Attention to detail often becomes more central to success when dealing with an issue or idea, rather than a tangible product or service.  Historic American Author Louis L’Amour said “There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. Yet that will be the beginning.” This can be applied to politics in the sense that many corporations, small businesses, and associations may believe the work stops within the legislature or with campaigns. While keeping a pulse on legislative action can play a major role in all market sectors, many battles can be lost in the administrative rules process as well.  There are 187 state agencies in Missouri that write rules and regulations to implement the laws in Missouri Revised Statutes (RSMo) passed by the General Assembly or through initiative petition.

Twice a month, Missouri’s Secretary of State publishes the Missouri Register. This contains proposed rulemakings by departments and agencies that are then subject to public comment and a hearing.  With 24 editions and over 1200 pages of proposed rules and regulations over the course of one year, it is easy to see why attention to detail is so important. A major component of the rulemaking process is the role of the Small Business Regulatory Fairness Board (SBRFB), which is charged with ensuring state agency rules and regulations do not create an unfair burden for small businesses.

A recent example of this can be seen in a rule published in November of 2008 by the Department of Social Services (DSS) that required all MO HealthNet providers to contract with a Patient Safety Organization (PSO) at the request of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).  On January 3, 2012, the Department of Social Services proposed to rescind this rule after the Missouri Ambulatory Surgery Center Association (MASCA) filed suit for not properly engaging the SBRFB to analyze the impact this would have on small businesses.  Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) add considerable value to Missouri’s economy, with a 2009 statewide economic impact of $841.5 million, including more than $42 million in tax payments and employment of 1,800 full time workers. Additionally, for every dollar spent in the ASC sector of the state economy, $2.35 worth of economic value is created in the state.¹

Patient safety and convenience is the centerpiece of the ASC business model, as surgery centers strive to provide high quality medical care at lower costs with lower infection rates.  A recent national study found that seven-day mortality rates were 25 per 100,000 outpatient procedures at ASCs, compared to 50 per 100,000 in hospital outpatient departments. ¹ Therefore, a regulatory mandate by the Department of Social Services for ASCs to contract with PSO’s could be a cost burden with little to no added value to the quality of care. Most importantly, the Department of Social Services skipped a vital step when they bypassed the SBRFB and neglected the impact this mandate might have on ASCs in Missouri.

This recent victory by the Missouri Ambulatory Surgery Center Association gives new meaning to free enterprise and quality health care in our state.  With a strong lobbying voice and regulatory oversight, all corporations, small businesses, and associations can prevent state and federal government from implementing costly requirements that could be passed on to consumers.  It is MASCA’s mission to continue advocating for free enterprise and competition in the legislative and regulatory environment that will lead to lower costs and high quality care for Missouri patients.

Link to January 3, 2012 edition of Missouri Register:

http://www.sos.mo.gov/adrules/moreg/current/v37n1/v37n1.asp

Source: [1] Oxford Outcomes (2010). ASC Impact Analysis.

Any voter or concerned citizen that wonders how state income taxes impacts their local business climate needs not look any farther than this legislative year in Illinois state politics.  High income taxes have exported more working taxpayer wealth than our entire Missouri State Budget ($23 billion) from 1995 to 2008.  That didn’t stop state politicians from raising it further, prompting concerns and/or likely moves from Caterpillar, the Chicago Board Options Exchange, and Sears.

I traveled with Philanthropist Rex Sinquefield, a University of Chicago MBA Alumni, when he spoke on WGN’s Mike McConnell show last week.  As a retired entrepreneur whose investment business moved out of California, Rex Sinquefield understands how state tax policy directly impacts how businesses move and create jobs.  While Missouri is fortunate not to have politicians advocating for tax hikes today, Missouri is not well-poised to recover from this recession thanks to chronically-slow growth.  In fact, the Show Me State is one of only two states in the nation to never have a single decade of double digit growth in the last century.

MP3 of Rex Sinquefield on WGN’s Mike McConnell radio show.

There’s only one big reason to offer a constitutional amendment to permanently-end the tax on individual income:  to make Missouri competitive within our global job economy.  With the right tax policy, Missouri can apply its well-centered American position by giving you more of what everyone needs most – more in your wallet with every paycheck.  I hope that you will learn more from www.letvotersdecide.com or by following us by texting “MOREJOBS” at 41411.

Below is a press release from Let Voters Decide, our campaign to create real job growth for Missouri.  The process towards the Missouri ballot is long and hard, but there’s never been a more important time for voters to consider a better way for economic growth.   Since the Show-Me State is currently 48^th in the nation, the plan that we are on simply isn’t working.  When our state isn’t growing, it hurts everything that our state wants and needs to serve.

Contact:
Travis H. Brown, President, Let Voters Decide
(314) 540-5515

LET VOTERS DECIDE GATHERING SIGNATURES, GAINING MOMENTUM

October 5, 2011 (Jefferson City, Mo.) – The Let Voters Decide coalition recently announced significant momentum surrounding the Missouri Taxpayer Relief Act. The Secretary of State approved the measure, a critical step in its journey toward the November 2012 ballot. The Missouri Taxpayer Relief Act will soon be circulated for voter signatures.

“We are very pleased to have the opportunity to circulate this petition,” said Travis H. Brown, president of Let Voters Decide. “The Missouri Taxpayer Relief Act finally gives working Missourians a say about our state’s unfair double taxation. By collecting 120,000 signatures, we can show that voters statewide care about a new way forward for Missouri’s economy.”

The goal of the Missouri Taxpayer Relief Act is to phase out the individual income tax and replace it with a broad-based, consumer-driven sales tax. This means that Missourians would be taxed on those items that they choose to buy, not on the fruits of their labor.

“When you consider Missouri’s educated workforce and our ability to innovate, you would think our state would be thriving,” Brown said. “Yet the reality is that we have the third-worst GDP growth in the entire nation. This measure would make Missouri a better place for businesses and working families, which is why we believe people will be eager to sign our petition.”

Under the Missouri Taxpayer Relief Act, the state sales tax would increase by less than 3 percentage points. The expanded sales-tax base would provide our state with greater economic stability, making Missouri more likely to retain and attract businesses. Importantly, the Missouri Taxpayer Relief Act protects low-income families by exempting necessities (such as health care, child care and rent) from a sales tax.

“This is a common-sense approach that will provide all working Missourians with an immediate 6 percent pay raise,” added Brown. “We have a jobs plan worth doing, and through the initiative process, Missouri voters can move it forward. If passed, this measure will drive economic development and bring real, lasting growth to Missouri.”

For more information about the Let Voters Decide coalition and the Missouri Taxpayer Relief Act, visit www.LetVotersDecide.com.

Among the eleven items specific to Governor Nixon’s legislative call was this one:

“To enact legislation authorizing an orderly transition in the governance of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department from a board of police commissioners to the City of St. Louis through a process that provides for equitable employment treatment for commissioned and civilian personnel.”

This past regular legislative session, an unprecedented coalition of grassroots constituencies emerged thanks in part to A Safer Missouri giving all citizens a strong voice. Such groups rallied to work out what became “an equitable treatment for commissioned and civilian personnel” impacted by restoring local control to the voters of St. Louis City. During the final days of session, consensus became clear that both the leadership and the rank-and-file within our public safety programs were eager to put Civil War history behind us.

Unique to Governor Nixon’s call is that while the Revised Statutes of Missouri within Chapter 84 deal with both Kansas City and St. Louis City, his request deals only with the chapters relevant to St. Louis City. This means local government interests in Kansas City that may have a different time table would be allowed to advance on their own terms if only the St. Louis legislation were enacted.

If you’re like the Kansas City Star, rooting for local police control within the City of Fountains, then perhaps special session is not for you. However, if you’re Kansas City Mayor Sly James, you should be booking your Jefferson City hotel stays after Labor Day.

Here’s why:

If the Missouri General Assembly fails to restore local control despite repeat consensus among all interested parties this year, it is likely that one of four initiative petitions will advance to the statewide ballot. Those petitions would restore local control not only for St. Louis City, but for Kansas City as well. Moreover, the language found within these petitions filed prior to the General Assembly compromise would not apply as it would have under a state legislative remedy.

The language, if advanced to the people’s ballot, is quite short and direct:

“Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to:

Require that all municipal police forces or departments be controlled by the municipal governing body where the police force or department is located; and
Require the governing body of any city whose municipal police force or department was under state control, currently St. Louis and Kansas City, to maintain the terms of any existing pension plan for current or retired officers or employees of such police force or department who were hired prior to November 6, 2012?

Local governmental entities estimated savings from this proposal of at least $7.8 million, but the total potential savings is unknown. It is estimated the proposal would have no cost or savings to state governmental entities.”

Special session has to be special for Mayor Sly James of Kansas City – that is, if his office desires some freedom to operate within its windows of time with City Council. If Mayor James doesn’t advocate for this practical short-run solution for St. Louis in Jefferson City, he will be inviting many others to intervene in his Kansas City budget and safety priorities for the rest of his term.

Here’s hoping that our Kansas City leadership comes back to the State Capitol, and brings with them some Gates barbecue – so that the only “burnt ends” there aren’t political.

Travis H. Brown is a registered Missouri State Lobbyist for “A Safer Missouri” and “Rex & Jeanne Sinquefield.”

In what might initially sound like a leisure water sport, dragon boat racing will undoubtedly leave paddlers breathless and drained of energy after three intense races across Creve Coeur Lake.  In what is symbolic of most team activities, whether it’s in the athletic arena or corporate and government workforce, synchronized team effort and coordinated action define success at the finish line.  Despite the physical exertion, the competitive nature and philanthropic spirit of the event sends teams rushing back each year to take part in the festival and benefit the Signature Health Foundation.  Aside from the races, the festival included live music, barbeque, and fun activities for the 25 teams, friends, and families.

All proceeds of this event benefit Operation Family Help, a new Signature Healthcare Foundation initiative to assist families of patients with financial challenges by providing services such as therapy, equipment or transportation.  Signature Healthcare Foundation was founded in 2002 with a vision to “be a recognized leader in the local and national health care dialogue and spearhead physician leadership in improvements and efficiencies in the healthcare delivery system.” Signature Medical Group, its founding organization, has been a longtime lobbying client of Pelopidas in the Missouri Legislature and our organizations have actively worked together outside of government affairs over the years to benefit a variety of philanthropic causes in the St. Louis community.

Our Pelopidas team would like to thank John Marshall and the rest of Signature Healthcare Foundation for putting on a great event to benefit the community.  After a few weeks of rest and muscle relaxers, the Pelopidas Pow-Oar-House will begin training for next year’s competition!

A college preparing for a surge in freshman enrollment must spend time and resources developing a plan of action in terms of how to best accommodate the needs of their students.  While working with Enrollment Services at Westminster College, I was exposed to the strategy of ensuring there are enough dorm rooms in student housing, quality mentors to help with the college transition, and adequate programs to satisfy the varied interests of the entire student body.  The challenge is not only in providing quality hospitality to the incoming class, but maintain the high level of expectations to retain all students and attract future ones.  With the recent passage of federal healthcare legislation, the United States is expected to extend coverage to an estimated 34 million uninsured by 2019.  As our country plans to care for these individuals, we must ask ourselves; do we have enough hospital beds and can our current health care amenities sustain this adjustment in enrollment?

With a record breaking class on the way, it is essential that our country takes proper steps in improving the design of health care facilities to better suit our ever growing culture that’s centered on convenience.  Whether it’s a college, shopping mall, or health care facility, convenience is almost always dependent on location.  Essentially, more convenient health care locations will result in better access and lower costs to patients in both urban and rural settings.  However, unlike colleges and shopping malls, health care facilities are subject to Certificate of Need (CON) laws that regulate where and when they can operate.  According to the National Conference for State Legislatures, “The basic assumption underlying CON regulation is that excess capacity (in the form of facility overbuilding) directly results in health care price inflation. When a hospital cannot fill its beds, fixed costs must be met through higher charges for the beds that are used.”

The history of CON laws date back to 1964 when New York enacted the first statutes giving state government the power to determine the need for a hospital, which led to a federal mandate for CON laws under the Nixon Administration in 1972.  Specifically, the Missouri Hospital Association and other Missouri health care facilities are regulated by the state CON laws enacted in 1979 under RSMo 197.300-197.366 that haven’t been modified since 1996.  In 1987, the federal mandate of CON laws was repealed, which led to fourteen states eliminating them from their state laws.  Opponents of CON laws believe the system is flawed by political influence and insist an open market would better control the cost and needs of patients, ultimately leading to better access and convenience.

Once facilities are established and operating, they are only convenient if they can run effectively and efficiently.  A patient’s experience is impacted by length of their stay, exposure to infection or medical deficiency, and privacy.  No patient enjoys being crammed into a small, curtain separated room for an over-extended period of time.

Studies show that medical errors within hospitals account for anywhere between 44,000 and 98,000 deaths each year in the United States at a cost of $17 to $29 billion to our nation’s economy.   In their review Transforming Hospitals:  Designing for Safety and Quality, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) says “In the midst of this construction boom, hospital planners have an opportunity to create safer and more effective facilities that enhance patient safety, improve the quality of care, increase workforce satisfaction, and reduce the cost of care.”

Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASCs) have become a model illustration in how to effectively run a convenient health care facility.  ASCs are facilities where surgeries that do not require hospital admission are performed and have excelled in areas of cost, patient safety, and efficiency.  On average, an operation is approximately one half to one third cheaper at an ASC than a hospital.  In addition, most ASCs take pride in providing individual, private pre and post operative rooms.  In terms of infection control, a 2007 report found that 71% of ASCs did not have a single complication per 1,000 patient encounters.  In summary, all of this efficiency is coupled with the convenience of going home the same day of surgery.

With challenges ahead in our health care industry, we must accommodate for what’s to come without dismantling and dissatisfying what we have.  Winston Churchill said “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”  As a Missouri contract lobbyist, I consider it my responsibility and opportunity to advise policy makers in fixing errors in the past, expanding on areas of proven success, and exploring new and innovative ideas for the future.  Whether it is re-evaluating CON laws, utilizing ASCs, or implementing more environmentally friendly hospitals, the United States of America must prepare for our incoming class.

These children were about to be marginalized, forgotten. They were in limbo between adulthood and the haven of school because they were “incorrigible”: they’d broken laws, disrupted classrooms or violated public school safety codes. Some serious infraction had removed these children from their public school and funneled them into a labyrinthine system where education was unlikely and graduation seemed completely out of reach. These were the children Judge Edwards heard from daily, and it was only a matter of time before they ended up back in Edwards’ courtroom on more serious charges and with less hope.

The reaction from Edwards was superhuman. In April 2009, he saw opportunity in the closing of Blewett School on Cass Ave., and in a few short months he had a building, 45 community partners, and a Principal vetted by the toughest juvenile offenders to open ICA.

Innovative Concepts Academy, in just its first year, is getting local and national attention for the profound changes happening in the lives of the most “incorrigible” youth. A few ideas seem to be the pillars of this success, and are woven into every program:

ICA is a place to be safe. Sure, it’s replete with security tech and staff – but they also provide medical services and 3 square meals a day, counseling, and staff trained to deal with trauma victims. For Edwards, it’s not enough to treat symptoms like acting out in class: many of the kids at ICA may have witnessed violent crimes or may be in a situation that precludes success.

ICA is a place to learn – or for many students, the ONLY place to learn. A child expelled from school doesn’t lose access to classroom learning and accountability. A juvenile offender doesn’t while away time in a facility that further limits her opportunities. More than that, students get and learn respect. Some of the boys mention that adults take them more seriously when they’re wearing a tie. The entire staff and mechanism of the school reinforces the idea that effort is rewarded – even desirable – and that they are all capable.

Third, it’s a place to get inspired. While mandatory extra-curricular programs keep kids off the street and out of trouble, those 45 community partners have given ICA students a remarkable smorgasbord of activities that aren’t simply about marking time. Golf lessons, chess instruction, classical music, creative writing and ballroom dance are just a few of the ways students can spend their afternoons.

A St. Louis Magazine documentary of Innovative Concepts Academy ends with one young man at a piano knocking out beautiful riff after beautiful riff: for me, that made the ICA not just a good idea, but something we should cherish, support and replicate. Just think, a pianist, a chess master, an author, a thinker, a good parent, or a hard worker may be that child who was about to slip through the cracks.

The plight of students in St. Louis is often harsh. The dropout rate is untenable: some kids are homeless, others are hungry, and some are discouraged. In one year, a rejection of all the things that don’t work; a fresh start based solely on what at-risk kids need to choose a better path; and a resolute leader accomplished not just a good school, but also hope.

We now have hope that there are solutions to the problems that have baffled us – but only if we’re willing to be radical thinkers, and put our energy behind a good idea.

Many government relations professionals inevitably must face this kind of scenario within their issue management responsibilities.  The general counsel of your Fortune 500 Corporation, or perhaps even a major law partner of a retained firm by your employer, approaches you at a meeting or evening event to let you know that he has some great contacts that could help you solve your contract lobbying challenges.  Before you know it, several other calls have been made from other peers to you or even your supervisors encouraging you to make this worthy decision.

Now, it is up to you to independently-evaluate the claims and credibility of the referrals given by the legal universe, which may or may not truly specialize in working your state’s General Assembly.  You don’t have much time.  Your issue is calling out for help.  You need to maintain respect and rapport with internal company executives.  How can sort you out what is needed versus what is desired?

As someone who has managed contract lobby firms across 14 states for major corporate interests, I can relate to your director’s dilemma.  If you go along to get along with what seems to be a great resume, but the firm’s results prove lackluster, the burden of future results now fall on you.  However, if you choose to customize your own search, and someone other than the law firm’s pick is hired, now your reputation breaking rank from what others in your company recommended is now at stake.  The bottom line therefore becomes:  how can we hire the best lawyer-lobbyist if that person is among those in the mix?

As a Missouri contract lobbyist for nearly a decade, you can really observe notable differences for how law firms dedicate their lobbying time compared to other business models like ours.  As someone who also hires other lobbyists, including lawyer-lobbyists from time to time, there are unique pros and cons to having an esquire at your beckon call.  Here’s a list of questions worth raising to navigate through your choices that could make your director or manager’s job a little easier.

1. Beware the Billable Hour(s):  In certain, low maintenance, or early situations, hiring a lawyer-lobbyist on call by the hour may make some sense if your issue is highly-technical, limited to a brief transaction, or likely to deviate completely shortly into the future.  However, for most dedicated government affairs shops, this is the exception rather than the rule.  More often than not, as your contacts grow and your conflict matures, you often consume more variable time with your legislation than anyone might have predicted.  The larger long-run issue might be that you’ve now created workload where there are many incentives to delay ultimate solutions.  Some firms who like billable hours seek multiple client interests within the same environment, hearing, or venue even when their services from one client to another cannot be differentiated.  Firms with strong experience in their capacity typically aren’t afraid to assign a fixed retainer price priced to what they believe to be their own premium service.  Even if the law firm favors the billable hour, you can always learn a lot about how they value you as their future client by asking for a flat fee retainer.   Over the long run, firms that over-value their retainers don’t stay competitive in their market.  A flat fee prevents such debate from happening among both parties while your focus should be on your company’s issue(s).
2. Interview the “Of Counsel” Contacts for Specifics:  There’s no better place for a termed-out legislator, retiring finance director, or over-extended issue leader than the famed “of counsel” position within a major law firm.  No doubt if the LLP or LLC is pressing hard, you will meet one or more of these key influencers within their network.  So, when you do, here are some revealing questions about whether they might work for your project:  1) What percentage of your weekly time is normally-devoted to state & local government affairs duties?  If they contribute to matters important to you, they will want you to know about their specific functions (and locations).  2) If they claim to work in the hallways of your State Capitol, approximately how many days per year would they be present for longer than 10 hours each day this past session?  This answer is easy to verify among those who spend virtually every legislative day in those hallways.  3) If they drop names and political contacts, ask them if they can provide three references in the last six months on whose first-term campaign that they might have served, contributed, or assisted?  In Jefferson City, Missouri, your rolodex demands constant renewal with first-term Senators and Representatives if you expect to manage your issue in a term-limited world.
3. Explore their Best Examples of “Off-the-Clock” Leadership:  The partners of law firms know how many billable hours exist for virtually all of their reports.  That also means that firms performing legislative or political work also must sort and rank the non-billable community, pro-bono, or volunteer campaign work.  There are many functions, such as waiting out three hour hearings, waiting for House floor action at night, or attending weekend fundraisers, that should be really hard to justify in a law firm context.  Try to understand if your government affairs lead is a partner, or if not, to which division they report within the law firm’s universe.  It is not uncommon for lawyers to market to you other affiliations or related businesses that claim to have legislative, regulatory, or political relevance.  Find out now whether such contacts are in fact accessible to you under your flat fee retainer, or where such aides are “a la carte” premiums to leverage.  A network with strength in handling government affairs normally shows that depth and breadth across most of their office geography.  If an extraordinary individual operates on his/her own, ask them for several examples of how they maintain their base of influence when billable hours don’t apply.
4. Understand Any Pending Caseloads that May Apply:  Hiring an attorney with tremendous legal & procedural knowledge can prove to be a real asset, especially if such scope of work relates strongly to the key facts of your agenda.  However, retaining a lawyer-lobbyist who also maintains other case work outside your arena can also prove to become a significant distraction.  Much of the state & local legislative session lobbying requires a daily ministry of physical presence, along with a sharp policy focus on the ground to remain successful.  I know of several lawyer-lobbyists that don’t take much or any case work from December to May during the peak periods of Missouri’s General Assembly for this reason.  If your contact does engage in litigation or other legal work, find out on what Revised Statutes he/she normally operates.  Regardless of who you hire, this can be excellent way to index a wide variety of professional experience.
5. Find Out Who Reports & Attends on Their Behalf:  If a lawyer-lobbyist is well-established, he/she usually has some legal and/or legislative staff on which they depend.  At a minimum, you should know who these contacts are in case they become your host to a Capitol visit.  Such assistance is often useful when questions are raised from their weekly or monthly updates by email or newsletter as well.  However, comparing how such lobbyists dedicate their staff can provide you with many strategic clues about how their firm is governed.  Does their staff have any previous policy, political, or legislative experience?  Do they practice law, and if so, among what areas?  How familiar would such staff be to your industry, sector, or allied trade groups if your services required more attention?  Can the staff cite any examples of prospective clients that their firm declined due to “conflict of interest” concerns with existing clients?  If the company ethics and training programs are thorough, you should be able to reflect on what choices the firm has declined to become successful.

We wish you the best of luck with your government relations endeavors, no matter who you may choose.

“People are getting smarter nowadays; they are letting lawyers, instead of their conscience, be their guide.” – Will Rogers

As the long, enduring humidity of July baseball passes, the St. Louis Cardinals zone in on the final months of the regular season in an attempt to satisfy the interest of their fans and goals of their team with a playoff berth and World Series Championship.  Each year as the trade deadline approaches at the end of July, teams negotiate moves that will be mutually beneficial to each organization in regards to their current position and goals.  But whether it is spring training, mid-summer, or late October, it is expected that General Manager John Mozeliak and the Cardinals organization spends the majority of their time negotiating for the best players, coaches, and atmosphere that will provide the best path to victory and wealth for the City of St. Louis.  The same concept holds true in the profession of lobbying and the process of negotiation, whether it is the first week of session or the last.

The fundamentals of negotiation are the same at all levels of complexity.  The simple notion of “putting ourselves in the other person’s shoes” can be the backbone of a deal on the playground or on the Senate floor, as the ability to identify the varied interests of those involved gives one the power to recognize the game being played.  As stated in the Harvard Business Review, “differences, rather than common ground, are the raw material for most joint gains.”  In politics, legislators often take a position on issues based on the interest of the district they represent.  Therefore, rather than debating positions on an issue, a lobbyist can be more effective by identifying the interests of the legislator and their district in order to better negotiate a joint gain that will also benefit the priorities of their client.  Moreover, the reason the Missouri General Assembly consists of 163 State Representatives and 34 State Senators, is to process the differences in interests and negotiate laws that will provide better gains for the entire state in all areas of life.

A lobbyist main role is to watch the game, identify the interests of legislators and special interests, and negotiate the ideal, or if not, the best alternative option that best benefits their client.  A key component to negotiation is the art of listening.  As Harvard Professor, James Sebenius claims in Essentials of Negotiation, “Since agreement represents the simultaneous solution of all sides’ problems, solving their problem is part of your problem.”  By tuning into hearings, floor debate, hallway chatter, and media, a contract lobbyist is capable of understanding the opponents’ interests, which enables them to transition from identifying the game to recognizing the next step of opportunities to change the game.  There is an infinite assortment of ways to change the legislative process ranging through introduction of a bill, an amendment to pass a bill, and amendment to kill a bill, the overall passage of a bill, or preventing the passage of a bill. Each of these steps and everything in-between involves negotiation with everyone who has interest in the game.  In processing these negotiations, a lobbyist must determine: 1) what are the alternatives? 2) what are the critical uncertainties that rest upon each decision or outcome in the negotiation?, and 3) What objectives are trying to be achieved through the negotiation process.  Ultimately, a contract lobbyist is the manager of legislation on behalf of their clients, and must use their judgment on how to best negotiate their interests with the differences in the legislature.  An issue manager or corporate lobbyist must look at each trade or deal to decide if it will put them in a better position than their best alternative option.

While the St. Louis Cardinals only bring fans to the stadium for baseball games seven months out of the year, fans are watching year around as the team negotiates and strategizes to put themselves in a better position day in and day out.  Similarly, the gavel may not be active in Jefferson City twelve months out of the year, but as long as there are citizens in the State of Missouri, there are negotiations being made on how to better the quality of life.  A new election is a new draft with new interests, and the world of lobbying and politics is an ever changing game of negotiation.  Play Ball!!!

For a Missouri lobbyist and our media productions team, being a corporate sponsor of this weekend’s USS Missouri commissioning was a rare opportunity. For a moment, we were able to depart from the Missouri General Assembly, show-me state politics, and even the Fortune 500 arena of government affairs, to enjoy some sessions dedicated to preserving American freedom.

Yes, the ceremonies in Groton, CT still applied many of the usual special event dressings of our state & federal legislative world: two Governors shaking hands, several Members of Congress worked by Pentagon public relations brass, and many other constituencies lobbying for the new new thing.

But beyond the tweets and public speeches, you could still believe in the triumph of the American spirit coming together for a capital project on this scale. Governor Jay Nixon, fresh from his trip from Afghanistan, gave weight to the large number of Missourians sorted into the Naval Pier. Congressman Ike Skelton gave several living history examples from his family and beyond about how important such military efforts have been to the battled history of our democracy. Commander Rexrode and his dedicated team of submariner advocates gave incredible witness to the future of our global security using stealth-based technologies. All in all, watching the campaigns from various contractors, leaders, and public figures come together into one $1.8 billion vessel served as a sincere inspiration.

For Rachel and I, there were several personal reminders from this experience worth noting:

Our American government can still lead global innovation, but it must be remain accountable to every taxpayer.

Part of what made everyone affiliated with the USS Missouri so proud was that SSN780 was delivered in 65 months, ahead of schedule, and under budget by nearly $100 million. The sense of accountability and transparency among defense initiatives is now enabling a further expansion of the Naval fleet into FY 2011.

For States fortunate to still host American military bases or strategic assets, use it or lose it as your economic hub.

We were surprised to learn from the Governor of Connecticut that $8M of state monies have been appropriated to help expand the Groton base infrastructure. It seemed as if everyone from this region was keenly-aware that economic activity from these initiatives were as important (if not more certain) as doling out state industrial incentives for Pfizer, Ford, or Bombardier. We wonder if the same understanding is true among the Show-Me State’s Ft. Leonard Wood, Whiteman Air Force Base, and Southern Illinois’ Scott Air Force Base.

For those who doubt what discipline, leadership training, and team focus can do, stare into the young eyes of our nation’s soldiers.

When you look at the front lines of what defends our freedom today, it is hard not to be amazed about how well we can serve with the right structure in place. We should always challenge our next generation in all industries to pursue excellence, apply your best work ethic, and to work for a team for which you would give your life. It was heartening to know that the Saint Louis Science Center broadcast this commissioning live to help show others how to apply science.

The positive network effects from military science and technology has helped all Americans greatly today.

What economists would hail as positive network externalities are likely nowhere more accurate than from projects like the SSN780. As a private pilot, we flew to this excursion with a retired USAF bomber & A-10 pilot, and a retired army manager. During our discussion about how planes flew a generation ago, I was reminded just how military technology has been instituted within today’s system of general aviation. Our transponder codes to avoid mid-air collisions: once used as “identify friend or foe” fighter jet communications. Our tough, sturdy landing gear: aided greatly by “controlled crash” landings on Navy aircraft carriers. I can only imagine what SSN780 will do for us in the future once declassified.

Leadership and celebrity coach Anthony Robbins has said that: “It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.”

Commander Rexrode, may your destiny and decisions help shape many lives through peace in our time. The roads you take may be lonely, but vital to our society.