Hintonblogger

Legislative work is all about relationships, relationships, relationships - in the summer especially when they are off-session. The quality of those relationships will determine if they call on you for info when a vote is up in the legislature. Term limited legislators rely more heavily on lobbyists and staff - so you should target those people in term limit states.

Next Question: What should you never do in working with legislators? Don't go in just with you handout - you need a compelling elevator speech to explain simply, quickly, and powerfully. If you don't know something, don't BS - tell them I don't know, but I will find out and get back to them quickly.

3rd Question: How do you go about creating your value proposition for your initiative?

Quantify, Quantify, Quantify - if you don't have something similar - use data from like populations that do have data as a basis.

No one wants to be a backwater - you can trot out comparisons with other states if you need some firepower

Keep your value proposition simple and succinct.