Wins and Losses
by Mary-Margaret Zindren, EVP/Executive Director
The world of legislative advocacy from the outside – for those who don’t spend their days and nights at the Capitol each winter and spring – is mainly seen as a scoreboard. We count the wins and losses for “our side.” We note the stats – how big the wins and losses were. All the markers of a game where one team is pitted against the other.
If we look at the recent Minnesota legislative session in this way, it was a decent win for AIA Minnesota – and hard fought for. After the legislature adjourned its regular session with much left to do, the word from staffers and in news reports was that a bonding bill wasn’t going to happen. We did one final push and got more media coverage and sent a compelling plea to legislative leaders.
In the end, we were heard. We did get a bonding bill. While much smaller than we would have liked, it restarts the pipeline of building projects. And because passing a bonding bill requires a supermajority, and therefore people to come together across party lines, it sustained some hope that work across the political aisle for the greater good remains possible.
What the insiders know is that legislative advocacy is less about the numbers and more about the relationships. This is why the COVID-19 pandemic was so hard. Legislators and staffers and advocates missed being able to connect with each other in passing. In the corridors. Waiting in line for coffee. Waiting for a hearing to start. Just connecting like people, rather than as adversaries.
The humanity of those who work in legislative affairs is what has been foremost in our minds in mourning the loss of Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark Hortman, and as we pray for the full recovery of Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette Hoffman.
Speaker Emerita Hortman was a great legislative leader. Pragmatic, principled, respected by those whom she disagreed with, beloved by her collaborators and her constituents. Her death will leave a leadership void at the Capitol at a time when her way of leading is so needed. Her assassination, and the attempted and planned assassinations of other political and policy leaders, will have ripple effects for decades to come.
It is so tempting to hunker down in response. To make our bubbles tighter. To see these tragic events as pure loss and the end of civility in politics.
But if Speaker Emerita Hortman were here to lead us through this time, she would likely urge us to do the opposite. She would lift up the acts of grace and kindness that have shone through and insist on a better way forward. Where we all do better in working through conflict to find reasonable resolution.
Where no matter what the scoreboard says, we all win because of how we treat each other – like people. People who bake cakes and pet dogs and love our children. People who see the best in one another, even and especially during the worst of times.
As for us at AIA Minnesota, we will continue our relationship-focused approach to advocacy, engaging respectfully with all – especially those with whom we disagree. We will engage with a renewed sense of purpose and commitment and humanity, inspired by hers.