straight forward and ideal for the 17th CDFDL group to do. It took three years before we successfully connected with our congressman. Our first misstep was to mail the letter inviting the congressman to meet with us in his Washington, D.C. office. The response, if there was one, was from a staffer to thank us for the invitation and suggest that while the representative could not make that date, we should set something up for the future. Next, we sent literature about the libraries with another invitation to meet. Then I started attending fundraisers, paying out of my own pocket, hoping that I would get the opportunity to connect with the congressman. I spoke to him at three different functions, inviting him to visit the library or attend a meeting. He went to my husband's business and held a press conference in the same town as the library, and another time he was on campus to speak informally on student financial aid, but neither time did he come to the library. Finally, the 17th CDFDL group decided to contact his local offices. Within months we arranged a meeting.

We met with the staffers in their offices. Among the items we discussed were Internet document sources. They were not yet online and had no idea of the electronic resources available. We also talked about what kinds of resources we each held and were available constituencies. We offered to link to our representative's Web site from our institutional Web pages, but he still does not have one. We reiterated what we could do for them, not just what we wanted.

Since that first meeting, the staffers have met with us at three out of the four libraries in our congressional district. We plan our meetings a year in advance to help them accommodate their schedules. This does not guarantee that they will be able to attend our meetings, but it has improved our chances. It has been clear through these joint meetings that the staffers had no idea of the resources available in the libraries. After their visits, referrals from the offices to the libraries, and vice-a-versa, have dramatically increased, improving information services in our congressional district.

During the last year, our representative has visited two out of the four depository libraries in the district. When he came to my library, my focus was on the effect of electronic documents on depository services; his focus was on federal funding for education. We were able to meet both of our goals and held a joint press conference with the local media.

In conclusion, be realistic about what you hope to accomplish by connecting to an elected official. This is a process of building a relationship, and good relationships take time. Have a clear idea of your goals for this connection such as supporting your representative, encouraging the use of library materials and community outreach. Recognize that your priorities will not necessarily be your representative's, so be flexible and adjust. Make sure the benefit of the relationship is clear to the staffers and officials. Tell them in print and in person what kind of information needs your library can provide, and when they visit make sure you contact your library's publicity department and local news agencies. Follow up with a thank you letter, not only is this good manners, but it also gives you another opportunity to express your point. If you want further interaction and participation plan events a year in advance to accommodate a busy schedule.

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Despite the enormous effort it initially took to make the connection to our congressional official and his staff, it has been rewarding. We now know whom to refer constituents to for immigration and social services assistance. They now know the vast variety and wealth of resources available at their local libraries. It is a relationship that has benefitted us both.

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