Make It Count: A WWF Intern Experience

On February 10, 2024, a Florida girl drove into Cheyenne for the first time. It was dark, gently snowing, and everything felt still. Suddenly there it was, beautiful and lit up with its gold dome, the state capital building that I hadn’t even seen a picture of but was about to be my home for the next few weeks. I knew right then that my time here was going to be special. As soon as I walked through the front door every bit of stillness faded.

Jess Johnson, Government Affairs Director for Wyoming Wildlife Federation, was pacing next to a table covered in papers and binders. She was on the phone. This wasn’t just a house; it was a base camp. We would spend the next few weeks getting up at 6 am and getting back home at 10 pm just to sit and talk strategy for another few hours, buzzing on too much caffeine, a handful of granola bars, and an embarrassing amount of passion for this work.

When she was done with her call late on that Saturday night, we went right to work. She spent the next few hours filling me in on the background of some of the bills we were following this session. I’m the type of person who over-prepares for everything, I had already searched these bills, read the texts and relevant statutes, etc. I did everything someone following legislation from a distance would do, but I wasn’t prepared to be in the trenches.

She prepped me. She gave me background information that I wouldn’t have known even if I lived in the state. She explained more than just the history that wasn’t in the news; she explained the relationships behind the history and the relationships among the legislators and with legislators. Things like who voted what way on a similar bill last year and why. Whose friends with that person, how deep their friendship is and if they would listen to each other's opinions, even whose dad’s best friend’s cousin might care enough about this bill to say something. There are so many relationships that I can’t even describe them all here. The crazy thing is you might think you know how someone feels or will act, but you don’t know, and if you aren’t in that capital or at those interim meetings, you never will know. But Jess knows. When you are there you pass people walking down the hallway and see who is talking to who. You get to see the facial expression someone makes when things are said on the floor. There are little things, but they add up and give a world of insight into your legislators.

Representatives and senators work hard and do a lot during session. They have lives and in Wyoming they also have normal jobs. They are tasked with developing and approving laws on every subject matter you can think of. They may be knowledgeable, but there is no way a single person can be an expert in healthcare administration, agriculture, property taxes, wildlife populations, and education just to name a few. That’s where lobbyists come in, they fill in the knowledge gaps. They provide information that only experts would know. However, ultimately, the policy, any amendments, and the votes are only up to the legislators.

The word "lobbying" has a bad reputation.

Before I wanted to enter the policy world, I always thought they were slimy people who wrote checks to politicians, manipulated a vote at the expense of normal people and just cared about making money for themselves. While this may happen someplace; it’s not what actual lobbying looks like and it definitely is not what’s happening in Wyoming. True lobbyists cultivate relationships and develop a deep subject matter understanding. Then they combine the two to try to get specific policy outcomes. The text and the policy itself are very important, after all that is what becomes the law, but that’s just the outcome of lobbying, not the process.

Policy and legislation are not black and white. Someone may want a bill to pass and someone else may want it to fail, but then you throw in amendments, and it becomes grey. Suddenly, what seemed so bad or so great, isn’t so extreme anymore and you wind up compromising. That’s another thing lobbying is, learning to compromise and be okay with it.

There are two other important types of relationships that I need to mention. The first is among lobbyists. No matter what side of an issue, people are kind to one another. Most often there is a lot of overlap among organizations with similar values. Instead of one person trying to throw a ton of information to all legislators, it’s more productive to work as a team. Especially since someone may have a better relationship with a person than someone else does.

Now that I’m home those are the relationships I miss the most. I’m still watching all the committee meetings and sessions and trying to follow along, but I get the live commentary from the gallery that provides so much needed prospective. While I highly recommend you follow along virtually for every public meeting you can, it’s not the same.

The final and most important relationship at play is yours. You elect legislators to represent you. You have a voice not only during an election but also during their term. Representatives and senators want to hear from you and hear your opinion. Following along at home you get to hear official debate on the policy and track how a bill becomes a law, but you don’t see the process that you can play a part in.

Send a legislator an e-mail, make a phone call, testify at a committee meeting through Zoom, but even better, show up.

Now being a lobbyist is not for everyone, (you try running up and down 5 flights of stairs, 6 times a day, in heels) but your knowledge, your experience, your voice matters. Make it count.