Becoming Your Own Lobbyist

The North Carolina General Assembly reconvened on January 29th, and as the Representatives and Senators walked up the steps of the Legislature Building, there were hundreds, literally hundreds, of registered lobbyists waiting for them with open arms.

Think about that, just for a minute. Hundreds of paid lobbyists, who have no other job responsibility than to convince your representatives how to vote during this legislative session. Feeling nervous yet?

You should be. Don't you think you ought to spend a few minutes and let your representatives know what you think?

Lord knows, they aren't going to pick up the phone and call you. They don't go home at night and think, "You know, I think I'll dash off a letter to that charming activist that asked so many intriguing questions at last year's Town Hall meeting." Sorry, it just ain't gonna happen. You have to take the initiative.

But what's their phone number? What's their address? Who's on the committees? Heck what are the committees? All this information can be found in the "Rules Directory." The House Rules Directory can be ordered from the Principal Clerk of the House by calling (919)733-7760 and the Senate Rules Directory can be ordered by calling the Principal Clerk of the Senate at (919)733-7761. Both publications are free; i.e., paid for by the taxpayers.

If you would like to receive printed copies of pending legislation, you can call the Printed Bills office at (919)733-5648 and request a copy of the bill. They would prefer that you refer to the bill by its official bill number, but if you know the sponsor or the short name of the bill, they can generally figure out which one you're looking for.

Armchair activists with World Wide Web access may get his information, the text and status of pending legislation, and daily legislative calendars from the General Assembly's website at http://www.ncga.state.nc.us.

Clerks at the General Assembly are usually quite responsive to requests and online access to information is handy. But politics is as much about relationships among people as it is about information, perhaps more. The shrewd Armchair Activist will always call his representative's office and kindly as the representative's office staff to answer questions about pending legislation, etc. Even if the office staff does nothing more than give you the phone number for the Printed Bills office, it's still an opportunity to register interest in the issue with his staff.

And don't just ask about what's in the bill, ask what's happening to the bill. Is it likely to get out of committee? What is your representative doing to promote it (or block it)? What are the controversial aspects of it? What parts are likely to change? You might not get answers to any of these questions, but it never hurts to ask.

Letters and phone calls to your representative should always be polite, respectful, and brief.  You should never be rude, emotional, confrontational, or threatening. You can, however, assume that your representative is a man or woman of the highest calibre, who can be depended upon to Do the Right Thing. To wit: "Senator Jones, I know you are a staunch supporter of Democracy and will vote in favor of the Ballot Access Reform Bill sponsored by Wib Gulley, and I just want you to know that you have my full support and sincere thanks."

Before writing or calling, you should be familiar with what your representative has been saying in the papers and on TV. The more your representative knows that you're following his actions and public statements, the more likely e is to take you seriously. In addition to your local newspaper and news shows, North Carolina PBS airs a Legislative Report show every night that the legislature is in session. Check your local TV listings for the exact time.  While the show often allows area journalists to give you their interpretation of the day's events, the show also does a pretty good job of simply covering who said what on both sides of the issues so you can interpret the day's events for yourself.

Imagine, if you will, that a special interest group has been lobbying the North Carolina legislature for two years to fund a museum. And suppose that for two years in a row, the legislature, which represents the people of North Carolina, has decided that the proposed museum is not worthy of state funding. Now suppose that this special interest group has more influence with the Governor than they do with the General Assembly and they convince the Governor to allocate "special funds" money raised by the General Assembly to fund their rejected museum. Would this be ethical? Would it be legal?

This is far from being a hypothetical situation. It has happened. The museum is called Exploris and is located in Raleigh. The Governor is our current Governor, Jim Hunt. What's worse is that this act of bypassing the will of the people could become routine practice if the currently proposed budget is approved. The fine folks at the John Locke Foundation were the first to discover this scary provision in the current budget proposal and it's up to Armchair Activists across the state to publicize the scam and defeat it.

Currently, the Executive Budget Act, which defines how the governor spends his budget, states that the Governor may not use funds from any source, no matter how the funds are raised, for anything that the legislature has considered but rejected.

In other words, the legislature has the final say on how state funds are used. But buried in the currently proposed budget bill, there is a provision titled "Modifications to the Executive Budget Act", which would remove this restraint on the Governor. If passed, this provision would allow the Governor to spend "special funds" money on projects that the legislature had previously rejected "after prior consultation" with the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations. Note that the Governor would not need approval from the commission, he just has to "consult" with them on the matter.

So, for example, if the General Assembly considers a bill to fund the Exploris museum but rejects the bill. The Governor would legally be able to use state money to fund the museum, even against the wishes of the General Assembly.

Armchair Activists across the state need to lobby their NC House representatives to remove the provision titled "Modifications to the Executive Budget Act" from the proposed budget bill. The bill numbers are Senate Bill 352 and House Bill 493. In addition to lobbying your local representatives, Armchair Activists should send letters to the current heads of the House Appropriations Committee:

Representative Carolyn B. Russel
phone: (919) 715-0875
e-mail: carolynr@ms.ncga.state.nc.
us mail:
2207 LB,
North Carolina General Assembly,
Raleigh, NC 27601-1096

Representative Gene Wilson
phone: (919) 733-7727
e-mail: Genew@ms.ncga.state.nc.
us mail:
1109 LB,
North Carolina General Assembly,
Raleigh, NC 27601-1096

When writing letters to the editor and calling into talk shows, be sure to mention that the "Modifications to the Executive Budget Act" provision of the proposed budget would bypass the will of the people and make the Governor's spending accountable to nobody. Be sure to cite the Exploris museum in Raleigh as a perfect example of why we can't afford to give the Governor this kind of powers. Any proposal that has twice been rejected by the legislature should not be funded by the Governor.

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