Coffee with the Congressman

-- by Jessie Gabriel 

It’s not often you get the opportunity to spend sixty minutes with a member of Congress, in a small group, without any expectation of fundraising. But that is what we experienced last month when Representative Rob Menendez (NJ-8) joined a few All Places clients and me for a brief sitdown. There was no agenda—each business owner there got to raise the issues that were top of mind with a member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

The conversation ranged from immigration to small business access to capital, to healthcare, to green energy. We talked about what was causing each of us trouble, whether the legislature was able to address the problems, and what the chances were of anything actually getting done this year. Here are a few takeaways from our conversation.

We know more than they do. I said the same thing after our Hill trip last summer, so apologies for anyone who’s reading this twice. But my main takeaway each time I meet with a member of Congress or their staff is this: they do not know everything. If you (like me) ever thought legislators were working from a complete data set when they were making decisions, you are 100% wrong. Federal legislators have very limited staff, and that staff is spread thin. They only have so many hours to devote to policy matters, and they can’t be experts in everything. This is why we have lobbyists. But you don’t need to be a lobbyist to get a member of Congress to take your issue seriously. All you really need is a compelling argument around a compelling issue, and access to the right person on staff.

Committees matter. Before this meeting, I confess I didn’t give that much thought to committee memberships. When All Places' advocacy partner, Christina Carrica Haley, told me the Congressman would be out in LA, she emphasized that he was on Energy and Commerce. Uh, okay. But when I sent invitations to our California-based clients, this was the thing they commented on most. They didn’t care that the meeting was with someone from New Jersey, they cared that he sat on a committee that had oversight over things like energy, the environment, healthcare, trade, and manufacturing (what’s left for all the other committees?). For better or worse, some committees have a larger impact (or, at least, are more relevant to the work you do) than others. You want a law to change? Buy-in needs to start in the relevant committee.

Don’t give up. It seems almost silly to be raising issues about small business economics during a time when this country is engulfed in true human catastrophes domestically and abroad. On top of that, we’ve had an economy that has been experiencing dramatic fluctuations for the past year. Does anyone in Congress even have the capacity to think about tax credits for parental leave or the limitations on qualified small business stock? Well, sort of. It’s not like people aren’t thinking about these things, but they certainly aren’t priorities. How could they be? It won’t be until we are out of survival mode that we can return to (more) normal policymaking. But that doesn’t mean this is a bad time to be speaking with legislators. Let’s be honest, we all want a mental break from the world’s most dire situations.

Not everyone in Congress is a megalomaniac. I’ll speak for myself: based on news coverage, most people in Congress appear to be self-obsessed, spotlight-seeking, jerks. Now, it would make sense that these types of legislators would be the ones most likely to appear in the media. But it does leave us with the impression that no one on the Hill is really thinking about anything other than how to raise their profile and get re-elected. From our trip last summer to our meeting last month, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the sincerity of certain members and their staff. Despite our best efforts, we have elected some people who seem genuinely committed to public service. You probably aren’t seeing their faces on CNN or Fox News or MSNBC every day, but they are there, quietly doing their jobs behind the scenes. And if you really want to get something done, these are probably the people to seek out, educate, and support.

Our sincerest thanks to Congressman Menendez for making time for us, to Christina Carrica Haley for setting things up, and to our clients who brilliantly represented the interests of small business owners and investors.