What is it like to be a Capitol Hill Lobbist?

Hi Serenity! I decided in high school that I wanted to be a lobbyist, too! What really attracted me to the industry was I really enjoyed policy and I felt like I could make a difference.

The career path to become a lobbyist can vary, but I'll tell you how I did it. I volunteered on local campaigns during high school and college, did an internship in my state Senate, and then became an intern for my U.S. Senator in DC. From there, I took a job "off the Hill" (in DC but not working for a member of Congress) tracking legislation for an organization that represented a group of companies in the same industry. From there, I helped them build an advocacy program (helped train and support executives and employees from those companies to send letters to Congress and telling their stories to legislators), schedule "Hill Days" (where we brought employees up to Congress to talk to their legislator in person, and raised money for our political action committee (PAC) so we could support candidates reelection who were familiar with our businesses and our priorities.

After that job, I moved up the ladder and became a full-fledged lobbyist. I still track legislation, but now I also talk to Hill staffers and members of Congress directly about issues I know a lot about.

Generally, lobbyists spend a lot of time educating lawmakers about the ways their proposals might impact a business in our field. A lot of times the member of Congress doesn't have the background to understand everything they have to make decisions on. For example, Senator Bill Cassidy was a doctor before he came to Congress, but he's often asked to weigh in on energy issues that affect the oil and gas business in Louisiana. Lobbyists, businesses, and energy professionals (regulatory or otherwise) help him see the full scope of the policies he's reviewing and allow him to make an informed decision. Sometimes, a lawmaker doesn't agree with me, and that's ok. My job is to make sure he or she has all the information I can provide to make an informed and thoughtful decision.

Just as I educate a lawmaker in DC, I also sometimes have to educate company executives. When legislators want to address a problem, I flag the issue for the businesspeople I represent. I'll tell them when bills are introduced, who introduced them, and ask for their input on if we support the approach or if it needs tweaking - which of course, I then relay to the legislators. My company folks are usually pretty busy, and they don't always know what is happening in DC. So I keep an eye out on their behalf.

On any given day, I review legislation, call Congressional staff, share info on legislation with the executives who are working their jobs but need to know what DC is contemplating, write informative letters or leave-behinds (a one pager that explains an issue), and plan meetings for executives with their legislators when they come to town. It's busy, but rewarding!

To your travel question, most federal lobbyists don't too too much travel. Sometimes we'll fly to a conference or retreat, but I stay in DC a lot. Of course, there are federal lobbyists who live outside of DC working for a corporation who probably travel a great deal more than I do for meetings here in DC. Most of the lobbyists for DC though live here in my experience. Now, some groups also have state lobbyists - the ones who focus on state legislatures and governors. Some focus on a single state Capitol - like Denver or Baton Rouge or Richmond - but some work for a company or organization like mine and will cover a LOT of states. On my team, there are three state lobbyists and an analyst dedicated to tracking bills. The analyst watches for legislation in ALL fifty states but doesn't travel much. The three state lobbyists travel a lot during the spring, which is the busy season for state lobbying since most states are only in for a few months in any given year. (One state only meets as a state legislature every other year and some states are year-round, like California.) Sometimes they'll be in a different state every week in February and March!

I hope that gives you some perspective. I love what I do. One of the professional groups I rely on a lot is called the Public Affairs Council: http://pac.org/government_relations You might search around their site for a bit of a deeper dive into what lobbying might entail. I also suggest looking at their grassroots page and political action committee resources. ALSO, if you decide to continue down this path, check out PLEN - the Public Leadership Education Network! http://plen.org/