Remarks from Maine Youth Anti-Tobacco Summit

The Maine Youth Action Network (MYAN) is a statewide Network of support for youth and adults who are striving to effect positive change on a wide variety of issues. MYAN is a partnership of youth and adult staff working with youth groups, adults who support those groups and organizations interested in involving youth to assist them all in making a difference through youth and adult partnership. To learn more about MYAN visit:

www.myan.org.

On November 11th, 2009, I was invited by MYAN to be a panelist at their 6th Annual Maine Youth Anti-Tobacco Summit. Below are my remarks from the event.


MYAN CONFERENCE TALK

I’m honored to be invited to speak to such an exciting group of people, interested in advocating and promoting change. I’m a Legislator now -- and I interact with lots of advocates. I used to be an advocate before I got elected -- and I started pretty young, although not as young as you, and learned as I went. I want to share a few ideas and lessons I’ve learned with you. I hope it helps.

First, it’s easy for folks to be cynical about politics, politicians and the political process. That cynicism is nothing new and it is not relegated to one political party or one end of the political spectrum -- right or left. If you look at the political blogs - national and state, left and right -- what they all seem to have in common is cynicism. Just to prove that the cynicism is nothing new -- here’s one of my favorite quotes from Harry Truman -- delivered in an interview on his front porch in Independence Missouri after he retired from the White House: "My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician. And to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference. I, for one, believe the piano player job to be much more honorable than current politicians.”

I never learned to play the piano, so my career choices were even more limited than President Truman. I did however, have the chance to work as an advocate in the Maine State Legislature for several years on behalf of people with a disability as well as for direct care workers who provide home and community based services to seniors and people with a disability. I was passionate about that -- because it was all about my life and my experience. When I first went to Augusta, I expected to find out that Harry Truman was right -- but I had just the opposite experience.

What I found in Augusta was not what people like to characterize as the “no good politicians,” nor did I find the legislative process like the proverbial “sausage making.” Instead, what I found were people who were committed to serving their fellow citizens and brought their experience, their interest and their passions to that discussion. I found people hungry for the best ideas, the best ways to serve others, the best ways to invest our limited and hard-earned tax dollars to produce the most possible benefit.

I was ready to be skeptical, and I came away a true believer -- filled with admiration and respect for people who were giving up big chunks of their life and times, putting other career and personal choices on the back burner to serve their fellow Maine citizens. I saw people smart enough and talented enough to write their own ticket and do just about anything -- but they wanted to serve in a citizen legislature -- far from a full time job, but enough work to keep you from pursuing any other career very successfully.

I got inspired by those citizen legislators, and especially the younger members who were trying to make a difference. So that is Lesson Number One if you want to be a good advocate -- GET INSPIRED, BELIEVE, HAVE PASSION, FORGET CYNICISM.

Lesson Number Two -- KNOW YOUR FACTS, DEVELOP YOUR MESSAGE. As a Legislator I don’t have lots of time. I want to listen, but I want you to inform me. Don’t waste your time, or anyone else’s. If you believe in what you are doing -- speak your truth with conviction. I won’t bite and neither will anyone else in the Legislature. You are all voters -- or you will be -- and you certainly know and influence people who are voters -- parents, grandparents, teachers, etc. We want to learn from you -- but you have to be ready to teach us. Do your homework.

Speaking of doing your homework, Lesson Number Three -- LEARN ABOUT THE PROCESS AND THE INSTITUTION. Even though I was there to advocate on some specific issues, I couldn’t get enough. I sat in Committee meetings and the Appropriations Committee for hour after hour -- and I couldn’t get enough. I expected I would glaze over, but my experience was just the opposite. I was fascinated to talk with lobbyists and people who had been around the state house for years. I was interested in the personalities and the institution and the interactions of the two that resulted in compromises -- and good legislation. I was hooked. I was interested in just about everything that went on under the golden dome.

As a result, I got to be good friends with the Legislator who was serving my hometown of Rumford, and when he was term-limited and could not run for re-election, he asked if I would be interested in running for the seat. It was a tough decision -- took me about one day to make up my mind. I knew it would be hard. To get elected in Maine -- the politics is all retail and that means knocking on every door of the district -- meeting as many voters as possible, listening, and getting out the message. Knocking on doors in Rumford Maine is pretty tough when you are in a wheelchair -- it added to the challenge. But it gave me a great opportunity to organize friends and supporters to help me in that task. I built a network -- and that network got me elected -- I couldn’t have done it any other way.

Since I’ve come to the Legislature, I’ve continued to work on building that network. Not because I want to use those relationships to move ahead -- but because those relationships are how I learn -- about issues, about what Maine people need and want, and about how to use government effectively to solve problems. It’s all about relationships. So that’s the Final Lesson -- THE ADVOCACY NEVER STOPS.

I could keep on going -- but I’ll stop there. Let me just say -- If you have passion for working with others, if you have a passion for serving other people, advocacy is for you. What are you waiting for?