How to Get on the Winning Side
of Public Policy Debates
I
n many ways, participation in
government is about competition. There are winners and losers.
Winners know how to shape
public policy in a way that benefits their
interests. In many cases, losers simply
don’t take the time to care about
harmful proposals or new government regulations until it is too late to
change them.
You don’t have to be a
government relations
professional to protect
your business interests. It may seem
that lobbyists who
do business on
Capitol Hill or
at the statehouse have
a lot more
political
clout than
you do.
2014 Issue 3 |
the
SCORE
16
by Sarah Longwell
But a cooperative
“grassroots” effort
by people with
shared political
interests dramatically increases the likelihood that your
concerns will be heard, and that legislators will be swayed by your input.
Participation in the public policy
process should be an important part of
your day-to-day operations. If you learn
about a threat that would affect your
business, say, for example, lowering the
legal BAC limit from 0.08 to 0.05, your
efforts to fight back may just make the
difference between winning and losing.
Grassroots initiatives are carried
out by business owners and employees,
members of civic associations and citizens
from a lawmaker’s own district or state,
known as constituents. These constituents
call, write or meet with their legislators to
discuss their concerns. And their voices
are heard, because for all their influence,