I’ll just meet you in the LOBBY (DAY)

Lobby Day (June 17)

It was our first meeting of the day with representative Timothy Spear and I was hoping I wasn’t about to be SPEARED. I was pretty nervous going into his office (hello: this guy is the big leagues!) because this was the first time I had ever done any sort of lobbying and the last thing I wanted was to make a fool of myself in front of a politician. But, fortunately for me, Tia was calm and collected (as always) and SPEAR- headed our campaign for HB-120, HB-1260, and SB-966. She is so poised when she speaks, I was put at ease almost instantly and speaking to a legislator became no different than speaking to an average Joe on the street. Spear, unfortunately, was hesitant to pledge support for our cause (a disappointing start for the day) but having one “no” under our belts made the rest of the day sail pretty smoothly. We met with several other legislators including Representatives Owens, Allen, Davis (Who was an absolute delight to meet and hear speak!), and Braxton.

The most interesting aspect to lobby day was uncovering why certain legislators voted as they did. It was the inevitable battle between “should I vote as a representative of my constituents/to get reelected?” or “should I vote for what I believe is legislatively right?” It was incredibly frustrating for me to realize how easily a politician can be persuaded to vote a particular way because influential backers that supported them do not support particular legislation. For the first time, I SAW and HEARD why our work at Democracy North Carolina is so important. Legislators should represent all the people, not just the ones with the most power.

Overall, though, Lobby Day was a really exciting experience and hopefully we’ll be able to head back up to Raleigh sometime soon and we’ll return to Greenville with less “maybes” and more “yeses!”

Brittany, Tia, and I were joined by Ryan Downey of Greenville and Marvin Arrington of Nash County during the day. Ryan, with his endless supply of history and information about Raleigh and the North Carolina legislature, and Marvin, with his enlightening insight and immense popularity with the legislators, were both great additions to our trio! Thanks guys 🙂

That’s all for now!

– Katy Koesy