Observations on the Lobby Day Training Session

By Heather K. Frese

Originally published in Youth Allied By CFIDS, Summer 1997

The room of nearly 70 persons with CFIDS (PWCs) and CFIDS advocates fell silent as my role-playing group headed to the front of the room. We had spent several hours learning all about lobbying, from the mundane (don't pick your nose in a senator's office… okay, so that was just implied), to the complex (the difference between appropriations and authorizations committees), to the confusing (names, numbers and talking points to memorize as much as possible), and we were ready to go!

Enter Tom Sheridan, professional lobbyist by trade, playing Senator Avoid-the-subject-of-CFIDS-at-all-costs. As we went around the group, each of us stressing a different point, Tom tried to wrangle his way out of the subject like a greased pig. It was up to us to catch him and pin him down, getting his support for increased CFIDS funding. Working together we did pretty well, and the constructive criticism afterward was very helpful, too.

Before the next group went up to bat, I had a moment to review all I'd learned that day and what an eye-opening and exciting experience it had been. The manners we practiced, such as being polite even if someone says something outrageous, shaking hands, sitting up straight and looking people in the eye, work just as well in the real world as they do in a Capitol Hill office. Bluffing does not pay off, we learned, so if you are asked a question and don't know the answer, it is better to say you'll get back to the person with the correct facts instead of making something up. Polite but firm repetition of our requests was also exercised.

Facts and figures was one area I thought would bring me to my knees, but with some quizzing and memorizing, along with a cheat-sheet to be held on my lap, it was no problem at all. CFIDS Association executive director Kim Kenney did an excellent job of explaining the difference between appropriations (the givers-away of money) and authorizations (the bill language writers) committees by using this analogy: You want to go to the movies, so you ask your Dad, the appropriator, for money. He says to go check with Mom, the authorizer, first. Mom-the-authorizer says you can go see a PG-13 flick and stay out until 11 p.m. You take these words to Dad-the-appropriator, and he says, okay, here's your money. It's important to know this because the things you ask for are different depending on whether the office you visit is an appropriator's or an authorizer's.

It was the second group's turn at the role-playing action, and Kim Kenney swooped in to play the character of Representative CFIDS-doesn't-affect-my-committee. In a hurry to catch a plane, Representative Kim tried everything to get rid of the group and was "astounded" to learn that kids got CFIDS. When told about the symptoms, she breezily said that she might have CFIDS too. Still, the group maintained its composure and even managed to make her realize how CFIDS affected her committee, thus gaining her support.

The third gang of trainees found themselves talking with Doralee Halperin, a lobbyist with the Sheridan Group, who acted the part of the sympathetic legislative aide. Upon speaking with her they found that the senator she worked for was not on a committee that could help CFIDS, so they had to give her all the facts, plus ask that she secure a letter of support from her boss to the chairs of the appropriations and authorizations committees.

All in all, I found the Lobby Day training session to be empowering, informative, exciting and fun. Before training I was nervous, but when I got into my first appointment, all the role-playing and practicing kicked in and pretty soon I was rattling off requests and talking with ease.

It was quite a change from my normally quiet self, and I look forward to next year when I will once again unleash persistent, talkative Heather during the training session in preparation for my visits. And who knows, maybe she'll even stick around a bit until then.