Categories: In Print / NY

Albany Beat - July 26, 2019

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July 24, 2019, 11 AM ET

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Lessons On How To Talk To Politicians

I have been around political leaders and government officials for 40 years, and it is safe to say times have changed. Nowadays, if you want to have a long-time politician more than simply acknowledge your existence, simply acknowledge theirs. If you want to have a meaningful conversation with folks in that category either give money to their campaign accounts, attend their fundraisers or only say glowing words of praise publicly in their presence. Anything shy of that, you’ll get cut off and you’ll have to wangle your way into the room where they are appearing. Keep in mind that their staffs are no better. They are the gatekeepers to prevent detractors from getting near their beloved boss. In other words, the politician and their staff make it difficult for those in opposition to the officeholder to get anywhere near the person. For example, there has been a changing of the guard at the Republican State Committee. Ed Cox, 72, Richard Nixon’s son-in-law and Manhattan resident, was switched out for the younger, brash Nick Langworthy, 38, from Buffalo. At a news conference to announce the hand off of power – whatever little there is of Republican power in the state – in the presence of my colleagues I asked Langworthy if he had any reaction to the media’s account that he ousted Cox from his perch. Langworthy said that he had not read those accounts and would have no comment. Meanwhile, every news organization referred to this change of leadership as a coup and that Langworthy ousted Cox. Langworthy immediately switched his focus of attention to the next questioner, a reporter with a friendlier query.

Another example is our veteran U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer. The Brooklyn Democrat is famous for having the best and most loyal press office on Capitol Hill. When Schumer, 68, comes to an area only the friendliest of reporters are invited to his news conference. If a less-than-friendly reporter asks a question, he typically ignores the questioner and directs his attention to someone he knows will be a friendly sort and will ask puff questions. When a reporter asks Schumer about a topic he despises to talk about, his press staff takes that person off the media list and is not invited back. The reporter needs to find out about the visit from a colleague to get into a media appearance. Keep in mind Schumer is one of those elected officials who has never seen a camera lens he didn’t like; just don’t ask him a question that catches him off-guard. His appearances are often carefully scripted to make him look his best. My favorite way government officials get away from people they do not want to engage with is when the official pretends that their cell phone is ringing and they need to take an important call while the contrarian approaches. Another way of avoiding people is to stuff a pastry in their mouth on the way out of a reception and getting into their car. That is now, but it wasn’t always like this. There are many times when I can recall Governor Mario Cuomo confronting his opponents and explaining his case. September 13, 1984 Cuomo went as far as to travel to the University of Notre Dame to explain to an audience at the Catholic university his pro-choice position on abortion as a politician but how he was personally opposed to abortion. His most famous quote during the speech was, “What is ideally desirable isn't always feasible… there can be different political approaches to abortion besides unyielding adherence to an absolute prohibition.” On another occasion when several dozen loud seniors protested outside his Capitol office, he came out, climbed up on the desk where his security guard sits and addressed the crowd. Even though he told the group what they didn’t want to hear, they respected him for coming out to address them and respect their desire to hear from him. The 1980s and 90s were a time in American political history when elected officials adhered to the mantra of “Take me for who I am, not for what you want me to be.” Nowadays, elected officials often stick their finger in the air to determine which way the political winds are blowing and if the winds change, the new mantra is, “My opinion is evolving on the issue.”

Lessons from the Campaign Trail

To gain another perspective, I recently ran in a primary election for an open seat on the Albany County Legislature; I wanted to get a first-hand account of what the sentiment was in my neighborhood toward people seeking office. First, I learned that most people don’t know what a county legislator does, how many seats make up a county legislature and who their county legislator is. Second, I learned that in a primary if you are not endorsed by the party faithful you need a boatload of money to pay people in an effort to overcome what party loyalists do for free. Third, I learned that no matter how much you try to tell people you care about good government, greater accountability, government efficiency, better communications between government and county residents, proper ethical approaches to solving issues and budgetary transparency, voters are just not interested. Voters are busy with taking care of their own lives, feeding babies, playing with their children, taking care of the to-do list and making it through another day at the office. They just want to be left alone. No matter how easy you make it for residents to vote, they won’t. Fourth, there is a big distrust among many people toward anyone who wants to get involved in government at any level, even if they do not know what that level of government provides. There is a large ignorance factor out there. As a result, only about 10 to 15 percent of the voters come to the polls in an off-year election when people run for local government office. Now isn’t that a shame?