Training offered for Policy Forum

The annual Public Policy Forum won't take place until March 11, but coordinators are asking Catholics in the Albany Diocese to sign up by Valentine's Day to lobby state lawmakers on issues of concern.

The Public Policy Forum brings hundreds of Catholics from all over New York State to the State Capitol to meet with legislators. The event is sponsored by the New York State Catholic Conference, which advocates for the state's bishops on public policy issues.

Priority issues for this year include health insurance for those who need it, parental choice in education, support for the poor, reform of the Rockefeller-era drug sentencing laws, enacting the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, helping rural New Yorkers find housing and transportation, and protecting the mission of Catholic ministries in New York State.

Training offered

Lobbying can be intimidating to those new to the idea, so training is provided on the day of the forum by B.J. Costello, an attorney and parishioner of St. Vincent de Paul Church in Albany. He encouraged Catholics to attend the day-long forum.

Participants, he noted, will first receive a packet of "position papers" that concisely outline the Church's stance on each of the seven agenda issues.

Then the training session will cover what Mr. Costello called "the mechanics of advocacy": in other words, how to lobby and even how to navigate the halls of the Legislative Office Building at the Capitol.

Lobbying tips

Mr. Costello, noting that many lobbyists make simple mistakes in speaking to their elected officials, offered some tips:

* Talk to state lawmakers as if you're guests in someone's home; don't act stilted or awkward. "The substance of the issue is important, but it's equally important that the legislator knows someone took a day off to come down and talk to them," he added.

* Don't feel shortchanged if you speak to aides instead of the lawmakers themselves, because "the staff has a lot of clout with the legislators."

* Be polite. Mr. Costello told the story of a teachers' group that went to lobby a legislator and then talked in the elevator afterward about how the politician had been "a jerk." The lawmaker's chief of staff happened to be taking the same elevator -- and the issue they hoped to influence, said Mr. Costello, was "dead."

* Send a note of thanks for the lawmaker's time, re-stressing the points made during the meeting.

Mr. Costello said that many Catholics enjoy their experience at the forum so much that they return year after year. "It's a really positive experience to come down and talk to their legislators," he said.

(The Public Policy Forum will be held March 11, at the State Capitol in Albany. To register for the forum, call Robert Daggett or Sister Maureen Joyce, RSM, of diocesan Catholic Charities, at 453-6650.)

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