think about how you feel right now
having listened to such a beautiful
musical performance what if you could
feel that way about politics
wouldn’t that be astonishing well
unfortunately we’re pretty far from that
these days certainly at the federal
level we’re hyper partisanship and
dysfunction and alternative facts fill a
never ending news cycle but despite the
political discord I would argue that our
politics is far from broken and that
change is within our grasp most of us
are already working to create change in
some fashion we’re marching for our
lives for the climate for equality
there’s really no shortage of issues to
take action on an action is needed but
when something seems broken on the
inside it can be difficult to feel that
you can change things from the outside I
want to talk with you today about how we
all can play a role in fixing politics
on the inside and I also want to talk to
you about how lobbyists can help lead
the way so I know what you’re probably
thinking some of you at least aren’t
lobbyists part of the swamp that we’re
supposed to be draining we represent
huge corporations and special interests
we buy votes we’ve ruined political
careers we run over anybody in our way
right we’re part of the reason the
system is broken if you’ve seen the
movie thank you for smoking you might
remember this guy
so this is Nick Naylor nick is a federal
tobacco lobbyist who specializes in
and I think this quote is perfect in
terms of summing up the persona says I
mean there’s Attila Genghis and me Nick
Naylor the face of cigarettes the
Colonel Sanders of nicotine now is this
reality where I work in Oregon at least
I don’t really know a lot of guys like
this but their persona sticks most of us
don’t represent big oil big tobacco Big
Pharma or even big poultry really we
represent nonprofits local governments
school districts universities family
farmers and businesses and we do it in
large part because we care but as with
any lobbyist my job is simple I’m paid
to influence lawmakers to vote in the
interest of my clients so political
influence that’s a phrase that conjures
up images of greed and power and
corruption and perhaps most of all money
and perhaps it should because lobbyists
with deep pocketed clients have a
distinct advantage over the others
they’re the Gateway to campaign
contributions and they can be
particularly persuasive with lawmakers
think about net neutrality fully 83% of
the American public when polled
supported maintaining that neutrality
protections at the FCC did away with
I wish there was less money in politics
significantly less and I think most of
us do the amount of money of politics is
more of an issue of campaign finance
reform than it is of lobbying or
lobbying ethics but it creates a really
important question for the rest of us
which is in an age of big money and
citizens united where corporations are
people and money is speech how do the
rest of us keep up and how does the
public win the answer is by doing
everything else
well because money is just one form of
political currency and there are many
others knowledge collaboration trust
work ethic creativity the ability to
find a solution where no one thought
there was one these are the political
currencies of good lobbyists and we need
good lobbyists I’d like to use an
example a recent example to illustrate
why last session in Oregon we passed one
of the most innovative and progressive
transportation funding packages in the
nation over the next decade it will
bring in 3.5 billion for streets and
highways a billion for public transit
200 million for walkable and bikeable
trails and safe routes to school and
over 100 million for electric vehicles
back here in Bend we get 50 million
dollars to fix an increasingly
congestion congested and dangerous
stretch of highway north of town we get
money to fix potholes to repave streets
to radically improve our public transit
to build bike lanes and and so forth and
you might be surprised by this but the
bill pass was significant bipartisan
support and we succeeded for a few
important reasons one the state’s
leaders set us up for success they
established a special committee they
toured the state for months listening to
and meeting with the public they
established expectations of
bipartisanship and collab
raishin an open process and they made
sure that each of us knew that we
wouldn’t get to go home until a deal was
done it was his motivation at the heart
of it you know at the heart of it were
the lobbyists and we were called upon to
help figure out the details collectively
we represented all of the affected
interests all of the stakeholders
anybody with with something to gain or
something to lose in the process there
we were and we were given a pretty
simple mandated focus on what we all
need and not getting everything that
each of you might want and that might
sound pretty novel but we knew that we
had to go big to succeed and that we had
to go big together just a quick recap
the leaders set the stage they
administered the process and they
negotiated the final outcome but again
it was the lobbyists that did all the
details that worked out most of the
trouble situations we knew our issues we
knew each other we trusted each other to
get the job done
were there holdouts or folks that wanted
to get more out of the package
absolutely
but the fundamental reason we succeeded
was that the power of collaboration
significantly outweighed the collective
clout of the holdouts and the model is
such a success that is destined to be
emulated on other issues for example
we’re setting the stage with a similar
process to try to shape up climate
legislation for 2019 in this state and
whether we succeed will likely depend on
a similar collaboration amongst law
lobbyists lawmakers and everybody
involved so it’s not just big issues
that we can solve collaboratively it’s
little issues and frankly issues of any
size can be solved collaboratively but
when we work as hired guns and we focus
only on what we want and not what
anybody else needs then opportunities
are missed and sure enough we’re not in
a great place right now we live in a
divided culture
provocateurs are everywhere stoking and
deepening our divides as a result the
public often demands a fight elected
officials are forced to referee fights
and often fight themselves and the
lobbyists know we often have no choice
but to Duke it out
so is illustrated by the transportation
package collaboration can succeed
despite that dynamic but I think more
importantly we can actually change that
dynamic and that’s why I’m here today
because what we do and how we do it on
the inside is largely a reflection of
what you ask of the political process
are you pounding your fists and
demanding a specific outcome on every
issue demanding a fight or can you
consider a different alternative because
if we fight first and ask questions
later everything else gets harder and in
political fights those with power and
money can more easily divide conquer and
win but if you ask us for collaboration
that’s what we’ll do who here would like
to see more collaboration in politics
who here would like to see more civility
in politics and one more who here would
like to counteract the influence of
money in politics all right so here’s
what we can do
first consider lobbying I’m not kidding
I might sound like I’m kidding if you
think you can’t make a difference you’re
wrong I used to be a scientist I turned
down a PhD offer because I knew I wanted
to impact all the policy and I wanted to
do a good job at it but I didn’t know
how first I became a policy analyst then
I became an investigative journalist and
then a non-profit director which was
where I started lobbying and up till
that point I never had any confidence
whatsoever that I could impact a
legislature for example on anything
meaningful I figured the politics was
cooked and mines were made up turns out
I was largely wrong but I carried that
set of beliefs well into my 30s so why
is that well first off nobody ever
suggested that I consider a career in
lobbying of of all things as anybody
here ever remember a high school or
college guidance counselor suggest that
you consider a career in lobbying I’m
going to see if I can see any hands out
there one okay we can talk later I’m
curious
all right so that’s one reason it’s off
our radar another reason is that a lot
of lobbyists shy away from calling
ourselves lobbyists because it’s a dirty
word but in my opinion that does a
disservice to the profession and it does
a disservice to you so the good news is
you don’t need to become a lobbyist to
effect change on the inside you can
dedicate yourself to asking politicians
to work together and asking interest
groups to work together as well I’d
argue you don’t have to sacrifice any
values or any passions but if you also
value collaboration and civility ask for
those things too clearly and often don’t
just donate to causes donate and call
them up and tell them what you expect
don’t just donate to and vote for
politicians call them up tell them you
want someone who’s collaborative make it
a voting issue so that they know they
need to bring it home next time around
it’s almost that simple in some regards
if you want to take it a step further
become a citizen advocate someone that
the institutions and the interest groups
that you support call on to make a trip
to the Capitol to write a letter to make
a phone call to do whatever it is that’s
needed because you will make a
difference just last month the Oregon
Legislature awarded nearly 40 million
dollars to our local university OSU
Cascades for a much needed academic
building and I would argue that the
single biggest reason that that happened
was the dedication of campus leaders and
community leaders and students the
citizen advocates they showed up
regularly they were organized they were
knowledgeable they were passionate and
diplomatic there is literally no way
that the lobbyists could have gotten
that job done without them if I could
leave you with one thought tonight it
would be this if you don’t like the
current state of Paul
don’t run from it run towards it and put
into it what you want to see out of it
if enough of us demand collaboration or
civility or whatever it is that matters
to you if enough of us do that it’ll no
longer be the exception but the rule and
as a result we can fundamentally
transform our nation’s political culture
thank you [Applause]
having listened to such a beautiful
musical performance what if you could
feel that way about politics
wouldn’t that be astonishing well
unfortunately we’re pretty far from that
these days certainly at the federal
level we’re hyper partisanship and
dysfunction and alternative facts fill a
never ending news cycle but despite the
political discord I would argue that our
politics is far from broken and that
change is within our grasp most of us
are already working to create change in
some fashion we’re marching for our
lives for the climate for equality
there’s really no shortage of issues to
take action on an action is needed but
when something seems broken on the
inside it can be difficult to feel that
you can change things from the outside I
want to talk with you today about how we
all can play a role in fixing politics
on the inside and I also want to talk to
you about how lobbyists can help lead
the way so I know what you’re probably
thinking some of you at least aren’t
lobbyists part of the swamp that we’re
supposed to be draining we represent
huge corporations and special interests
we buy votes we’ve ruined political
careers we run over anybody in our way
right we’re part of the reason the
system is broken if you’ve seen the
movie thank you for smoking you might
remember this guy
so this is Nick Naylor nick is a federal
tobacco lobbyist who specializes in
and I think this quote is perfect in
terms of summing up the persona says I
mean there’s Attila Genghis and me Nick
Naylor the face of cigarettes the
Colonel Sanders of nicotine now is this
reality where I work in Oregon at least
I don’t really know a lot of guys like
this but their persona sticks most of us
don’t represent big oil big tobacco Big
Pharma or even big poultry really we
represent nonprofits local governments
school districts universities family
farmers and businesses and we do it in
large part because we care but as with
any lobbyist my job is simple I’m paid
to influence lawmakers to vote in the
interest of my clients so political
influence that’s a phrase that conjures
up images of greed and power and
corruption and perhaps most of all money
and perhaps it should because lobbyists
with deep pocketed clients have a
distinct advantage over the others
they’re the Gateway to campaign
contributions and they can be
particularly persuasive with lawmakers
think about net neutrality fully 83% of
the American public when polled
supported maintaining that neutrality
protections at the FCC did away with
I wish there was less money in politics
significantly less and I think most of
us do the amount of money of politics is
more of an issue of campaign finance
reform than it is of lobbying or
lobbying ethics but it creates a really
important question for the rest of us
which is in an age of big money and
citizens united where corporations are
people and money is speech how do the
rest of us keep up and how does the
public win the answer is by doing
everything else
well because money is just one form of
political currency and there are many
others knowledge collaboration trust
work ethic creativity the ability to
find a solution where no one thought
there was one these are the political
currencies of good lobbyists and we need
good lobbyists I’d like to use an
example a recent example to illustrate
why last session in Oregon we passed one
of the most innovative and progressive
transportation funding packages in the
nation over the next decade it will
bring in 3.5 billion for streets and
highways a billion for public transit
200 million for walkable and bikeable
trails and safe routes to school and
over 100 million for electric vehicles
back here in Bend we get 50 million
dollars to fix an increasingly
congestion congested and dangerous
stretch of highway north of town we get
money to fix potholes to repave streets
to radically improve our public transit
to build bike lanes and and so forth and
you might be surprised by this but the
bill pass was significant bipartisan
support and we succeeded for a few
important reasons one the state’s
leaders set us up for success they
established a special committee they
toured the state for months listening to
and meeting with the public they
established expectations of
bipartisanship and collab
raishin an open process and they made
sure that each of us knew that we
wouldn’t get to go home until a deal was
done it was his motivation at the heart
of it you know at the heart of it were
the lobbyists and we were called upon to
help figure out the details collectively
we represented all of the affected
interests all of the stakeholders
anybody with with something to gain or
something to lose in the process there
we were and we were given a pretty
simple mandated focus on what we all
need and not getting everything that
each of you might want and that might
sound pretty novel but we knew that we
had to go big to succeed and that we had
to go big together just a quick recap
the leaders set the stage they
administered the process and they
negotiated the final outcome but again
it was the lobbyists that did all the
details that worked out most of the
trouble situations we knew our issues we
knew each other we trusted each other to
get the job done
were there holdouts or folks that wanted
to get more out of the package
absolutely
but the fundamental reason we succeeded
was that the power of collaboration
significantly outweighed the collective
clout of the holdouts and the model is
such a success that is destined to be
emulated on other issues for example
we’re setting the stage with a similar
process to try to shape up climate
legislation for 2019 in this state and
whether we succeed will likely depend on
a similar collaboration amongst law
lobbyists lawmakers and everybody
involved so it’s not just big issues
that we can solve collaboratively it’s
little issues and frankly issues of any
size can be solved collaboratively but
when we work as hired guns and we focus
only on what we want and not what
anybody else needs then opportunities
are missed and sure enough we’re not in
a great place right now we live in a
divided culture
provocateurs are everywhere stoking and
deepening our divides as a result the
public often demands a fight elected
officials are forced to referee fights
and often fight themselves and the
lobbyists know we often have no choice
but to Duke it out
so is illustrated by the transportation
package collaboration can succeed
despite that dynamic but I think more
importantly we can actually change that
dynamic and that’s why I’m here today
because what we do and how we do it on
the inside is largely a reflection of
what you ask of the political process
are you pounding your fists and
demanding a specific outcome on every
issue demanding a fight or can you
consider a different alternative because
if we fight first and ask questions
later everything else gets harder and in
political fights those with power and
money can more easily divide conquer and
win but if you ask us for collaboration
that’s what we’ll do who here would like
to see more collaboration in politics
who here would like to see more civility
in politics and one more who here would
like to counteract the influence of
money in politics all right so here’s
what we can do
first consider lobbying I’m not kidding
I might sound like I’m kidding if you
think you can’t make a difference you’re
wrong I used to be a scientist I turned
down a PhD offer because I knew I wanted
to impact all the policy and I wanted to
do a good job at it but I didn’t know
how first I became a policy analyst then
I became an investigative journalist and
then a non-profit director which was
where I started lobbying and up till
that point I never had any confidence
whatsoever that I could impact a
legislature for example on anything
meaningful I figured the politics was
cooked and mines were made up turns out
I was largely wrong but I carried that
set of beliefs well into my 30s so why
is that well first off nobody ever
suggested that I consider a career in
lobbying of of all things as anybody
here ever remember a high school or
college guidance counselor suggest that
you consider a career in lobbying I’m
going to see if I can see any hands out
there one okay we can talk later I’m
curious
all right so that’s one reason it’s off
our radar another reason is that a lot
of lobbyists shy away from calling
ourselves lobbyists because it’s a dirty
word but in my opinion that does a
disservice to the profession and it does
a disservice to you so the good news is
you don’t need to become a lobbyist to
effect change on the inside you can
dedicate yourself to asking politicians
to work together and asking interest
groups to work together as well I’d
argue you don’t have to sacrifice any
values or any passions but if you also
value collaboration and civility ask for
those things too clearly and often don’t
just donate to causes donate and call
them up and tell them what you expect
don’t just donate to and vote for
politicians call them up tell them you
want someone who’s collaborative make it
a voting issue so that they know they
need to bring it home next time around
it’s almost that simple in some regards
if you want to take it a step further
become a citizen advocate someone that
the institutions and the interest groups
that you support call on to make a trip
to the Capitol to write a letter to make
a phone call to do whatever it is that’s
needed because you will make a
difference just last month the Oregon
Legislature awarded nearly 40 million
dollars to our local university OSU
Cascades for a much needed academic
building and I would argue that the
single biggest reason that that happened
was the dedication of campus leaders and
community leaders and students the
citizen advocates they showed up
regularly they were organized they were
knowledgeable they were passionate and
diplomatic there is literally no way
that the lobbyists could have gotten
that job done without them if I could
leave you with one thought tonight it
would be this if you don’t like the
current state of Paul
don’t run from it run towards it and put
into it what you want to see out of it
if enough of us demand collaboration or
civility or whatever it is that matters
to you if enough of us do that it’ll no
longer be the exception but the rule and
as a result we can fundamentally
transform our nation’s political culture
thank you [Applause]
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