Democracy Matters sponsored an event Wednesday night entitled, “Student Lobbyist Training” with Andy Wilson from the Austin, Texas office of Public Citizen. Democracy Matters is a campus organization focused on campaign finance reform and fair elections.
Last semester they put on several events centered on the presidential election, but this semester they are shifting their focus back to their mission statement and particularly on their Fair Elections Now Act action campaign.
The lobbyist training was held in the Hughes-Trigg Promenade and had a receptive and interested audience.
Mallory Nutt, a freshman political science major, described the event as “something I wasn’t going to miss.”
Another freshman participant was Alex Ehmke, a political science and economics double major, who described the importance of this event.
“I think it is important for students to gain a greater understanding of how government works. Beyond that … they need to understand why politicians vote, how they vote and the laws of this country.”
Wilson started the discussion by asking the audience what their individual passions were, and then said all of those issues had lobbyists. He encouraged student lobbyists because “politics belong to the people who show up.”
Lobbyists and campaign contributions are tied closely together, and even may be partially responsible for our economic crisis. Millions of dollars are donated from corporate executives and their lobbyists, which causes their voices to be heard in Washington D.C. Professional lobbying has gone out of control, with “four lobbyists per member of Congress just on issues of climate change.”
He further detailed how professional lobbyists affect our government every day.
Wilson then went into the focus of the evening – how to be a student lobbyist. He started by showing the audience how to navigate the Texas legislature website, including finding certain bills and topics.
Then, he mentioned all the types of lobbying, even including YouTube lobbying. This form of lobbying has increased exponentially over the last few years. Blogging, social networking sites like Facebook, and YouTube are the new grounds for the everyday lobbyist.
Because of this, Wilson even told how “people our age are running the country now.” These new electronic forums are spreading public opinion and lobbyists’ goals quicker and farther than ever before.
The night ended with a question and answer session as the students prepared for their own future lobbying. The speaker reminded everyone that “somewhere, someone can make what you want to happen, happen,” Wilson said.
