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Legislative Effectiveness & State Government Committee

Meeting Summary
August 2005

Meeting Session:		Win the Battle… Without Burning the Battlefield
Overview & Presenters:		When candidates and lawmakers  attack the Legislature while promoting themselves in campaigns or agendas, the institution pays a price in the public eye.  This session explored how to highlight yourself and your issues while strengthening the “people’s” branch of government. Moderator:  Mitchell S. McCartney, Director, Unicameral Information Office, Nebraska Presenters:  Representative Rob Eissler, Texas Wendy Madsen, Legislative Information Officer, Legislative Service Office,                          Wyoming Terry Thompson, Political Consultant, TR Strategies, Olympia,                          Washington
Summary:		Mitch McCartney illustrated some of the negative publicity that legislatures have been receiving.  One state house member called his state’s senate dysfunctional.  One citizen poll showed that a majority of citizens felt that the legislature wouldn’t get anything done on health care.  One media story said that the state capital looked “more and more like a criminal enterprise.”  These stories have a decidedly negative impact on the legislature so legislators and staff have to take decisive steps to counteract this trend. Representative Rob Eissler noted that we must return to the practice of being able to disagree with each other without damaging our friendships and trust in each other.  Democracy truly is the best form of government mankind has found and we need to support it.  He said that attacking fellow legislators tears at the institutional framework and that throwing mud only causes a legislator to lose ground.  The key, Representative Eissler noted, is to build relationships through communication.  Legislators need to be precise and direct; attack issues, not people; and avoid putting people on the defensive.  He emphasized the need to earn respect through listening to and knowing your colleagues.  Above all, be reliable by being dependable, consistent, honest and observing confidentiality.  Appreciate others and tell them the truth.  This respect for individuals will build the foundation for respect for the legislative institution.  Terry Thompson related his experiences moving from majority party status to being in the minority.  It deeply hurts to lose the power you’ve been used to. In these circumstances, it is easy to lash out at the other side, but Terry offered some reminders: ·       On any issue, the other side has some valid points. ·       You seldom gain by questioning the other side’s motives. ·       On most issues you will find the solution in the “gray area” between the initial starting points. ·       Keep your sense of perspective—the legislature will carry on after you’ve left the scene. Wendy Madsen offered some key messages for promoting the legislature.  Using materials from NCSL, noted scholar Alan Rosenthal and others, Wendy developed a ten point list that legislators and staff can use to promote the legislature. 1.       Hollywood Has it Wrong.  Hollywood loves to lampoon politicians, but the real world is quite different.  Legislatures are filled with legislators and staff who work to solve problems through debate, negotiation and compromise. 2.       We Don’t All Agree. When we spend time with people who think like we do, we may start to believe that there is clear agreement about the key issues of the day.  However, citizen agreement is only on a superficial level: better schools, lower taxes, improved roads and so on.  The devil is in the details.  It takes real work to find the specific solutions to problems. 3.       You Can’t Win ‘em All.  We are conditioned in our society to compete and strive to win.  However, in a representative democracy, one group or one person can’t win all the time.  4.       Change Takes Time.  We are an instant gratification society, but democracy has been designed with “speed bumps” so that we don’t rush to judgment.  Patience and careful deliberation are the hallmarks of good public policy. 5.       Your Ideas Count.  People often believe that legislators don’t listen to ordinary people.  However, legislators are regular folks, too.  They care deeply about their communities and what their constituents think. 6.       You are a Special Interest.  Although special interests tend to be vilified, all Americans are represented directly or indirectly by special interests.  Eight out of 10 Americans belong to an organized group with a policy agenda. 7.       We are Just like You.  Legislators live and work in the same community as their constituents.  Most legislators run for office because they believe they can make a difference.  8.       Politics is Messy.  Like an ice cream sundae, politics can be messy, but it can be wonderful.  Although politics can be slow, contentious conflict is normal and the U.S. has a great record on peacefully settling its differences. 9.       We Have the Gold Standard.  The world looks to America for lessons in government.  Newly emerging democracies look to us for tips on establishing safe and effective methods of governance. 10.    You Have the Keys.  The government belongs to you.  “We the People” is not an empty phrase.  It’s up to you to get involved and participate.  Call, write or email your legislator and come to public meetings.

Meeting Session:		Sharpening Top-Notch Skills
Overview & Presenters:		Part 1 – Maintaining Your Tools for Better Legislative Construction Good communication is essential. The first part of this program focused on the changing nature of communication and how to harness it effectively in the legislative environment. Presenting complex technical information clearly, navigating a diverse workplace and across generations, and honing your contact with outside stakeholders were explored.   Moderator:   Judy Hall, Secretary of the Senate, Legislative Assembly, Oregon Speakers:   John Turcotte, President, Turcotte Public Administration Consulting and Training,  Tallahassee, Florida Panelists:   Delegate Robert Brink, Virginia Alice Bolin, Senior Legislative Analyst, Office of Intergovernmental Relations,  Clark County, Nevada Michael Sunseri, Director of Photography, Legislative Research Commission, Kentucky Part 2 –Whistle While You Work  The second part of this program explored techniques for reducing stress in the legislative workplace. Many legislators and legislative staff have methods for maintaining their cool, their political balance, and their high work standards when legislative activity is at its most frenzied. This session allowed attendees to share their professional experiences when tensions are high and deadlines loom.   Moderator:  Frank Parisi, Principal Research Analyst, Office of Legislative Services, New Jersey Speaker:   Laura Asbell, Asbell Professional Group, Spokane, Washington Panelists:   Karl Aro, Executive Director, Department of Legislative Services, Maryland Representative Rosie Berger, Wyoming Representative Rob Eissler, Texas Senator Peter Groff, President Pro Tempore, Colorado David Henderson, Legislative Administrator, Legislative Administration, Oregon Clarence Russ, Chief Sergeant at Arms, House of Representatives, Louisiana
Summary:		Judy Hall described the recent practice of NCSL to have a “mega-session” for staff at annual meeting and mentioned the commitment to continue the practice.  She introduced John Turcotte, the speaker for Part I of the session. John Turcotte identified five themes for consideration: ·       Legislators are powerful and are at the center of a swirl of information. ·       Technology exacerbates that swirl. ·       Generational and personality differences affect how legislators communicate. ·       Staffers must sharpen their communication skills and take this all into account. ·       The Power Briefing technique helps staffers improve these key skills. John told the audience that a staff presentation was just one tiny blip on a huge screen for legislators.  You have to do something to make your presentations stand out in the swirl of information.  This chaotic swirl of information is increasing with technology, and staff must use their skills to synthesize the vast amounts of information available.  It’s not enough just to find relevant information—you have to use your analytical ability to make it concise and precise for legislators. Also, the staffer needs to understand different generational and personality differences found in legislators.  John described the Traditionalist and Baby Boom generations and Generations X and Y.  Traditionalists (born 1922-1945) tend to favor face-to-face communications, appreciate formality, hate wasting time and value trust.  Baby Boomers (1946-1964) like an open and direct style, expect their questions to be answered thoroughly and appreciate options and flexible thinking.  Generation Xers (1965-1978) want straight talk and facts, want to give feedback and favor informal communication.  Generation Yers (1979-1994) like to test limits, use visual imagery and resent being talked down to. John also described the Myers Briggs personality types.  He mentioned the dimensions of introversion/extraversion, intuiting/sensing, thinking/feeling and judging/perceiving.  The key is to understand that any group of people, including legislators, is likely to have a range of personality types, and presenters need to know how to reach out to all of them.  Some people want facts and logic; others want stories and appeals to emotion.  Some want options; others want decisions or clear recommendations.  Some want the big picture; others want the details.  John gave suggestions on how to assuage each of the personality types. To be successful, John recommended a Power Briefing technique.  The presenter provides an overview first that frames the presentation, provides the key message and makes the summary points.  The presenter then sustains the message making each point meaningful with facts, stories and images.  The presenter then answers any questions and concludes by connecting the individual points into a complete picture. The reactor panel added their own words of advice.  Robert Brink urged the group to be crisp and concise, to avoid acronyms and strive to protect legislators by speaking “truth to power.”  Alice Bolin stressed the value of email for internal and external communication and group discussions, the impatience of legislators if staff fail to answer their questions and the need to observe confidentiality.  Michael Sunseri advised the group to take advantage of technology.  The expectations of legislators have increased, so staff need to take full advantage of email, list serves, photo links and other options to meet these demands. In Part II, Frank Parisi led the seven-member panel through a fast-paced question-and-answer and comment session.  Representative Rob Eissler stressed the value of attitude, noting that adopting a positive attitude usually leads to positive results.  He also quoted Victor Frankl, famed concentration camp survivor and developer of existential psychology, who said that “everything can be taken away from man but one thing—the last human freedom, to choose one’s attitude in any set of circumstances.”  Dave Henderson noted that the most stressful part of the job is when a legislator calls and you have no idea why he or she is upset.  It is the classic fear of the unknown.  Once you know the problem, you can start positive steps to correct it or mitigate the damage. Clarence Russ noted that the roles of legislators in causing stress to staff.  Although he likes and deeply respects legislators, he finds that they always want a lot of service right before session and they wait until the last minute to ask.  Representative Rosie Berger said that the key to dealing with stress is building relationships—with legislators, staff and others.  The strength of their relationships is something that will help you in the tough times.  However, in some overwhelming times, Rosie suggested taking a walk or getting away from a few minutes to clear your head.  Sometimes the stress is so great you need some reflection time. Senator Peter Groff mentioned the value of getting perspective.  One time when Peter was angry over the way a television reporter had edited his interview, he called home and talked to his young son.  The son was excited just to see his dad on television.  Peter let go of much of his anger over the incident, enjoying his son’s reaction to the clip. Karl Aro reminded the group that there is always time to get the work done.  He stressed being prepared and confident, becoming the master of your subject area and enjoying what you do.  In wrap-up Laura Aspell mentioned that the panelists had the right idea—keep a positive perspective on your work challenges. Stress can come in the form of values dilemmas, time pressures, interruptions and many other things.  The suggestions by the group also included actual problem solving, honesty and humor, all valuable in dealing with stress.  She also emphasized the importance of exercise and sleep in preparing you for dealing with stress and the problems that alcohol and overeating can cause.

Meeting Session:		Are Legislators Understaffed?
Overview & Presenters:		State legislatures have developed a wide variety of staffing options.  How do you strike the balance between partisan and nonpartisan staff and among personal, house and joint staff?  This session showed the range of practices and the pros, cons and political consequences about the choices. Moderator:   Laura Rose, Deputy Director, Legislative Council, Wisconsin Presenters:   Representative Sharon Tomikos Santos, Washington Senator Jeff Wentworth, Texas Laura Bauman, Chief of Staff, Senate Democratic Caucus,         Indiana Kimberly Chavis, Chief Counsel, Bureau of Legislative Research, Arkansas
Summary:		Laura Rose introduced the panel and described some of the themes for the session.  As well as balancing partisan and unpartisan concerns and house and senate concerns, she noted that the most important aspect was to set the overall staffing level to ensure that the legislature can assert its authority compared to the executive branch. Senator Jeff Wentworth described the staffing patterns in the Texas Senate, where each senator has a larger district than those of members of Congress.  Senators receive $34,000 per month, which he uses to employ 10 full-time employees on his personal staff.  He also has four positions to staff the committee that he chairs.  The Texas Senate is on the high end of staff personnel compared to other states.  Senator Wentworth provided the context that the Texas Senate does not have majority and minority leaders and that they have some minority party chairs.  The senators have full discretion to hire and fire and set salaries and duties for their personal employees.  They also have a powerful Lieutenant Governor who appoints all the chairs and members of Senate committees.  These partisan personal staff are all in addition to traditional bill drafting, research, fiscal and other nonpartisan staff in Texas.  Representative Sharon Tomikos Santos discussed Washington House staffing patterns.  Washington uses a system where one senator and two representatives all share the same district.  Each representative has a legislative aide, whose salary is set by the House.  She feels the House is understaffed in comparison to the Senate.  Washington also has professional partisan caucus staff and traditional (fiscal, research, bill drafting, etc.) nonpartisan staff.  She feels that mix of personal, partisan and nonpartisan staff works pretty well.  She appreciates the nonpartisan staff’s ability to really know their subject areas and to maintain confidentiality.  She also values the partisan staff’s ability to think strategically about bills.  Finally, she noted the trend in Washington and nationwide to rely less on session-only staff and more on full-time staff. Laura Bauman described the changes she has seen in 30 years of staff work in Indiana.  Legislators used to be part-time, but the demands on their time have greatly increased.  Thirty years ago there were lots of session-only staff, but that has totally changed to a predominately full-time staff.  However, they do take advantage of an excellent intern program during the session.  Laura mentioned that the most effective legislators are the ones who understand the value of different kinds of partisan and nonpartisan staff and get the most out of each.  She noted that the keys to hiring involved looking for personable and flexible people who know how to show initiative.  On the legislative front line, with the ever changing demands of the legislature, those traits are critical.  In terms of future trends, she noted that the growth area will be in personal staff and that the legislature must develop in-house training for all employees. Kimberly Chavis described the Arkansas staff structure, which has a large nonpartisan presence with the Bureau of Legislative Research (BLR) and smaller House and Senate staffs.  BLR has legal, research, fiscal and information technology services.  Kimberly agreed with Laura about the critical need for flexibility, as serving members often requires a staffer to go outside his or her traditional role.  Kimberly spent some time examining the effect of term limits.  Members now are less likely to know what staff can do, so staffers have to be more proactive in letting members know about the range of services.  Staffers have become the keepers of the institutional knowledge.  She urged staff directors to hire innovative people and to look more to ability and experience, and less to the educational background of an applicant. During the question and answer session the panelists also cited research and district office staff as being potential growth areas.  Finally, they noted that all states should look at ways to better utilize staff in the interim periods between legislative sessions.