Find common ground with elected officials

It’s broken-record time – but please don’t stop if you’ve heard this one before. I promise it’s worth another spin.

The 2023 legislative session is in full swing. Lawmakers walk the halls, move furniture, file bills, and create or renew relationships. The question is, are you engaged in the process?

A top priority of any sitting TPA president is to closely monitor bills in both the House and the Senate. I promise you that without the hawk eyes of Mike Hodges and Donnis Baggett, no president could adequately perform this duty. It takes teamwork at the TPA level to keep an eye out for dangerous public notice or chilling transparency bills, and your role as a local newspaper leader is immensely important. So when TPA calls up the troops, we mean you.

You tend to get what you ask for in life. Don’t ask, and you are resigned to having to settle for what you get.

Engaging legislators early by sharing your views and making the ask — requesting that they file bills or vote to support your position —  is proactive engagement. Waiting until important legislation is nearing a vote and then making a cold call is not nearly as effective.

Like a plate of chicken fried steak, a warm one is much more satisfying than a cold one.

A good strategy for now and the future is to communicate regularly with your elected officials, building a productive relationship over time. Elected officials, believe it or not, have a vested interest in getting things done for their constituencies.

Ask yourself what the top concerns of your elected officials for this session are. You bet they know – and, most times, are happy to tell you. Is there space for you to find common ground?

Locally, one of my elected officials is heck-bent on reducing the power of lobbyists. Is that something our newspaper might find a way to support? You bet. Meanwhile, he knows – because I said it to his face – I am greatly concerned about protecting government transparency laws, from public records and public notices to protecting public and media access to government information.

Find items in your community that have nothing to do with your newspaper’s interests other than they appear in your pages and are of great general community concern.

In Galveston, we are facing a tremendous awaking to fentanyl deaths in our community. We have the second highest per-capita fentanyl overdose rate in the state of Texas – nearly 70% of our overdose deaths result from fentanyl. Is this part of the newspaper’s self-interest in public notices or transparency? Not exactly. Does this crisis get coverage in our community’s pages and create great pain? Of course.

Recently we learned that fentanyl testing strips are restricted by state law and classified as drug paraphernalia. So I reached out to both our senate and house officials. Guess what?

It took little effort to encourage them to file or co-sponsor legislation to reverse the law, potentially saving lives in Galveston County and across Texas. I even gave the house rep the bill to file. So we, as the newspaper, are in the game and have a leadership role in finding solutions for our community.

When The Daily News published a story announcing their actions, did we send them and their staff a link? Yep. When we ran an editorial thanking them for their help and engagement in this community-wide effort? Yep again.

Again, a warm relationship based on shared values and common objectives is always more satisfying than a cold one.

I, for one, prefer to eat my chicken fried steak piping hot.