WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.000 music 00:00:03.000 --> 00:00:05.000 Thanks for having me, yeah. 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:10.000 So I think maybe what we can do is start with the activism side 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:13.000 And like my personal impressions of the Oregon legislature 00:00:13.000 --> 00:00:18.000 And I think a lot of you have probably hopefully shared some of the same perspectives or 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:22.000 Is it the, I think we forget like when you grow up? 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:27.000 And you think about a state legislature, it seems very distant and removed from you 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:35.000 As a person, my first interaction or memory of the legislature was my father 00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:43.000 Who was in commercial insurance and he actually went to the legislature to lobby on a bill 00:00:43.000 --> 00:00:48.000 Which seems kinda interesting who is lobbying on a bill going to the legislature 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:55.000 He came home and my memory of him you know and what he said you have that conversation how was your day? that typical thing at the end of a conversation 00:00:56.000 --> 00:00:58.000 And what we told me was 00:00:58.000 --> 00:00:63.000 Well I wasn't impressed by the questions the legislatures asked 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:08.000 And what I realize is your legislature is made up of everyday folks 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:13.000 Right your business and labor committee has educators, they have lawyers 00:01:13.000 --> 00:01:16.000 They may not have people familiar with the insurance industry 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:21.000 Right and so when you get in there, there is a lot of education 00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:28.000 That has to be done but its a very accessible environment I think is the other interesting thing 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:32.000 And we were just talking from the activism side is how do 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:40.000 We or as citizens engage in the legislature, this is the last place where you can actually go door to door 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:47.000 And have a meaningful impact on your election. You can't do that with the U.S. Senate, you can't do that with Congress 00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:54.000 And if you do, you look at those campaigns and say its either for a publicity stunt or they don't know how to run a campaign 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:57.000 Because its not an effective use of time to communicate your message 00:01:57.000 --> 00:01:64.000 When you call your state representative, when you call your state senator, even though they represent twice your size, you can go out to coffee with them 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:09.000 So I think that the one thing from a advocates side 00:02:09.000 --> 00:02:14.000 Right and advocacy side is you've got an issue or something you care about, You just call up 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:21.000 but you have to be able to I think A. know you can do that get over that barrier of like oh my gosh 00:02:21.000 --> 00:02:28.000 is this person intimidating, no you know. Susan McLain was a speech teacher in a high school 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:31.000 Its that same speech teacher that taught us in high school 00:02:31.000 --> 00:02:36.000 I'm the same attorney that has represented people in my community 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:40.000 Or I'm on the HOA board of my own community 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:45.000 My neighbors see me walk my dog and my hair is all messed up on the weekend 00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:50.000 We're normal people in that perspective and I think that's how accessible 00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:55.000 I think one of the different ways people get involved activism wise 00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:62.000 And what I like to do is just the most extreme example is in any job there's days where you don't want to go to work 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:06.000 There's days where you'd rather be on vacation or doing something else 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:15.000 I remember a specific day I think it was like a Tuesday and I had a day long of meetings at a coffee shop because that's what you do as a politician, right 00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:23.000 You meet with constituents and it was going to meet and I saw someone on my list, and I was like I don't know who that is 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:28.000 And the person who was working with me at the time was like, oh no this is a high school student 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:32.000 And I was like huh oh okay, and I didn't have many much expectations for this 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:36.000 And this would have been in 2016 it was the summer of 2016 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:42.000 We go down and I meet with her, she has an oversized laptop, which she opens up 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:48.000 And she starts giving me a power point presentation of a policy concept that she had come up with 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:51.000 Now she had done all of her homework 00:03:51.000 --> 00:03:55.000 It was very mirrored after something that had passed in California 00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:60.000 About organ donation, about how we should educate our children 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:05.000 In the first year of their health class, before they take their drivers license 00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:09.000 So that way they can have better outcomes on having more people saying they will be an organ donor 00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:17.000 Pretty simple concept, minimum of 15 minutes right and frankly her presentation was better than 95% of all legislatures 00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:20.000 It was genuinely really good 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:24.000 And being in the legislature you immediately start seeing the barriers 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:31.000 No teachers like to have mandates on what the should be doing right, there's obstacles in that area 00:04:31.000 --> 00:04:34.000 But at the same time you view your role as a facilitator 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:38.000 And she had the courage to sit there and bring this bill up and we 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:46.000 filed that bill in 17', we filed that bill in 19', we filed that bill in 21' and Jack in our office 00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:50.000 Even though I told him last session that bill is going no where we kept working on that bill 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:56.000 And Nesha, was her name, she's now was at University of Oregon, right 00:04:56.000 --> 00:04:65.000 She ran a pilot program in her school district and we had educators come in and testify on the actual metrics 00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:11.000 Saying hey this improved outcomes on people actually signing up drivers licenses 00:05:11.000 --> 00:05:15.000 She really worked the heck out of it and got people on board 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:22.000 And that was this one real intimate way that one individual on a community was able to take an issue 00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:27.000 That she had a personal connection with in her family with the avaibiluty of organ donation 00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:31.000 And actually make it law in Oregon over a period of 00:05:31.000 --> 00:05:40.000 That's the thing I hate about government it takes forever to do anything and I'm impatient but that went from 2015 to 2021 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:44.000 or 2016 to 2021 so it was about 5 years and that finally became law 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:50.000 And now that the Oregon Education Foundation, the folks how typically impose these types of things, were on board 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:54.000 With the legislation and actually helped us draft it this last time 00:05:54.000 --> 00:05:59.000 All because one person decided to give a call and just come and meet with us 00:05:59.000 --> 00:05:64.000 Its not like I would have had that brilliant idea, like that was entirely Nesha's idea from the beginning 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:08.000 So there's one way that students, anyone 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:13.000 I don't care if you are 40, 80 whoever your age group or where you come from in your community 00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:16.000 That's the type of access you can have on a activism level 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:24.000 Then there are other ways, so if your here at Western and you care about the environment right 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:28.000 If you care about higher education right 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:32.000 There's all these different types of advocacy groups right, that you can get behind 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:39.000 So its just in this case it was Nesha, Dan and Jack trying to storm the castle to pass a bill right 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:43.000 We have developed our own concept organically within the office 00:06:43.000 --> 00:06:48.000 Or actually I should say Nesha did that organically but sometimes an office has their own ideas organically 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:52.000 Then there are other organizations that have their own agenda, right 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:57.000 So you think about Oregon Student Association being one that's very relevant to here 00:06:57.000 --> 00:06:63.000 Say they are focusing on Oregon Opportunity Grants, an expansion on Oregon Opportunity Grants 00:07:03.000 --> 00:07:07.000 You can get involved in an organization, the formulation of that agenda 00:07:07.000 --> 00:07:12.000 An organization that is constant with your values and then be apart of the legislature 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:21.000 To A. elect people that share your values and then B. go to the legislature and lobby and advocate to move those values into action 00:07:21.000 --> 00:07:30.000 That's another way you can get involved from an activism stand point and there is an activist group for every issue you can think or care about 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:33.000 Another way is then Volunteering 00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:39.000 Getting involved to elect candidates, you can do that in a paid capacity 00:07:39.000 --> 00:07:44.000 For folks that are graduating right now, you'll have opportunities in every election cycle 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:49.000 For if your still in school, there's opportunities to earn credit 00:07:49.000 --> 00:07:56.000 Like our office and most everybody in here knows that we run a fellowship program which has a stipend for an 11 week program 00:07:56.000 --> 00:07:61.000 Where you learn how to draft policy with guest speakers that come in and talk about policy development from lobbyists 00:08:01.000 --> 00:08:06.000 You learn how to do campaigns, you learn how to manage campaigns 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:15.000 You learn how to do all the field work, the communication work from guest speakers putting that in the 11 week program where there's a stipend 00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:18.000 You also have to put those skills into practice 00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:22.000 There are programs like that, which then often lead into jobs 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:26.000 So if you are not graduating now you could then move into roles in the future 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:31.000 You could intern during a legislative session if you want to get that experience 00:08:31.000 --> 00:08:34.000 Those are not often very glamours frankly 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:39.000 Your responding to constituent emails, you might be doing social media 00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:43.000 But it is still, you get exposed to an environment 00:08:43.000 --> 00:08:47.000 To see frankly, is this a space you want to operate in 00:08:47.000 --> 00:08:51.000 From there if it is, you can work formally as a staff 00:08:51.000 --> 00:08:56.000 You can work for those advocacy organizations, you could work for an agency 00:08:56.000 --> 00:08:61.000 So you have someone who has a public health background, that's something you naturally care about 00:09:01.000 --> 00:09:06.000 Often times people that go work within say the Oregon Health Authority, they go work within DEQ 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:15.000 Have had experience in the legislative branch and then navigate themselves into policy, into government director spots 00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:22.000 And Sometimes what you'll find is even Chiefs of Staff for in the presiding officers 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:25.000 The speaker or Chiefs of Staff in Senate Press office 00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:29.000 Will elevate into agency director levels 00:09:29.000 --> 00:09:35.000 So you have the former Chief for the Senate President is the director for the Department of Revenue 00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:39.000 Running an agency, because frankly being presiding officer 00:09:39.000 --> 00:09:44.000 Your basically running half of a branch government with a kinda of sub agencies within it 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:50.000 So its very similar, so depending on what you aspire to in those roles you can move there 00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:53.000 Some people move fully into a campaign advocacy space 00:09:53.000 --> 00:09:57.000 Where their working as people wind their careers right 00:09:57.000 --> 00:09:63.000 Maybe their working half the year doing political work, ballot measures, advocacy electing folks 00:10:03.000 --> 00:10:07.000 The other half they are say working for the Oregon Nurses Association 00:10:07.000 --> 00:10:12.000 Their electing candidates and their advocating for those policies in the session long term 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:18.000 One of the former directors of the Oregon Nurses Association on the political side was my campaign manager in 2010 00:10:19.000 --> 00:10:27.000 Who then went on to work for Senator Devlin who was the Co Chair of the Ways and Means Committee 00:10:27.000 --> 00:10:31.000 Then she went on to be the number 2 person at ONA, then was the political director 00:10:31.000 --> 00:10:38.000 Then went on to eventually work in the governors office as the legislative policy director, if your tracking the career 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:45.000 She worked briefly for SEIU and now she will be coming back into our office as the Chief of Staff here shortly 00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:51.000 That's not a new announcement, I'm not breaking anything. We have announced it, but its not formal formal yet 00:10:51.000 --> 00:10:58.000 But that is there unique career paths that frankly pay well, have good benefits, health care and you go home 00:10:58.000 --> 00:10:64.000 At the end of the day exhausted, but you feel like you've done something meaningful 00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:10.000 When I say exhausted, I mean you bang on your steering wheel at least once a week as you drive home out of frustration 00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:15.000 If look at legislatures cars their steering wheels are just all bent 00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:19.000 So its just the reality of the world that we participate in 00:11:19.000 --> 00:11:24.000 So there's the activism in that space in terms of how you can get involved 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:30.000 And then that is just going through the oh goodness 00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:35.000 Though the employment side of the world 00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:39.000 I think those are kinda the main ways that I think about how do people get involved 00:11:39.000 --> 00:11:42.000 Activism wise within the legislature 00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:48.000 Which then brings into which ties in closely with lobbying 00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:55.000 Kinda of going back to what said at the very beginning impact what we do 00:11:55.000 --> 00:11:59.000 Which also I think that there's an interesting intersection between campaign finance reform 00:11:59.000 --> 00:11:63.000 Which is kind of the dark underbelly of politics that we don't like to talk about 00:12:03.000 --> 00:12:09.000 Frankly a lot or recognize what I believe are some pretty significant impacts 00:12:09.000 --> 00:12:16.000 In agendas and how things move within whether its the national or local levels 00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:20.000 But lobbying when you think about it in a part time legislature 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:23.000 So these people activism wise 00:12:23.000 --> 00:12:30.000 Your coming in and lobbying as a individual to your local legislator, your part of an activist organization lobbying the legislature 00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:34.000 Or actually staff working within an agency 00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:39.000 Agencies lobby, the governor lobbies on the budgets and she lobbies on the policies she cares about 00:12:39.000 --> 00:12:45.000 Everybody is lobbying you some way shape or form, which is influencing the system 00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:50.000 I think there is a lot negative stereotypes around lobbying 00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:56.000 So when we have students that come in, especially very young impressible students 00:12:56.000 --> 00:12:61.000 I will often find a lobbyist walking by and then I will point them out and make an example of them 00:13:01.000 --> 00:13:08.000 Say something like How many people have a good experience, what do you think of lobbyists and then was like oh my gosh horrible 00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:11.000 They are horrible people, and I was like yeah right there that's who it is 00:13:11.000 --> 00:13:18.000 Lobbyists have this perception of being very negative in their influencing policies through money 00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:21.000 Which is there is some truth to that absolutely 00:13:21.000 --> 00:13:24.000 However I think the other side of that to think about 00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:29.000 Is that you have a, I'm an attorney come from an attorney background 00:13:29.000 --> 00:13:32.000 So you through me on a higher education committee 00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:36.000 And ask me to make policy about higher education policy 00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:41.000 What do I know about that? I know nothing about that 00:13:41.000 --> 00:13:45.000 I know that I went to college, I still am paying off student loan debt 00:13:45.000 --> 00:13:52.000 That's about it! Have I ever taught a class? Have I ever run a college? No, are there some analogous situations? absolutely 00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:56.000 I have a set of values that are consistent within me 00:13:56.000 --> 00:13:64.000 And So somehow you have to be able to make decisions and people come to you to inform you about those things 00:14:04.000 --> 00:14:08.000 So as a legislator, whether it's people in your community 00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:12.000 This is important that we go back to that activism side so if you are someone in the community 00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:18.000 Contacting your legislature in the interim you get 30 minutes of time with that legislator 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:24.000 You might get an over of time with that legislator, in the session you get 15 minutes right 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:28.000 And your just running through the system, you don't remember that person 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:35.000 So Elliot , you and I have like an connection we've talked in different classes, if you collar off and say 00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:39.000 Hey, lets sit down, the conversation with you I feel like I have a better sense of 00:14:39.000 --> 00:14:43.000 Of like in respect for our values and where we are as people 00:14:43.000 --> 00:14:50.000 Like its going to be easier for me to trust you talking about education issues or higher education issues, things going on at Western 00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:52.000 Then it would be just someone off of the street 00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:58.000 Because we have that connection, I think that is the power that we have on our state legislature 00:14:58.000 --> 00:14:61.000 Is to build that relationship with our elected officials 00:15:01.000 --> 00:15:06.000 And then be able to communicate with them in this space 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:10.000 Yeah, you've spent the time outside. But then you get a quick 15 minutes in the session 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:14.000 Reinforce maybe a specific issue that you care about, that email 00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:20.000 Our office knows, like there's frequent fliers that we trust and we have values 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:28.000 There's a couple folks on the environmental policy side of things that I have very close relationships with because I just know we match up 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:34.000 Frankly, on certain issues we'll come back and I don't know anything about this, go talk to Jim 00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:40.000 Right, lets vet this within a group of folks that have more experience in these areas 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:51.000 That is the power of, yeah you're just a constituent but in effect you are lobbying, you are a group that is lobbying but we know that our values match up 00:15:51.000 --> 00:15:54.000 It is very powerful 00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:61.000 Now, all of those different issues. If you threw an educator on the judiciary committee and asked them to start talking about state law 00:16:01.000 --> 00:16:06.000 They would be like *brain exploding sound effect* even as a lawyer *brain exploding sound effect* I don't wanna talk about that stuff 00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:11.000 But there's electoral reform, there's so many different topics 00:16:11.000 --> 00:16:18.000 The best thing about being a legislator and ask stupid questions, all the time 00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:22.000 I love learning, and to be able to sit there and gather the information 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:31.000 But the thing is, is to be able to trust and who to trust frankly in the space as your building through this process 00:16:31.000 --> 00:16:39.000 One of the other components when we are thinking about lobbying, is then let's talk about the underbelly side, because I think there's a necessity of the lobby 00:16:39.000 --> 00:16:49.000 There is an absolute necessity to it, from an educational standpoint there's a necessity if you think about the turn over in the legislature 00:16:49.000 --> 00:16:56.000 How often there's turnover, to be able to educate folks over and over again 00:16:56.000 --> 00:16:65.000 There's a persistence from people in the community about issues that they care about, to continually educate their legislators as they turn over every 2,4 every 6 years 00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:12.000 About every 2 years in the house, we lose about one third if not more of our members 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:20.000 That's quite a bit, This cycle we will lose 6 people who hold a gavel of a committee 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:25.000 That there means that there are 6, if the democrats retain majority in the house 00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:32.000 We will have to put 6 people who have never, held a committee, organized a workplan 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:39.000 Their gonna have to work, to take the values of our agenda and try to put those on paper through bills 00:17:39.000 --> 00:17:42.000 That's not an easy thing, its scary 00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:46.000 You know what's most scary about that is you have to learn how to bang a gavel 00:17:46.000 --> 00:17:53.000 When I was a first year, I always tell this story because this is really true this is where you pull the curtains away, The speaker says 00:17:53.000 --> 00:17:64.000 Hey, you are a first year legislator I'm gonna give you a gavel, that never happens, it was a rarity, it was the Natural Resources subcommittee on budgets it was where I wanted to be, I was excited about it 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:09.000 But I was also never, so I was watching committee hearings to make sure I wasn't gonna screw it up 00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:19.000 And then I went with the committee administer to go practice banging the gavel, because you don't think about it you could bang that thing to loud and blow out peoples ears 00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:24.000 Greg, you might Val Hoyle, she was a heavy gavel and it was like whew slow down 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:28.000 So you know there's little things like that where you are just trying to figure out 00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:32.000 That's nothing compared to managing a committee 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:35.000 Like, we can all figure how loud to bang a gavel and have confidence in front of people 00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:42.000 But how to move an agenda and do it effectively, that's really significant 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:46.000 Which brings up more institutional challenges 00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:50.000 So it's nice to have have people who are not the institutional lobby 00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:56.000 But there are people like the League of Women Voters, that are very important and impactful and you wouldn't think about it 00:18:56.000 --> 00:18:61.000 But Peggy Lynch, of The League of Women Voters, I always give Peggy a plug 00:19:01.000 --> 00:19:06.000 She had a better attendance record in the national resources subcommittee than other legislators 00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:15.000 And I will pick on Representative Brian Clem out of Salem, granted he was always taking his daughter to school so he had a real legitimate reason 00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:19.000 But Peggy was always there on time, in person 00:19:19.000 --> 00:19:27.000 Those people are institutional forces that are balances against institutional lobby that do have interest or else they wouldn't be there 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:33.000 As you have a high turnover, the institutional knowledge shifts to the bureaucracy 00:19:33.000 --> 00:19:40.000 The institutional knowledge shifts to the lobby and that changes how things interact 00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:45.000 Which is why you now hear people talking about professionalizing or modernizing the legislature 00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:51.000 Looking at elected official pay, where this is a more sustainable occupation for individuals 00:19:51.000 --> 00:19:57.000 Because how to you raise a family, pay your student loans and have a house on $30,000 a year 00:19:57.000 --> 00:19:65.000 Again you are seeing that high turnovers is an active conversation going on in the legislature right now 00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:10.000 So from a lobbying perspective, then lets talk about there's the campaign finance side of things 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:15.000 Because lobbying does put money into campaigns and there is a tie there 00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:20.000 And that does impact the way agendas are driven 00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:24.000 So if you have any organization 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:30.000 It could be a business organization, it could be a labor organization, it could be a environmental organization. It doesn't matter whom it is 00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:34.000 If they plug in a million dollars collectively over a cycle 00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:39.000 Over all of say republican campaigns or over all democrat campaigns 00:20:39.000 --> 00:20:46.000 Their doing it because they generally align with the values, they wouldn't necessarily do that if that wasn't the case 00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:53.000 But then, you're a human being and so you develop these relationships and these partners 00:20:53.000 --> 00:20:58.000 And so if you were weighing all the different bills in a session 00:20:58.000 --> 00:20:62.000 Without any external influence, how would those rank? 00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:10.000 Now let's add in the million dollars here, the million dollars there collectively into what I would say is a ecosystem of politics 00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:16.000 Now re weigh those bills, do the order of the bills change? 00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:18.000 I would argue that yes they do 00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:23.000 I don't think its, A lot of it can be sub conscious I think frankly 00:21:23.000 --> 00:21:27.000 I don't think there's overt things going on, at least not that I've seen 00:21:27.000 --> 00:21:31.000 But I think that there's human nature in this process 00:21:31.000 --> 00:21:37.000 So you have real active conversations in Oregon because we don't have campaign finance limits, hey we should put campaign finance limits in 00:21:37.000 --> 00:21:41.000 However, then you get into independent expenditures right 00:21:41.000 --> 00:21:46.000 And the influx of independent expenditures because if Phil Knight wants to spend a million dollars 00:21:46.000 --> 00:21:51.000 Does Phil Knight go oh there's a hundred dollar limit, just gonna keep that million dollars in my pocket, no 00:21:51.000 --> 00:21:58.000 He's gonna find a different way to spend the money because he wants to see his values represented in whomever he's supporting 00:21:58.000 --> 00:21:61.000 Those were kinda the two areas that I think we wanted to touch on a little bit 00:22:01.000 --> 00:22:10.000 And then I thought what would be helpful is maybe just opening it up for folks to get in to different questions or things you think people would like to know 00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:15.000 The question really is around OLAS, the Oregon Legislative Information System 00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:20.000 For folks who don't travel on that space, it's basically a website where you can click in 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:27.000 You can search bills by the text of the bills, you could search by the sponsors 00:22:27.000 --> 00:22:31.000 You can actually sign up for a bill to get alerts, you can sign up for committees to get alerts 00:22:31.000 --> 00:22:37.000 However, there's a lot of testimonies so if we were all submitting testimonies on a given bill 00:22:37.000 --> 00:22:42.000 You're not able to really search content search within those bills, there's improvements within the system 00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:47.000 Those are on going things that frankly, were still working on 00:22:47.000 --> 00:22:51.000 I think there's other things that could be so much more robust 00:22:51.000 --> 00:22:55.000 But from an advocacy standpoint, that's the first 00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:63.000 I always give the example, when I first got into legislature my mother signed up for all my committees so she would get alerted whenever my committees were meeting 00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:05.000 It was embarrassing, I think she was the only one watching 00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:12.000 But that's the power that you can within this system and so 00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:18.000 I will often, I met with a homeowners association in my neck of the woods 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:22.000 They were like well how do we advocate, I was like okay you need to form your own legislative committee 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:31.000 That focuses on what you care about, now to your point, search and identify the bills that you want to watch 00:23:31.000 --> 00:23:36.000 And your looking at what is a relating to clause, so there's that basic information that people have 00:23:36.000 --> 00:23:44.000 OLAS can be very powerful to start monitoring that but again you have to have people who are willing to put in the work and the effort to do that 00:23:44.000 --> 00:23:48.000 It was actually an odd bill, were you there with the homeowners association Jack? 00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:53.000 Were the bill was about having food and food scarcity 00:23:53.000 --> 00:23:56.000 They were saying hey and homeowners association you can 00:23:56.000 --> 00:23:57.000 THE CHICKEN BILL! 00:23:57.000 --> 00:23:65.000 So Julie Fahey and I, the majority leader and myself, we both voted no on it. We were the only ones to vote no 00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:07.000 Audience member: I actually helped build the Chicken bill in the senate 00:24:07.000 --> 00:24:10.000 Well I voted no on it, because I thought it overall broad 00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:15.000 It treated every homeowners association the same 00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:22.000 So you could have in theory what you could have is a homeowners association and townhome right next to each other 00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:31.000 They could put bee's in the front, just totally give them blanket authority to put a beehive in the front of their townhome 00:24:31.000 --> 00:24:36.000 Where someone has to walk by a common area. It was just there was better ways to write the bill and get the intent 00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:43.000 But again that is the power of individuals writing a letter and taking about an issue that people care about 00:24:43.000 --> 00:24:52.000 I expect that bill to come back but hopefully the feedback of people coming into the system will cause the bill to be written better 00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:59.000 I think that's also the power of Julie and I to say hey wait a second we think this could be written better 00:24:59.000 --> 00:24:65.000 Which then signals the house sponsors to say huh okay maybe we should talk to them a little bit 00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:11.000 And Julie and I both had people to come up to and ask us why the heck did you vote no? its about helping people with food 00:25:11.000 --> 00:25:18.000 So the question is: There's a lot of people who do want to get involved in politics and so what's the first step? 00:25:18.000 --> 00:25:23.000 I think the first thing you do is separate yourself into 2 categories just internally 00:25:23.000 --> 00:25:29.000 How many years do you have left in your schooling? because that changes where your at 00:25:29.000 --> 00:25:36.000 If your gonna graduate here very shortly, you actually could be competitive to be campaign in the fall 00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:42.000 Campaigns are a very tried and true way for individuals to work 00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:50.000 And its just work product, anything in life, you work your butt off you don't complain you do the dirty work and you get through it, people get to see who you are as person 00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:56.000 And then often times you get rewarded with a job into the next legislative session 00:25:56.000 --> 00:25:60.000 Again, in your first, the infancy of your political career 00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:05.000 You work hard, and you just move through that process 00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:10.000 So what I would recommend, if you are in that bucket of individuals 00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:16.000 Internally its rough to sit there and want to place a call and talk to an elected official or somebody like that 00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:20.000 I would have them reach out to our office 00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:22.000 And say hey, I'm looking to get involved 00:26:22.000 --> 00:26:29.000 And you would also do that if your a democrat, if your a republican I would just forward you onto a different group 00:26:29.000 --> 00:26:36.000 So if your a democrat, you could contact the majority office or you could contact our office and we could funnel you into the right place 00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:40.000 And you shouldn't feel nervous or weird about doing it 00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:43.000 People do it all the time and frankly we are looking for good people 00:26:43.000 --> 00:26:52.000 If internally you identify more as a republican, you should talk to the minority office in senate and in the house 00:26:52.000 --> 00:26:57.000 And funnel into there and say hey, I want get involved in this space 00:26:57.000 --> 00:26:62.000 I always think that inviting to take someone out to coffee, that would one step 00:27:02.000 --> 00:27:08.000 So let's say you email in and you don't get a response and you're like oh shoot, is that a dead end? no 00:27:08.000 --> 00:27:14.000 The most valuable asset in politics is and I told Jack this all the time is being really annoying 00:27:14.000 --> 00:27:17.000 I think that this is so valuable 00:27:17.000 --> 00:27:22.000 We were trying to get a response from the secretary of state elections director 00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:30.000 I told Brian in our office, you call every hour on the hour and leave a message. Because we had deadlines, we had to move I needed a response 00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:34.000 There busy too, but the squeaky wheel gets the grease 00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:41.000 You have to find a balance between being annoying but also being likable in that process 00:27:41.000 --> 00:27:45.000 When I see someone being persistent, that tells me that's how there gonna be on the job 00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.000 I absolutely love that, I see that as one of the most wonderful assets 00:27:49.000 --> 00:27:55.000 It's annoying to me too like oh my gosh will you go away, but that tells me that if you hire that's who you want 00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:58.000 That's the person you really want on your team 00:27:58.000 --> 00:27:67.000 In that prospect, you know the leadership office they will funnel you through potential a campaign wing if its in campaign season 00:28:07.000 --> 00:28:14.000 If its not, they have a bulk of resumes that they when new offices are looking for folks to hire 00:28:14.000 --> 00:28:19.000 They can get involved there, that is a really good first step 00:28:19.000 --> 00:28:27.000 The other thing is just going local representative, I mean we get emails all the time about people who were just like hey, can we go out to coffee I just want to pick your brain 00:28:27.000 --> 00:28:35.000 Legislators we love to talk about ourselves, we love to talk about all of the different ways you can get involved 00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:38.000 And tell the war stories, etc...etc. 00:28:38.000 --> 00:28:48.000 At that point, build a relationship and hopefully your local legislator can then be a resource to push you into the right channels as well so that's another wat 00:28:48.000 --> 00:28:52.000 The other way again is the advocacy organizations 00:28:52.000 --> 00:28:57.000 So a really good example, in 2010 when we were hiring for a field director 00:28:57.000 --> 00:28:62.000 We got a bunch of resumes from an advocacy organization that had collected them 00:29:02.000 --> 00:29:05.000 They said hey! here's a bunch comb through them 00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:15.000 They get shared around, you want to get your resume to start circulating, you wanna have the personal relationships in that space 00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:21.000 So that's somebody just graduating, the other side for me really is folks who are 00:29:21.000 --> 00:29:26.000 Still in the....got a year or two to go 00:29:26.000 --> 00:29:32.000 Then you still have an opportunity to build a relationship and build a reputation 00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:36.000 I think that is very important, so Jack was in a similar situation 00:29:36.000 --> 00:29:42.000 And so is someone who worked in Jack's role before that, Sierra 00:29:42.000 --> 00:29:48.000 I've had...and right now probably about 4 to 5 people who went through our fellowship program 00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:52.000 Who weren't graduating anytime soon that now work in the legislature 00:29:52.000 --> 00:29:55.000 And you get can get part of an internship right 00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:63.000 Most of them are paid now, our fellowship is like 11 weeks, 12 weeks commitment, $500 there a stipend along with it 00:30:03.000 --> 00:30:08.000 That puts something on the resume, you got practical experience, you've build relationships 00:30:08.000 --> 00:30:11.000 If anyone of my fellows, whenever they call 00:30:11.000 --> 00:30:16.000 It's not ever a question we are writing you a letter of recommendation, who do I need to call to get you a job? 00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:20.000 If we...because I know them, I know what they've done 00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:25.000 We've build a strong relationship together, so I think finding avenues to do that 00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:29.000 And find an office that you have passion for right? 00:30:29.000 --> 00:30:34.000 There might be a legislator that really is passionate about an issue that you care about 00:30:34.000 --> 00:30:38.000 Then go just give them a call, go work with that person 00:30:38.000 --> 00:30:42.000 Or like we can send around our fellowship information 00:30:42.000 --> 00:30:46.000 For folks because that's a wonderful way to get involved and its also fun too 00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:51.000 because you get a mix of the campaign side, you get a mix of the policy side 00:30:51.000 --> 00:30:54.000 Really good entry way, and then once you get in the door 00:30:54.000 --> 00:30:58.000 Then its just you work harder than everyone else 00:30:58.000 --> 00:30:62.000 And then you're in really good position to move on 00:31:02.000 --> 00:31:05.000 And like I said, everyone starts somewhere 00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:14.000 In 2010, the field director on a campaign was a legislative director for the governors office 00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:18.000 And now chief of staff in the speakers office 00:31:18.000 --> 00:31:24.000 And what I would tell you, is to move to that position within 8-10 years 00:31:24.000 --> 00:31:29.000 That's one of the most valuable and meaningful roles you can have in this state 00:31:29.000 --> 00:31:33.000 It'll wear you out, your not gonna do it more than 2 to 4 years 00:31:33.000 --> 00:31:38.000 And then your gonna want to take off, but its a really good role 00:31:38.000 --> 00:31:41.000 So hopefully, was that helpful? 00:31:41.000 --> 00:31:46.000 So Jack, just made a really good point that during COVID 00:31:46.000 --> 00:31:52.000 There was....it challenged a lot of us to try and find ways to get people involved 00:31:52.000 --> 00:31:57.000 Our fellowship went entirely remote, we weren't able to knock on doors 00:31:57.000 --> 00:31:62.000 It was more painful than normal frankly, to go through the work of trying elect candidates 00:32:02.000 --> 00:32:05.000 To do group work to build policy 00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:10.000 I think now you are seeing...on the campaign site 00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:17.000 We are looking for good people right now, whether they are fundraising...people who are willing to learn 00:32:17.000 --> 00:32:24.000 That's the other thing, if you are walking into the space and like I don't feel like I have any usable experience that I can just offer in this world 00:32:24.000 --> 00:32:32.000 Just being able to effectively communicate, be organized and have a set of tasks, keep them organized and complete them 00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:36.000 Those are the skills you need, everything else can be learned 00:32:36.000 --> 00:32:41.000 So those are the things that I would look at and right now everybody is looking for folks 00:32:41.000 --> 00:32:43.000 Especially in the political world 00:32:43.000 --> 00:32:51.000 So really kind of a question between, still in school having some really good opportunities potentially on campaigns 00:32:51.000 --> 00:32:60.000 Having existing responsibilities or opportunities in legislative advocacy 00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:06.000 How do all those things blend together and what's the advice in terms of what should you do? 00:33:06.000 --> 00:33:11.000 I will tell you I had this exact same conversation over the weekend 00:33:11.000 --> 00:33:14.000 It was someone who was in our fellowship frankly, it was a gentleman 00:33:14.000 --> 00:33:19.000 This was a 14 year old kid who showed up to my community coffee 00:33:19.000 --> 00:33:25.000 Back in 2015, during my first legislature, he just shows up and walked around and just saying hey who's here? 00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:31.000 We get to his mom and she's like I'm not here, I don't really care about you, I'm here because of him 00:33:31.000 --> 00:33:38.000 And then I start talking to them and he starts asking me well how should I get elected in high school 00:33:38.000 --> 00:33:43.000 I was like just, hand out candy its not that hard just bribe people 00:33:43.000 --> 00:33:47.000 It's the last election you'll be able to bribe people with candy 00:33:47.000 --> 00:33:52.000 Jokes aside, we are having this very similar conversation about how do you balance these things 00:33:52.000 --> 00:33:55.000 Graduate degrees and things like that, what I would tell you is 00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:59.000 A. Life's too Short 00:33:59.000 --> 00:33:64.000 Don't overwhelm yourself right now, enjoy the moment that you have 00:34:04.000 --> 00:34:08.000 You will never be able to comeback to this moment again right 00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:11.000 You can always build relationships and do this 00:34:11.000 --> 00:34:15.000 And it sounds like you are an overachiever by most standards right? 00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:21.000 So enjoy the moment...Do well at what you've got in front of you 00:34:21.000 --> 00:34:26.000 Then see...And if your just starting your graduate program, wait and see the work load 00:34:26.000 --> 00:34:31.000 And then start expanding out to graduate degrees 00:34:31.000 --> 00:34:35.000 There are numerous paths into this 00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:40.000 You will see someone who is like, I need to follow that path, No you don't 00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.000 There are a hundred different paths to where you want to go 00:34:44.000 --> 00:34:47.000 And there's no one right way to do it, is the one that I would say 00:34:47.000 --> 00:34:54.000 There's the right way it would be for you, and the last thing you want to do is to get overly stressed in a situation 00:34:54.000 --> 00:34:58.000 Have fun, do good at your program if that's your passion 00:34:58.000 --> 00:34:64.000 Get through that and then balance it with getting involved periodically 00:35:04.000 --> 00:35:11.000 Because you don't have to run a campaign, you don't have to do the field director work but you could still be involved and build relationships 00:35:11.000 --> 00:35:14.000 When it fits in to what you are doing 00:35:14.000 --> 00:35:20.000 In the summers, if your not working those are real easy ways to engage 00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:28.000 If that's something you find passionate, we could help you engage in different spaces or there might be people again like you are already connected with there 00:35:28.000 --> 00:35:36.000 So I would take a balance approach and then just remembering, life is really short so enjoy the moment that you have 00:35:36.000 --> 00:35:44.000 As opposed to thinking that I have to be... the pressures of I gotta be meeting these metrics and I gotta be doing these things 00:35:44.000 --> 00:35:51.000 I didn't know where I wanted to go at your age let's just be real, I still don't know where I want to be in 10 years 00:35:51.000 --> 00:35:56.000 Maybe I'll be a Lawyer, maybe I'll be a Shepard, haven't figured it out 00:35:56.000 --> 00:35:60.000 But like for you, do you have ideas on where you want to end up? 00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:03.000 Audience member: I want to be in the senate 00:36:03.000 --> 00:36:06.000 That's amazing, do you want to run for office? 00:36:06.000 --> 00:36:18.000 That's amazing, there are definite things that you can do to take steps in that direction 00:36:18.000 --> 00:36:24.000 Again, your look at a whole bunch of... and knowing that you want to be in an elected office 00:36:24.000 --> 00:36:28.000 That's very different than folks who just want to work behind the scenes 00:36:28.000 --> 00:36:32.000 So frankly, making that decision internally is very helpful 00:36:32.000 --> 00:36:35.000 I think what's going to be really important for you, knowing that you want to serve 00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:40.000 And be in the decision making role is actually learning the techniques to get there 00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:46.000 Which is.. and frankly in the state senate. If that's where you are thinking? 00:36:46.000 --> 00:36:55.000 It's knocking on doors and fundraising, its no more complicated than that and surrounding yourself with really good people 00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:59.000 The best people in these roles surround themselves with the best staff 00:36:59.000 --> 00:36:63.000 Because you are like a fraction of the puzzle 00:37:03.000 --> 00:37:10.000 The people who do the real work is everyone around you, making sure that..you know always appreciating that 00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:13.000 And then the other thing is... take people out to lunch 00:37:13.000 --> 00:37:23.000 Again, like if you called up and said hey, 5,10 years down the road I think I may want to do this, I would love to pick your brain for 30 minutes 00:37:23.000 --> 00:37:27.000 Again, going back to what I said we love to talk about ourselves 00:37:27.000 --> 00:37:30.000 I'd love to tell you about my 2010 failed senate campaign 00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:35.000 And all the thing that I did to potentially win and how I got where I am 00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:42.000 But again, take me with a grain of salt because your path will be entirely different and unique to yourself 00:37:42.000 --> 00:37:48.000 But you should totally run for office.....if our values are the same, I don't know if they are 00:37:48.000 --> 00:37:53.000 But if they are you should totally run, if they are not.....there could be some other things 00:37:53.000 --> 00:37:59.000 Western has been a unique breeding ground for people who aspire to politics 00:37:59.000 --> 00:37:68.000 So 87' was Paul Evans as an 18 year old. I don't think that I necessarily knew that I wanted to serve in the legislature when I was here 00:38:08.000 --> 00:38:15.000 Although, I think I ran for...I think it was Heritage....it was before I was kicked out of Heritage 00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:24.000 I ran for...I think was like one of the office people....When you are like the president of the building or whatever the heck it is 00:38:24.000 --> 00:38:32.000 And I lost, so it was a very painful experience...painful experience 00:38:32.000 --> 00:38:37.000 Yeah I was Heritage hall initially, what ended up happening since we are recording 00:38:37.000 --> 00:38:43.000 It was just dumb 18 year old stuff, I went into the bathroom.... 00:38:43.000 --> 00:38:46.000 It was on the second floor and it is was leaking... 00:38:46.000 --> 00:38:51.000 And it was one of those knobs that goes like this....not a fancy knob 00:38:51.000 --> 00:38:57.000 And so I started unscrewing it, I thought I was screwing it but I was not smart enough at 18 to know righty tighty, lefty lousy... 00:38:57.000 --> 00:38:62.000 So I unscrewed it the wrong way, and the thing pops off 00:39:02.000 --> 00:39:08.000 And the water is going everywhere...so I did like fight or flight 00:39:08.000 --> 00:39:12.000 I was like I don't know what to do...so I just left 00:39:12.000 --> 00:39:17.000 And they thought it was malicious...and eventually it got all squared away 00:39:17.000 --> 00:39:24.000 So the question really revolves around we have this entirely changing political landscape in Oregon 00:39:24.000 --> 00:39:29.000 And the gravity of it is immense, you have a governor who is leaving 00:39:29.000 --> 00:39:32.000 So the governor will have their final budgets that they'll submit 00:39:32.000 --> 00:39:37.000 Mind you the governors staff, I just hired a governors staff person to be my chief of staff 00:39:37.000 --> 00:39:40.000 People are starting to transition away 00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:45.000 You have a senate president that is transitioning out 00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:51.000 Who has brought a lot of independence in the senate 00:39:51.000 --> 00:39:58.000 And when you have a lot of independence in the senate, to be able to find the next senate a president is going to be an immense challenge 00:39:58.000 --> 00:39:63.000 I'm workshopping a joke about the senate, the leadership elections 00:40:03.000 --> 00:40:09.000 And it is, that there's not enough black smoke at the Vatican to last the senate...democratic leadership elections 00:40:11.000 --> 00:40:15.000 It could be months, yeah their gonna have to wait on that 00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:20.000 So there's...its going to be an interesting dynamic in there 00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:26.000 In the way that they elect the president, that person will come in theory right in after the elections 00:40:26.000 --> 00:40:32.000 You're also going to have an election cycle...you are in a mid term of a democratic president 00:40:32.000 --> 00:40:36.000 If you look at the track of how people are feeling in the community 00:40:36.000 --> 00:40:45.000 Like, homelessness is palpable in our communities. The national trend of community violence is like we are hearing about it everyday 00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:48.000 Behavioral Heath issues, I think the... 00:40:48.000 --> 00:40:54.000 I think about it as a parent, when I send Adam to school, the teachers are worn out 00:40:54.000 --> 00:40:59.000 Like retention issues, whether its at Western or at K through 12 00:40:59.000 --> 00:40:65.000 No matter where it is, there's retention and recruitment issues. Parents just want their kids in schools 5 days a week 00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:10.000 But the teachers are struggling because this has been going on...we are all worn out, right we are just worn out 00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:15.000 And I think all of us feel that, and I think that will have an impact on the elections 00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:23.000 Historical trends and we will probably have less democrats in the legislature if history is any indicator 00:41:23.000 --> 00:41:29.000 That changes the dynamic as well, you have new republican leadership 00:41:29.000 --> 00:41:32.000 So you have basically new minority leader in the house 00:41:32.000 --> 00:41:38.000 Relatively new but very experienced republican leader in the senate, Tim Knopp 00:41:38.000 --> 00:41:47.000 Tim is absolutely just wonderful, he's Peter's nemesis but he's you know...very effective on what he does 00:41:47.000 --> 00:41:52.000 And then I think the understated thing, is you think about the legislative fiscal officer 00:41:52.000 --> 00:41:58.000 Your non partisan officers matter, they really do matter. Especially when you have part time legislators 00:41:58.000 --> 00:41:64.000 So having a new legislative fiscal officer that just gout put in....massive transition there 00:42:04.000 --> 00:42:10.000 So all of these things, will have an impact walking into the next session 00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:14.000 It's also an opportunity right, to rebuild culture 00:42:14.000 --> 00:42:21.000 We will have about one third of the legislators in the house who have actually gone through an in person legislative session 00:42:21.000 --> 00:42:26.000 That's pretty wild, so 2 years or less. 2 thirds or 2 years or less in terms of institutional knowledge 00:42:26.000 --> 00:42:30.000 The ability to do significant big ticket items 00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:40.000 You wonder about that, can we coral people to have the leadership that's necessary to move your values in a certain direction 00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:45.000 I think all of those are really interesting characteristics of how we move forward 00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:55.000 And what I can see is for me and the house and how we are approaching this is 00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:60.000 Starting from the beginning of trying to build things from the bottom up in terms of an agenda 00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:09.000 We are actually in the process of meeting with all of our legislators on the house side to talk about what are the issues that they see or feel in their community 00:43:09.000 --> 00:43:12.000 What are the things they are working on? What do they want? 00:43:12.000 --> 00:43:16.000 Like I was thinking about when you get a press release after the end of the 23 session 00:43:16.000 --> 00:43:22.000 What do you want to have accomplished? This value of time, Where do you want to be? and I don't care if it's lofty as heck 00:43:22.000 --> 00:43:29.000 I want to end climate change. Alright, probably not going to be able to pass a bill that does all of that in one session 00:43:29.000 --> 00:43:31.000 But you could chip away at it 00:43:31.000 --> 00:43:39.000 You have these really broad visions then that helps us drive a an agenda from the speakers office standpoint 00:43:39.000 --> 00:43:48.000 Where were catering our work plans within the committees to help to be more focused on what the members of the caucus are looking for 00:43:48.000 --> 00:43:52.000 Also trying to get members of the caucus more engaged in the process 00:43:52.000 --> 00:43:60.000 And I think that because we've been so distanced, I think the personal relationships are so much more critical now than they ever have been 00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:07.000 And so finding ways to connect with each other and so we can rebuild trust amongst each other 00:44:07.000 --> 00:44:17.000 I think one of the under appreciated dynamics in the legislature is just being able to trust and have a conversation 00:44:17.000 --> 00:44:20.000 So you might have a caucus conversation 00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:26.000 But I know that someone feels very diametrically opposed to my viewpoint 00:44:26.000 --> 00:44:33.000 I need to know they are still going to be okay with me as a human being and that we can disagree and it's okay 00:44:33.000 --> 00:44:40.000 And we can still walk away and hug afterwards right, and just be human beings 00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:44.000 That has not always been the case, because people get scared in the caucus 00:44:44.000 --> 00:44:48.000 There are trust issues that if I say something in the caucus 00:44:48.000 --> 00:44:54.000 That say an advocacy organization doesn't like and that trust gets breached and they find out 00:44:54.000 --> 00:44:58.000 You've lost that ability to communicate and trust one another 00:44:58.000 --> 00:44:64.000 To be able to have meaningful dialogue to then shape the legislation in a way to move it forward 00:45:04.000 --> 00:45:08.000 So I really want to focus on relationships but also on the republican side too 00:45:08.000 --> 00:45:17.000 I am like a firm believer that I don't believe anyone is in that building because they have some nefarious agenda 00:45:17.000 --> 00:45:24.000 Like everyone is there to try to move the state forward from their values and their lens 00:45:24.000 --> 00:45:27.000 And how do we respect that from each other and not villainize each other 00:45:27.000 --> 00:45:34.000 At the same time, if you are the majority party democrat or republican, how do you move your agenda with grace 00:45:34.000 --> 00:45:40.000 right, in that process. We passed the reproductive health equity act 00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:46.000 And I know I've got family members....and I'm not supposed to touch the mic...we've got family members 00:45:46.000 --> 00:45:50.000 That are very passionate about reproductive health equity 00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:56.000 On the conservative side and family members that are passionate on the other side from a very organic standpoint 00:45:56.000 --> 00:45:62.000 Same in the legislature, and so how do you do things like that and the understand on the other side of the aisle 00:46:02.000 --> 00:46:06.000 That these folks are..... thier really impacted internally 00:46:06.000 --> 00:46:09.000 So how does that change our behavior on advocating? 00:46:09.000 --> 00:46:14.000 We passed, in the short session, It was the farm worker overtime bill 00:46:14.000 --> 00:46:21.000 We deeply as democrats believe that is a policy that is rooted in racism 00:46:21.000 --> 00:46:26.000 In the history of our country and there is a historical basis you can go back for that 00:46:26.000 --> 00:46:34.000 However, if you were in the opposition side you can actually feel is though that you are being called racist 00:46:34.000 --> 00:46:39.000 If the arguments are not structured properly or it's not very articulate 00:46:39.000 --> 00:46:48.000 So we worked really hard as the speakers office and the majority office to make sure that when we had that conversation that is was respectful 00:46:48.000 --> 00:46:52.000 And that we were moving from a values based perspective on that 00:46:52.000 --> 00:46:57.000 I always think about this from the state level, you have a portfolio of things you're trying to do 00:46:57.000 --> 00:46:60.000 Right, and as a democrat your looking at 00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:07.000 Let's say you have health care, behavioral health or...and even republicans...health care, behavioral health, education 00:47:07.000 --> 00:47:09.000 Economic development. 00:47:09.000 --> 00:47:15.000 We believed in this broad portfolio of things we were trying to accomplish that one of those thing should be world development 00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:20.000 And if you are going to do that, then let's focus it 00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:25.000 And then at the same time...again how do we rebuild trust? How do you give power back? 00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:32.000 And then say hey we....And just like in any space, I wouldn't go into a organization 00:47:32.000 --> 00:47:37.000 That's advocating on an issue that I don't know anything about and say this is what's right for you 00:47:37.000 --> 00:47:44.000 And nor would I go into rural districts as a democrat and from our districts and say this is what's right for you 00:47:44.000 --> 00:47:49.000 You should lead on this, you should develop the package and lead for your own communities 00:47:49.000 --> 00:47:54.000 Which it did actually, where the legislature was there was a lot of trust issues 00:47:54.000 --> 00:47:62.000 So the interesting thing about this world was, you have....the republicans were saying: Well you were gonna fund this stuff anyway weren't you 00:48:02.000 --> 00:48:06.000 Right so there's trust issues that you have to work past 00:48:06.000 --> 00:48:11.000 In fact it caused this 2 hour joint caucus of the republicans 00:48:11.000 --> 00:48:16.000 Well what are they up to? Do they just want to give us money? What's going on here? 00:48:16.000 --> 00:48:18.000 There's something cooking 00:48:18.000 --> 00:48:27.000 So we sat down...But that is...I think it's just very illustrative of the underlying trust issues that we have to build upon 00:48:27.000 --> 00:48:30.000 And so I sat down with Leader Breese Iverson 00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:35.000 And said No no no, here's actually in our infrastructure package we are not funding these things 00:48:35.000 --> 00:48:38.000 Because and here's why and here's the things we are 00:48:38.000 --> 00:48:46.000 It was just very an open book process, this is intended to be an additive to rural Oregon 00:48:46.000 --> 00:48:54.000 Because the other thing is you put in a ceiling in a senior center in Eastern Oregon for $100,000 in a small community 00:48:54.000 --> 00:48:59.000 The impact of that versus a million dollars in portland 00:48:59.000 --> 00:48:64.000 Right it just has an entirely different feel 00:49:04.000 --> 00:49:10.000 Yeah right, I think it's just a community building is super important 00:49:10.000 --> 00:49:13.000 I know I was excited about it 00:49:13.000 --> 00:49:18.000 Peter Courtney for awhile was calling it Rayflield's Hindenburg Plan 00:49:18.000 --> 00:49:25.000 Because it was on a Saturday I got him to agree to this thing and we were on the phone chatting back and forth 00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:33.000 And then there was like there was so much mistrust that Knopp was saying were not going to do this, were not going to participate in this 00:49:33.000 --> 00:49:38.000 And Peter could not figure this thing out, I went home to my wife and I was explaining to her 00:49:38.000 --> 00:49:44.000 I can't understand this...like were genuinely trying to...well this is what's broken with politics 00:49:44.000 --> 00:49:49.000 And certain republicans didn't feel like they could be seen cooperating with democrats 00:49:49.000 --> 00:49:56.000 Because I think there is this fallacy that we are driven by the minority in our electoral politics 00:49:56.000 --> 00:49:62.000 And so my wife was saying, that's what's broken right people should be able to take care of their districts 00:50:02.000 --> 00:50:14.000 But eventually we worked through that all, the senate president doesn't know but I got a Hindenburg model for him as a going away present 00:50:14.000 --> 00:50:17.000 I bought one on amazon and I thought it would be wonderful 00:50:17.000 --> 00:50:24.000 And it turns out its some metal thing....he's going to have to do it with his grandkids...if he has the patience to put it together 00:50:24.000 --> 00:50:28.000 And then I've got the real Hindenburg Model coming 00:50:28.000 --> 00:50:32.000 Isn't that the question for this era? 00:50:32.000 --> 00:50:38.000 The real question is...how do you...we are talking about the information 00:50:38.000 --> 00:50:42.000 Like it was fascinating in the vaccine contemplation I had... 00:50:42.000 --> 00:50:47.000 A family member who says well I got some information for you 00:50:47.000 --> 00:50:52.000 And they send me a facebook link and of course I bite and I click it 00:50:52.000 --> 00:50:59.000 And it says on facebook that they had disapproved it or whatever it was that it had been proved to be not true 00:50:59.000 --> 00:50:65.000 Whatever it was inside of her, she was able to dismiss the warning from facebook 00:51:05.000 --> 00:51:13.000 And then go underneath it and believe the base information which tells something about our society in that level of trust 00:51:13.000 --> 00:51:18.000 I think theres something much bigger, I also think that politicians have a responsibility in that conversation 00:51:18.000 --> 00:51:24.000 And I think that we cannot walk away from that, I talk about that often 00:51:24.000 --> 00:51:28.000 What is our responsibility in the rhetoric that we use? 00:51:28.000 --> 00:51:33.000 Because there is peer reviewed literature that shows that how we act as politicians 00:51:33.000 --> 00:51:39.000 Does in fact drive how people...our constituents act as well 00:51:39.000 --> 00:51:43.000 And so for me in this role or in any role 00:51:43.000 --> 00:51:48.000 I think it's trying to find...it's like your building...you walk the walk 00:51:48.000 --> 00:51:55.000 And you cannot...it seems daunting, it almost seems like in someways when I was trying to 00:51:55.000 --> 00:51:59.000 Build up my own internal confidence after failing out of Western 00:51:59.000 --> 00:51:64.000 It was like one stair step at a time, and you don't ever think that you are going to get to the top 00:52:04.000 --> 00:52:11.000 You don't think that it is ever possible, getting out of school and you have all this student and you're like: I'm never going to pay this off 00:52:11.000 --> 00:52:15.000 It's overwhelming and you just don't think about it and you just walk 00:52:15.000 --> 00:52:24.000 But I think as elected officials, politicians which has such a negative connotation, it is continuing to rebuild that trust little by little 00:52:24.000 --> 00:52:32.000 It shouldn't be a gesture, it should be leading with the values 00:52:32.000 --> 00:52:36.000 FDR did it, when he was running for governor in New York 00:52:36.000 --> 00:52:40.000 He tried to take back over rural New York 00:52:40.000 --> 00:52:49.000 We've always had this Urban Rural Divide, he really made consorted efforts to do outreach and rebuild trust and disagreeing 00:52:49.000 --> 00:52:56.000 I think there has to be a movement with elected officials to start slowly doing that 00:52:56.000 --> 00:52:60.000 And just getting away from all that regular... 00:53:00.000 --> 00:53:08.000 I mean I get frustrated with politicians, I hear the same talking points all the time, I get turned off by it just as much as anyone else 00:53:08.000 --> 00:53:17.000 So it's not a great answer but for me I'm going to lead with my values and hopefully surround yourself with people around you who do the same 00:53:17.000 --> 00:53:21.000 applause 00:53:21.000 --> 00:53:24.000 music