Lobbying for Change

by Alberto Alemanno

  TIP 21 – Practise Your Empathy

  When preparing for the meeting, you can work on your empathy by asking a set of pre-determined questions that might help you connect with your interlocutor at a deeper, personal level. Is there something that the two of you have in common? You might have studied in the same school, have kids of the same age, or have met in the past in a different setting. Ask yourself: Is there something I can do for them (but don’t necessarily see yet)? What do they see in me?

  Prepare your empathetic connection as much as you can.

  The Meeting

  You’ve found your way to the office where the meeting is going to take place. (Make sure you check the location in advance so as to avoid showing up late – that never makes a good impression!) If you can, try to arrive half an hour in advance – that way, you will have time to go for a brief walk and become familiar with the venue, especially if it is your first visit. You might even bump into other influential people for your campaign – though don’t lose track of time. I still remember an important meeting which I wasted not only because I arrived late, but also because I showed up sweaty and with my heart pounding. I had bumped into an old friend and caught up with him instead of focusing on the meeting! I’m sure you don’t want to throw away all your efforts due to a similar lack of professionalism, right? The good thing about that meeting is that as I was leaving the office, I stumbled upon another big fish and managed to pitch him the issue as well. This earned me another meeting, and I was back in the same building (the European Parliament) the following day. Once you walk the corridors of power, you have an invisible pass … and you ought to use it!

  As you are about to go into the meeting, don’t forget your story: how did you end up being interested in the issue? What was your ‘eureka’ moment? How did you succeed in getting other citizens, perhaps organisations and even companies, to rally to your cause? How much effort did it take to get there? Remember that the more authentic your story is, the more powerful your impact will be.

  As soon as your host gives you the floor, be ready to thank them and their staff for taking the time to meet you and your team. Your next task is to deliver a brief statement which highlights why your host is well placed – due to their long-standing support or sensibility for the issue – to take the lead, or at least assume a stance. This will give you the chance to show that you are familiar with their previous record and the causes they care about. If you can do this in the first few minutes of the meeting, it can be an excellent way of impressing the elected representative, the official and their respective staff. It needs to be done subtly: your aim is not to flatter, but to score points with your host(s). You should then illustrate your proposed solution by emphasising – via the factsheet – the evidence (key facts and figures) you have gathered, as well as the reasons why they ought to support it. Do your best to present your solution as a win. In the meantime, don’t forget to mention and briefly introduce the coalition you have put together, and highlight the number of stakeholders that have signed up.

  Don’t be disappointed if your host shows little understanding of the issue (and even less of the solution). During the time you have been working on your issue, they might have been involved in dozens of different initiatives. They might also be a newcomer in the field and have limited experience of it. Sometimes, they just do not enjoy reading their files and delegate them to their staff. This is why you should get to know the key staffers and aides who work for your host. Occasionally you may end up learning more about them than you do about their bosses. Staff members can be very influential, and often do most of the work on your issue. Never underestimate their work, though do not necessarily compliment them in front of the decision-maker.

  When it comes to the length of the meeting, be flexible. It might be incredibly short but effective, or unexpectedly long and useless. Make sure you leave the meeting with a pending task; you can promise to follow up via email with a particular document, piece of advice or contact so as to keep the conversation going.

  Finally, when you leave the meeting, make sure you remain calm and don’t show your feelings – whether you’re filled with joy or consumed by disappointment. You can do that in private, but only once you have left the building. While you are still on the premises you may well come across other influential figures. Be prepared to seize the moment with an ‘elevator pitch’. This is a short summary that quickly and simply defines a process, product, service, organisation or event and the value it offers.

  TIP 22 – Prep Your Elevator Pitch

  An elevator pitch is one of the most important preparations you can make. As soon as your issue starts to take shape, think about preparing one. As the name suggests, it should be possible to deliver a succinct summary of what you do in the time it takes to ride in a lift – approximately 30 seconds to a minute.

  Imagine you come across someone important in the lift. If the brief conversation that follows is inspiring and meaningful for them, the conversation might continue after the lift ride, or end in the exchange of business cards and a scheduled meeting.

  When preparing it, make sure you convey what you do and for whom, and why it is so essential to society. Back up your message with key stats and figures as well as references to your past record.

  STEP 9: Monitoring and Implementation

  A face-to-face meeting with a decision-maker is a great achievement. Regardless of whether you meet a mayor, an MP or the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, it is one of the most rewarding moments of your citizen lobbying experience. But even when you succeed in ‘selling’ your issue to them and persuading them to act, your battle is not yet over.

  In other words, reaching the meeting stage does not exhaust your citizen lobbying efforts. Finding someone willing to share your battle is only the beginning of a new phase, possibly the last, of your work. Now that you have a heavyweight on board, you need to be vigilant about encouraging them to deliver. Make sure that once your issue is in their hands, it progresses in the way you want it to. Regardless of the avenue you pursue, you reach a point at which decision-makers must follow up on your request. They might initiate a new legislative proposal, put forward some amendments to an existing one, adopt an administrative decision or react to a recent judgement. In any of these scenarios, you must strive to not only monitor their progress but also to work closely with the decision-makers so as to influence the process. It would be frustrating to lose control of ‘your’ issue once you have shared it with an elected representative or administration! Remember, though, that what you want is your issue to be addressed in the most sensible way; it is not about making sure you get all the credit.

  Most of the time, keeping tabs on your decision-maker means following the policy cycle through its various stages, from policy initiation all the way to its implementation. Make sure you monitor developments closely even though you are not directly involved in the formal process. To do this, you rely on your contacts as well as on existing media outlets. Google Alerts may help you follow all the relevant documents that have been published online (for a reminder on setting these up, see page 118). If necessary, you can even file an FOIA request in order to get hold of the documents used in the process. Unfortunately, in most countries preparatory documents need not be disclosed.

  But there are other things you can do to monitor the decision-making process.

  You need to carve out a special role for you and your group in the process in order to make sure the outcome is the one you want. Never forget that if the issue ends up on the political agenda, it is because of your efforts! So you deserve to have the decision-maker’s ear. You may be invited to testify as a citizen expert before public authorities, or simply to act as a representative of your group or coalition at a public event. You may be asked to draft wording for the actual policy proposal as the issue goes through the legislative or administrative process. Make sure you apply the expertise that you’ve gained and put it to good use. All these efforts – togeth
er with the relationships you’ve established with decision-makers – can help get you the result you want. Yet this is not the end of the story.

  Even when your proposed solution becomes law – or an administrative decision is taken – some citizen lobbying may still be needed. Indeed, reaching Step 10 is no guarantee of success. You will still have to make sure it is actually implemented. Should something go wrong, you must be ready to engage with the decision-makers and the whole administration. A new policy may never be enforced, or could be rapidly withdrawn by the same public authorities who supported it – or indeed by a new government. This occurred in Denmark when, after years of citizen campaigning for a fat tax (a price increase on unhealthy foods), it was scrapped just one year after being introduced.53 Under these circumstances, you need to be alert and ready to go back to your lobbying toolbox to identify new courses of action. You must fight for your earlier success and resist any watering-down of the measure.

  By this point, you might already have a group of citizens and perhaps organisations that support your action. Make sure you keep them informed and ready for action.

  STEP 10: Stick to the (Lobbying) Rules

  During your lobbying efforts, you must keep an eye on the law. What can and can’t you do?

  The good news is that as a citizen, you can lobby any public official. In general, each of us – whether a citizen or a permanent resident – enjoys the right to lobby our elected representatives. You don’t have to qualify, sit an exam or face any major obstacles when you choose to speak out. Nor do you have to hire someone to do it for you. However, those who lobby for a third person, and are paid for it, are generally subject to ‘professional lobbying’ regulations. You, as a citizen, are generally exempt from these provisions insofar as what you are doing is not your job!

  Furthermore, the sky is the limit when it comes to your citizen lobbying efforts. There are no restrictions on the number of emails, tweets or letters that you, as a citizen, can write, nor the number of websites and people you may bring on board, nor the phone calls you can make.

  However, this is not to suggest that you have entirely free rein to lobby in the way you want. Unfortunately, you don’t, and a few rules must be observed.

  Firstly, be aware that excessive activity may qualify as stalking and harassment in your jurisdiction.

  Secondly, some of the lobbying avenues you may decide to pursue might insist you comply with some procedural requirements. For example, you can’t go to court without the assistance of a lawyer (see Step 4, The Judicial Avenue, page 196) or file an administrative complaint without following the (generally easy) pre-determined procedures (see page 191).

  Thirdly, rules exist that, although they are predominantly aimed at professional lobbyists, may also apply to you. These rules apply to anyone seeking to influence decision-makers, regardless of whether they are paid or not for doing so. For instance, several countries limit the gifts you may offer to elected representatives and career officials. Their declared objective is to prevent public officials being tempted to capitalise on their status and power and, in some extreme circumstances, even engage in bribery.

  Fourthly, while you as a citizen lobbyist can act alone – as many individuals from our illustrations do – you can also decide to team up with other citizens, start a movement, establish an organisation or even recruit a coalition of actors in order to build a critical mass. While this may enable you to gain as much support as possible, it can also bring your action under the professional lobbying rules. If you team up with an NPO and/or a company, your actions will become subject to those regulations.

  Any lobbying effort designed to influence policymaking by mobilising the general public to support (or oppose) a particular initiative is generally known as grassroots lobbying. It has the advantage of making an issue more visible and educating the public about its relevance. Most citizen lobbying qualifies as grassroots advocacy, insofar as a citizen initiates it and others join in. While grassroots advocacy can be a ‘weapon of the weak’, by allowing new groups to gain a voice in the decisions affecting their lives, it can also be orchestrated and sponsored by industry. This phenomenon is called astroturfing.54 It mobilises the skills of professional lobbyists to help build an infrastructure for genuine activism. In other words, it is becoming increasingly common for companies to pay citizens to lobby for their cause. It sounds cynical to say so – but a lot of public activism, even if it looks like citizen lobbying, is organised behind the scenes by professional lobbyists.

  Most importantly, be aware that lobbying is a constitutionally protected activity across the world. In other words, a sort of ‘right to lobby’ exists. This is because lobbying represents both freedom of speech and expression, as well as the right to petition the government. Virtually all liberal democracies recognise these fundamental rights – although to different extents.

  The concept of petitioning the government dates back to the Magna Carta, a document which was signed by King John I in England in 1215. It reads:

  If we, our chief justice, our officials, or any of our servants offend in any respect against any man, or transgress any of the articles of the peace or of this security, and the offence is made known to four of the said twenty-five barons, they shall come to us – or in our absence from the kingdom to the chief justice—to declare it and claim immediate redress.

  Although the power was only granted to the 25 barons elected by the King, they had the authority to petition him if they felt injustices were being imposed. Later, this right to petition was confirmed and extended by the 1689 Bill of Rights, which states that the King’s subjects are entitled to petition him without fear of prosecution.

  Drawing on these documents, the framers of the US Constitution added the Bill of Rights to their Constitution in 1789. It contained ten Amendments – the first of which was written by James Madison, and contained a clause recognising the right to petition government.

  The right to petition our own governments – though often overlooked in comparison with other constitutional freedoms – is a major, foundational right recognised across liberal democracies. It grants people not only the freedom to stand up and speak out against injustices they feel are occurring, but also grants the power to help change those injustices.

  In the US, the right to petition is one of the fundamental freedoms of all Americans, and has been construed quite extensively by the Supreme Court.55 In the case of Noerr, the Supreme Court affirmed that ‘the whole concept of representation depends upon the ability of the people to make their wishes known to their representatives’.56

  Under the petition section of the US’s first amendment, commonly referred to as the Petition Clause, people have the right to appeal to government about policies that affect them, or about which they feel strongly. This freedom includes the right to gather signatures in support of a cause and to lobby legislative bodies. A simpler definition of the right to petition is the right to present requests to the government without punishment or reprisal.

  Most European countries do not recognise a right to petition the government as an autonomous right, but they certainly see it as a form of protected political expression. The European Union, however, established the right to petition to give EU citizens and residents a simple way of contacting institutions with a request or complaint. This right is conferred by EU citizenship, which is automatically granted to all nationals of the EU member states. A petition must relate to a subject falling within the EU’s sphere of activity and must concern the petitioner directly. If this is not the case, the complaint is declared ineligible. Should you stumble upon the latter scenario, you might want to identify other avenues of action available to you.

  Unlike the US, most European countries and the EU itself do not regulate professional lobbying. It remains first and foremost an activity that serves the goals of participatory democracy, now set out in Article 11 of the Treaty of the EU. However, anyone who seeks to directly or indirectly influence the EU decisio
n-making process is expected to declare it in the EU Transparency Register. Although I am not a professional lobbyist, I was encouraged to register because my citizen lobbying activity often brings me in contact with MEPs as well as European Commission officials. I encourage anyone engaging with EU institutions to do the same. Although voluntary,57 a failure to register may prevent you from entering the EU’s institutional building, putting your long-awaited face-to-face meeting in jeopardy.

  In addition, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights recognises that: ‘Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds …’

  In the United States, the act of citizen petitioning has been particularly effective in bringing about positive change. During the civil rights movement, for example, the Supreme Court upheld the rights of several groups of individuals who were protesting against segregation at public institutions such as libraries and schools, and ruled that these citizens were perfectly entitled to express their rights under the petition clause.

  More recently, the same rights have been upheld in situations involving environmental protests. Oceana, an international organisation dedicated to marine protection and preservation, recently joined over 100,000 citizens in signing a petition protesting against longline fishing in many parts of the Atlantic Ocean. Certain endangered species of sea mammals, turtles and birds had been caught and sometimes killed as a result of the practice. A federal judge went on to ban longline fishing in many areas in order to protect marine wildlife.

  This example shows how lobbying allows interest groups to put forward their views on public decisions that may affect them. It can also improve the quality of decision-making by opening up channels for technical expertise to inform legislators and decision-makers.