jon-nyc, lobbyist
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Well, I would have been, but for this Covid thing.
In late March my foundation had a lobbying day where we were getting meetings with members of the House Appropriations committee to talk about issues of respiratory and liver diseases and rare diseases in general (which generally require special regulatory exceptions due to small patient populations).
We usually bring a medical professional, a foundation staff person, and a real live Alpha (what we call people like me with Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency) from the district of the particular member. If you bring an actual constituent, you can usually get the member to come to the meeting instead of just staff.
Anyway my congressperson is actually the Chairperson of the Appropriations Committee. I've met her at meet and greets but don't know her.
At any rate, it would have been an interesting experience. I'm sure it'll get rescheduled eventually so I'll still do it at some point.
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Bring a satchel of money...
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Ok so lobbying day has been rescheduled and tomorrow I meet with my senior senator’s office, via Zoom.
That’s Chuck Schumer for those of you keeping score at home.
I’m sure it’ll be his staff, not him.
Should be interesting all the same.
@jon-nyc said in jon-nyc, lobbyist:
Ok so lobbying day has been rescheduled and tomorrow I meet with my senior senator’s office, via Zoom.
That’s Chuck Schumer for those of you keeping score at home.
I’m sure it’ll be his staff, not him.
Should be interesting all the same.
Seriously though - that's super cool.
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Lol.
I’ll probably be talking to an intern.
I’m disappointed that last spring’s session didn’t happen. A house member is far more likely to stop in the meeting than a senator. And my house member was the chairperson of the appropriations committee. But she’s retiring and we have a new guy with no power that I voted against. (Yes I filled in the Republican oval)
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Today is another lobbying day. I just met with Gillibrand's staff guy who deals with health policy. Lobbying for a carve out benefit for my peeps and for support for two existing bills.
This afternoon I meet with a GOP rep from the Albany area. I think it's going to be him, not staff. He's part of the House rare disease caucus.
On top I'm wearing a bespoke shirt with French cuffs, and a tie. On bottom, sweat pants. Ya rly.
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Today is another lobbying day. I just met with Gillibrand's staff guy who deals with health policy. Lobbying for a carve out benefit for my peeps and for support for two existing bills.
This afternoon I meet with a GOP rep from the Albany area. I think it's going to be him, not staff. He's part of the House rare disease caucus.
On top I'm wearing a bespoke shirt with French cuffs, and a tie. On bottom, sweat pants. Ya rly.
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Bespoke Sweatpants?
https://www.gq.com/gallery/dont-sweat-it-21-tailored-sweatpants-to-buy-right-now
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George - I thought you'd get a kick out of this, we're having anther lobbying day and I'm meeting with Richard Blumenthal's office in 25m.
I'm not his constituent, of course, but our CT-based board member couldn't make it.
(I have Gilibrand on Friday)
“Don’t make me repeat myself”
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George - I thought you'd get a kick out of this, we're having anther lobbying day and I'm meeting with Richard Blumenthal's office in 25m.
I'm not his constituent, of course, but our CT-based board member couldn't make it.
(I have Gilibrand on Friday)
@jon-nyc said in jon-nyc, lobbyist:
George - I thought you'd get a kick out of this, we're having anther lobbying day and I'm meeting with Richard Blumenthal's office in 25m.
I'm not his constituent, of course, but our CT-based board member couldn't make it.
(I have Gilibrand on Friday)
Whatever you do, don’t think about how much Blumenthal looks like a Ferengi.
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Met with a staff person, as expected. I was tempted to say "your boss has to help us, I saved his life in 'Nam"
@jon-nyc said in jon-nyc, lobbyist:
Met with a staff person, as expected. I was tempted to say "your boss has to help us, I saved his life in 'Nam"
@jon-nyc said in jon-nyc, lobbyist:
Met with a staff person, as expected. I was tempted to say "your boss has to help us, I saved his life in 'Nam"
An old boss of mine once told me a story about a representative planning a visit to their company. The day of, the rep was a no-show, and sent a couple of kids from his staff office instead. So, my boss didn't take the visit seriously. (This was when he was fresh out of school.)
"Never make that mistake again," his boss told him. "This is how it works. You need to make those kids give a shit because that's the way to make their boss give a shit. They leave here thinking they wasted their time, and we'll not hear from them again. And you'll make enemies with our entire comms office."
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We’ve made some great progress. We got initial sponsors to get a bill that we authored introduced in the House (“dropped” in the lingo). I (and others) have meetings in the coming weeks to get additional co-sponsors, our goal is to get 100 co-sponsors in this legislative session.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/7346
