 Good afternoon everybody. Thanks for coming out on this beautiful spring day in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. I know you'd Rather be outside. I'm sure in the great cloudy damp cold weather But I appreciate you're coming on inside to hear a little bit about a great exciting topic lobbying in the state of Wisconsin You know, I thought it was bad when we had to talk about politics in Wisconsin But we're talking about lobbying in Wisconsin But I appreciate your interest because quite honestly Lobbying and grassroots efforts on behalf of businesses and organizations and individuals are a very key part of our Legislative lawmaking process in the state of Wisconsin at the federal level and even at the local level and all of you in Many ways are lobbyists in yourself and the work that you do on behalf of the Chamber and the Organizations that you represent and work for and even for yourself as an individual when you communicate with a public official And you try to sway them in regard to a decision that you'd like them to make or to understand your position on an issue That's lobby it comes in a number of different forms, and we're going to talk about that today, but I really appreciate your interest in your Understanding that lobbying and connecting with your legislators is a very important thing as Steve mentioned I'm Joe Leipam, and I think I know most of you in the room But I'm humbled enough to understand that some of you may have forgotten to me already And that's maybe I haven't met some of you as Steve mentioned a little bit more on my background I was born and raised in Sheboygan one of 13 kids here in the Sheboygan area Worked for the Sheboygan County Chamber of Commerce actually my first job after graduating from UW Madison was to work for the Chamber Great experience. I was the membership director and really got to know a lot of the good businesses and organizations in Sheboygan County Decided then to go work for one of those great Sheboygan County businesses Sargento food It's foods. Excuse me. It's spent about six years in their food service division great family great company great experience It was while at the chamber that I was encouraged to at the age of 23 run to be a city council member and Had a very interesting first campaign But was successful in earning that first district assembly seat Represent our mayor van der scene also represented the first district for a while So I served on the city council for seven years and then while working at Sargento In 1998 a good part of the community came and said me Joe, you know We like what you're doing at the city council level. Had you ever thought about running for the state a legislature? The seat had opened up then represented a bomb guard was running for the state Senate and the assembly seat Which hadn't been represented by a Republican in over 46 years was open and they came to me and said Joe You should run as a Republican for the seat, you know, it's a great opportunity I quite honestly got into it not thinking I'd win But we ran a very aggressive campaign and I remember waking up on election day in 1998 thinking I think I might win tonight and I might be going to the legislature and having to leave Sargento Did that served in the assembly for four years? Enjoyed that experience, but was very frustrated as well That's when Chuck Qual and Scott Jensen were the leaders of the legislature and quite honestly. I was like, you know what? I'm better than this. I don't want to be a part of this mess And I was about ready to leave and then I thought you know what? I'm not a quitter I'm going to try to make a difference so I decided to run give up my assembly seat Which had become quite safe at that time Give up my Senate assembly seat and I ran for the Senate again incumbent senator Jim Baumgart and so Jim and I had a very intense campaign I ended up winning by 23 votes on In 2002 and with that 23 vote margin I was helped I was able to help bring in a new majority the Republicans took majority of the Senate at that time We kicked out Chuck quala as the majority leader which was one of my goals And we were able to bring kind of a new sense of leadership to the Wisconsin State Senate at the time served for 12 years in the Senate great experience a number of leadership positions served on the finance committee, which is the budget committee, which we'll talk about for Four budgets and really just had an awesome time But also knew it was time to get out after 12 years And so I ran for Congress came up in that vote 200 votes short in a primary But then had the opportunity to land this opportunity of Foley and Lardner and I've really enjoyed the transition and the experience now Serving as a government affairs lobbyist for Foley and the clients that we serve my wife Heather and our three children continue to reside in Sheboygan so we have a main office or my main office for Foley's in Madison But our headquarters is in Milwaukee, so I'm either in Milwaukee or Madison or Sheboygan on a daily basis I still I'm doing my 20-year commutes to Madison on a regular basis and Therefore I'll continue to tell you why I support the expansion of highway 23, and I'm glad that we're finally getting that done So at Foley and Lardner again, we are a nation a worldwide law firm We are the oldest and largest law firm in the state of Wisconsin We have offices across the United States and around the world, which is really exciting. I'm not an attorney I'm one of the few people that work at Foley in a leadership position. That's not an attorney But just a great group of folks that I work with At a number of our facilities, Wisconsin, Florida, Texas, you can read them there We have what are called government solutions teams So back when Mike Grebe might recognize that name a good friend of Governor Walker and the good Republican in Wisconsin He was the chair of our firm and he realized that you know, it's not always the smartest thing for a Client to fight the law Maybe we could work to change the law to try to convince legislators or lawmakers to see things differently And so they started what was called the government solutions group and again We have practices now throughout the nation I have the privilege and pleasure of leading the Wisconsin group. We are a team of three individuals Myself as the as the lead of the group or the manager of the group and then I'm joined by two great colleagues Jenny Malcore Jenny was a Member of the Walker administration She served as the deputy secretary at the Department of Health Services and then also served for numerous Republican legislators including current finance chair John Nigren and Jason Childress is the Democratic side of our team Jason grew up in Democratic politics in Wisconsin Work for Chuck Kuala used to actually run campaigns against me and try to defeat me from the Democratic side We're now good colleagues and good friends and Jason has just great Contacts he's a really good friend of Governor Evers and a lot of the leadership now in the Democratic administration So Jason Jenny and I again the government affairs team. We are three of 570 currently licensed lobbyists in the state of Wisconsin There are 570 people that on an every two-year basis have the license to be lobbyists in Wisconsin We'll talk about what that means, but we then are employed by what are called principles and there are 697 lobbying principles in the state of Wisconsin if you are an organization a business a chamber an Individual that employs a lobbyist and pays a person to lobby for them Then you have to register as a principal in Wisconsin So again, you can look at the sheet that I provided to you This is our current list of clients that we represent at Foley in Wisconsin. It's a aggressive list I'll share with you but all of those groups, you know, everybody from Aurora health care who I represent down to the boys and girls clubs of Wisconsin they pay People myself Jason or Wendy in our case and we lobby on their behalf We monitor the legislature on their behalf and therefore they have to register as a Principal lobbying organization in the state of Wisconsin. I just list for you again You can look at our list and the diversity of the clients that I represent But a lot of chambers and communities counties and towns Directly employ lobbyists as well. So whether it be, you know, the league of municipalities down to specific cities counties Economic development organizations, you know, again those 697 principles make up a great diverse group of individuals businesses and organizations in the state of Wisconsin Again, you are a lobbying principal If you're an organization which employs and pays a lobbyist and that's when you have to register to be a principal as an individual lobby as an individual you need to have a lobbying license if you attempt to influence state legislation or Administrative rule on behalf of a business that pays you so on behalf of a principal when Aurora contracts with me as a contract lobbyist I then have to register as a lobbyist because I try to influence the legislature and the state government on their behalf a Second trigger for that though is you you can work for a principal And you don't have to register for a lobbyist if you keep your communications with the state official or a legislative employee To less to five days or less So after your fifth day of communication and again, it's days So sometimes smartly clients don't want to register a lobbyist And so they'll hire us and say you guys have to get all your communication done on this issue in five days and so we book five full days of visits with legislators and that allows them to not have to register us as lobbyists Because we meet that five-day minimum in a six-month reporting period is what it is not most people don't do that But some some organizations just don't want to you know have the reputation that they got a lobbyist hired or whatever it may be Because it's so sinister But you know most most organizations will register but some do push it and try to keep all communications under that five days There are certain items that are not considered lobbying in, Wisconsin so Most of you in this room are not lobbyists. Is anybody else in the room a registered lobbyist? I don't believe you are okay. There you go Robin it is. There you go. Who do you lobby for? You know for 80 day. Great. You guys do a great job. So who was my old contact at 18, right? Yes. Yeah, no the local lady that used to be here all the time Julie Yeah, I got it had a great relationship with Julie when she when I was in the legislature and we work well with Kent too So everybody else other than myself and Robin you are allowed to do a number of things In, Wisconsin without having to register as a lobbyist if you're trying to procure work from the state of Wisconsin in a contract so you want to Build a building for the state or you want to do the cleaning services for the state of Wisconsin and getting a contract You don't have to register for a lobbyist for that as a lobbyist for that If you communicate with your own personal state representative or senator so any of us in this room can go and talk to Senator Lemmhugh, Senator Strobel, Representative Katzma, Vorpahgel, any of those guys we can talk to and it doesn't trigger lobbying laws If you communicate with the governor his office about executive appointments So the governor has to appoint Secretaries and 200 some people the new governor is appointing you can talk to him or his staff as many times as you want About individuals for executive appointments And you can contact legislators on your own on behalf of a group like the chamber or a business As long as you're not getting paid if you're an unpaid volunteer, there's no requirement to register You know you can do that as many times as you want the five-day trigger again only kicks in if you're being paid As a paid lobbyist The government tries to make a little bit of money off of lobbying And that helps to fund what's called the Wisconsin's Ethics Commission And so again there are fees associated with being a principal in Wisconsin or a lobbyist So again if you're a principal organization like Augusta Development, which employs me they pay $375 Then they would Also pay a hundred and twenty five dollars every two years to authorize Myself to lobby on their behalf so again you can see the principal registration and the principal fee to authorize a lobbyist That's the basic fee for the business every two years fully in Lardner or whoever the company is that employs the lobbyist They also have to pay a fee. That's the four hundred dollar fee that Foley would pay for me and Jason and Wendy Individually to be able to lobby in Wisconsin now if you're a principal a small Organization or you're going to spend less than five hundred dollars totally in your lobbying efforts You can get a a smaller principal fee Which is a twenty dollar limited principal and again you have to monitor and spend less than five hundred dollars in that two-year period I Remember when I was on finance I never and I I didn't even support this because I never liked revenue increases But one year they're like we need some more money. Let's jack up the lobbying fees and we can get more More general-purpose revenue into the state coffers by taking advantage of the lobbyists Lobbying in Wisconsin. It's really actually a cool thing I mean, you know again most people have very negative thoughts about lobbying and really lobbyists get a bad name in Wisconsin we have some of the most extensive or we do have the most extensive lobbying laws Reporting laws in the nation You know, we aren't able to provide anything of value to the legislators or the policy makers that we meet with I mean a cup of coffee is off the limits So which is a little bit ridiculous And if we want to have a legislator come in and talk and have a cup of coffee Officially, they're supposed to be sliding us a dollar or whatever it is But nothing of value that's actually been in place in Wisconsin since 1951 I believe many states you can buy I hear from when I was in the legislature I would hear about this about how oh man you should be a legislator in, you know, Louisiana Because they can just whine and dine them like crazy and spend whatever they want on lobbyists They would tell me that you know on a given night you could go from Restaurant a b and c and there was an open tab from client a b and c and the legislators would go in there and just get fat and drunk and Somehow not be swayed by by that by that purchase, but in Wisconsin we can't do anything like that I mean, there's nothing that that can happen there. We have more Excuse me disclosure laws than any other state in the nation, which I'll detail in a little bit And again, we are overseeing and monitored very closely by the Wisconsin's ethics commission So again, whether you're a principal or a lobbyist you have to I mean, it's just quite honestly overly Detailed what we have to do So for every principal that I represent as you can see and we do this as a benefit to our as a service to our clients We do all this reporting, but every within 15 days of me talking about any issue Not even a specific bill, but if you know again I'm going to bring up another client quick trip wants me to talk to a legislator about frozen pizza I have to within 15 days of talking to that legislator about frozen pizza I have to put a A report into the ethics commission saying that joe on behalf of quick trip is talking about frozen pizza There's not even a legislative connection or legislative bill connected to it, but any topic Any bill Any administrative rule as well as soon as I have one contact Or it would be my my fifth day or sixth day of contacts, obviously But within 15 days you have to report that Every six months myself and jason and wendy and all the other lobbyists we have to submit a very detailed lobbyist time report that details Every minute basically of what we do in lobbying Before the legislature or the governor so we have to keep track of all of our what's called lobby meetings or excuse me um Yeah, lobby meetings And that's a specific entry that we have to make and then if we're doing lobby prep like if i'm prepping Before I go in to meet with the governor. I have to keep track of that time So if I spend a half hour prepping a document for talking to the governor about that has to get submitted under what's called lobby prep and that's all documented every six months and then Every principle again is required to complete a so we we submit our lobbying time reports And then the principles that employ us have to submit Lobbying activity and expenditure reports that hopefully match up with what we're reporting So i'm reporting that i'm doing so much lobbying for client a Client a then has to send in or principal a has to send in a report saying we spent $5,000 in the past six months on lobbying and It needs to match up with what I've reported So a lot of detail a lot of reporting, which is a great thing All of this information is available to the public. So if you haven't ever been to the Ion lobbying website in wisconsin really a again wisconsin I learned this in the legislature and hopefully you know this as well as a citizen I mean we make so much information available to the public in wisconsin If you just take advantage of it and look for it and it's really not even that hard to find So you can go to the ion lobby website. This is again as part of the wisconsin ethics board In there you can find out who is all lobbying in wisconsin Who's registered lobbyists you can go in and you know find out specifically what I or any other lobbyists is doing Who we're lobbying on behalf of you can go in and see our six month reports So you can go and see that you know back in december of 2018 I you know lobbied on The special session bill, you know for 30 minutes in front of senator Fitzgerald That's all documented and that's all available to the public And again while that's a lot of reporting and documentation. It's really a good thing because it keeps us all Avail all everything that we're doing to the public. There's nothing that can be secretly done You know again, there's no meeting that I can have with a legislator that isn't documented There isn't an issue that I can talk to a legislator about that isn't documented And it's important to have that because there are a lot of Lobbying activities taking place in wisconsin last year in the last two-year sessions So the legislature works in two-year sessions There were 70 million dollars spent by principled organizations in lobbying Now again, I think it's important that that's not 70 million dollars that we're giving out to legislators, you know In cash or in checks. This is what they're paying Individuals to lobby on their behalf. So whether it be the Aurora health care or the boys and girls club Accumatively all those organizations spent 70 million dollars in in lobbying activities The top efforts Oftentimes are the same throughout the years. So the wisconsin manufacturers and commerce the the statewide chamber They are the largest lobbying organization In regard to dollars spent and I think that's been consistent, you know, maybe dipped a little bit during the Doyle years But they are an active source. So they spent 1.4 million dollars on their lobbying efforts in 2017 18 The wisconsin hospital association spent 1.3. These are the three largest and then But I just wanted to show you this because the diversity last two years or the past two years You know kind of this unknown grassroots group sprung up and it was called marcie's law for wisconsin. So that is a father of an individual who Was um assaulted and was a crime victim And he invested 1.2 million dollars in wisconsin in the past two years to try to get what's called a marcie's law passed It's not connected to any business. He's not connected to any Organization he was a dad that had the resources and the ability and he's going nation or state by state Across the nation and investing in trying to get a marcie's law passed You know, so again, it can be business related issues health care education related issues down to Crimes rights victims issues that individuals employ lobbyists for Just to wrap things up here, you know, we I think do an effective job in the lobbying core Again, we are there because most of the organizations that hire us Can't and really shouldn't have a full-time individual In the capital monitoring legislation Paying attention to the issues that are before them And that's why they hire us, but i'll tell you after my 16 years of experience in the legislature and now four plus years Doing actual lobbying work. It's still really in wisconsin comes down to grassroots contact I mean, you know, some people criticize me when I went from the legislature to lobbying saying oh You've got way too much direct influence I've got friendships, but I could tell you when I was in the legislature never once did I vote On a certain issue a certain way because a lobbyist was asking me to do it in a certain way I'm never once did I change my vote. I mean a lobbyist. I didn't even share that. I don't think We maybe I forgot that Yeah, we can't give contributions to we we're our freedom of political involvement or expression has taken away from us Because we're a lobbyist so we can only give personal contributions to Legislative candidates to gubernatorial candidates in a real small window of time We're most of the two-year period. We can't write checks or Participate in the political giving process, you know, but even if that even when you can do that You know the maximum that an individual can give to a state senator is $2,000 Again, I was never going to have my principal or my view compromised for $2,000 I appreciate the $2,000 that you invested me, but my position was my credibility My philosophy was worth a lot more than $2,000 that any individual was going to be able to give to me So I just would share with you as an organization and as individuals that that's really Where it comes down to I mean one of the things that I think I've been effective in doing for our clients Is that I try to as well I do a lot of work behind the scenes for them just about everybody that I represent I say you got to get the face of your organization into the legislative offices So whether it's quick tripping and the people down from behind the counter or You know the boys and girls club. That's where I was this morning being a little bit late We are participating in the joint finance committee hearing down in jamesville today. So we've got seven different boys and girls club Administrators and three kids from clubs there to testify. That's much more effective than me That I'm never going to be able to do and again I say that both as a lobbyist and even more specifically as a former representative a former senator I valued the information and the background and the Point of view that lobbyist gave to me But my last gut check before I voted on anything was where my constituents were and because I knew I had to go home I mean I was I'm getting paid as a lot as a legislator I had to go home and explain how I was voting to the people at the Cash register at the grocery store, you know, and at the doctor's office, whatever it may be So don't lose sight of that. We have a great legislative contingent here in shaboyton county They're working hard for us Senator lenew who succeeded me in the senate. He is the senator for the ninth senate district senator strobel representing the 20th senate district representative katsuma the 26th assembly district Representative vorpah the 27th assembly district and representative ramphoon from the 59th assembly district We're well represented. They are all younger members of the legislature But that's a good thing and again, we should be really proud in shaboyton county. We have Like when I was there, we probably got the best legislative contingent in regard to committee placements and Key responsibility areas of any county in wisconsin. So right now we have three members of our contingent senator strobel senator lemmew and representative katsuma. There are members of the finance committee that is That that happened when I was there myself senator growthman and representative lemmew were on the finance committee But it's rare for one county to have that much influence on the finance committee. It's a 16 member committee 12 members from the majority four members from the minority And so when you've got three majority party members on the finance committee Quite honestly, there's nothing that is a county We shouldn't be able to get done if we work it right with them And that's I think I looked at them and a lot of people in the room We got a lot done for shaboyton county when we had this last type of representation on the finance committee So with that that's basically the background of lobbying that I wanted to share And then if I can I'll just share a little bit in regard to the clients that I work for and just some I like to Just give some case studies. So again on the front page You know again, jason jenny and I do represent a good number of individuals So it's kind of like my legislative job where you have to be able to compartmentalize things by 30 minutes and move from one issue to the next You know some great companies that I represent Alexander company in owl 8 many of you maybe know joe alexander He's done a number of investments here in shaboyton county historical building redevelopment Joe is very supportive of maintaining the historic tax credit in the state of Wisconsin Which has been threatened over the past couple of years I've worked for joe and for owl 8 for all four years now that I've been with foley You know international companies like american express and general motors. I have the privilege of representing Boys and girls club of wisconsin as you can see we've got a A great relationship with the state of wisconsin and the boys and girls club But we're trying to expand that Programming support. We really believe that we reach a great Contingent of wisconsin children that we serve after school and we've been in a very effective cost effective way been able to provide Great reading and math services to them graduation related services And so we're working on a number of legislative interests there as you can see Quicktrip a great wisconsin-based company. So I've uh have a privilege of of representing quicktrip. We work on a number of different items Johnson controls one of the largest country companies in the world We work on behalf of down to small groups. I think this is a great story the midwest association of camps on page 4 or 5 whatever it is there This is a group of about a hundred Privately owned summer camps in the state of wisconsin. So these are just really cool people They're mostly couples who met at camp when they were kids went to camp for two weeks or two months Um in wisconsin They met their spouse and now their young families that bought these camps multi million dollar properties and businesses They bring thousands of kids and families to wisconsin every summer And they are the maker break for a lot of communities across the state of wisconsin But most people don't even know about them You know, you know, there's that science saying uh birch tree camp up north on the end of the road that you drive down sometimes Well, that's a multi million dollar business and I actually worked with them when I when I was in the legislature And they came to me and said joe We just really think we need to be better understood as a part of wisconsin's economy I mean we're we're kicking in a lot of cash or you know doing a lot for the state We're employing a lot of people but no one knows about us and they're actually Regulated not like a camp. They're regulated like a daycare. That's not what they are They're a place where kids go for two weeks and you know learn about having great life outside in wisconsin So that's just been a great. They're a very small organization But they put together their resources and they've invested in us and we've gotten a lot of good stuff done for them Over the past two years And then the last company that I point out is our my former employer and a great company in wisconsin is sargento foods So Louis and uh the genteen family and I got to know each other real well And I was in the legislature and I went I worked for them They came to me back in 2015 and said joe we'd like to Continue to have you help us do work for us in the state of wisconsin And so they've engaged me now as a lobbyist for four years Key to louis as you should know this as well because I mean he really was a key investor Over the past four years in maintaining a focus on ensuring highway 23 Got to the point where it is hopefully right now And uh, we'll see it to completion. So they've invested in me for four years now and As some of you know in the room. I helped to lead a multi county coalition on behalf of sargento You know again paid for by sargento did a lot of work with the legislators to get highway 23 To the point that it is we're now it looks like it's finally going to break ground and move forward here in 2019 So those again are just some of the folks that I represent the issues that we work on And really I'd be happy to just open it up not any questions that you may have Otherwise, I can give you just a quick snapshot on what's happening in the legislature Prior to your visit with legislators in may adam So I just like to say how much I appreciate your leadership as a representative and senator You were always so good about working with us and Hopefully you may not have always agreed. You always described it To do good things with security and I appreciate that. I also appreciate that tremendous job I've done supporting eating the focus on highway 23 And much of the work you've done behind the scenes that keep that going and my question is And germ tom waker and I were just out of the same conversation last week Obviously great news looks like ground's going to break finally in may Right and many people in the community are going to believe it. I tell these you see the shovels and the blades But tell one of the questions that we kicked around a little bit is why do you think the thousand friends didn't submit a follow-up lawsuit Um, I mean I I kind of know their group their organization just decided that they were going to take a different focus and that they weren't going to Continue their investment in highway 23 when they began the lawsuit Now four years ago or whatever it is and that's because they had one or two key Board members and investors in and he kind of said I'm going to invest in you and this is going to become an issue of yours And they followed suit, but I think again as an organization. They just realized that it wasn't the right fight Um, it's an important highway. It's a safety issue that they had to focus on I mean again the coalition knows and you were part of that adam And we tried to infiltrate that a little bit as well. So we identified over the past three years four years Individuals that were members of the friends of wisconsin that were investing in that group And we went to and said do you know that's the group that's stopping highway 23 And most of them didn't know that you know again It's a it's a group that you invest in but you don't really understand or follow what they're all doing every single issue So we had a number of those individuals contact the board and contact the organization and say You know, this isn't we don't want you to fight this any longer. I think that together plus good work by d.o.t I mean they did a great job Refining the eis the environmental impacts statement and really addressed every issue that Judge Adelman had brought before the court in regard to why he thought Um highway 23 wasn't ready to go move forward. So I think it was just a good combination of everything now Like you adam, I I am not going to rest or believe it until I see actually pavement being put down Actually, we're driving on it because I would not be surprised if something else comes up along the way here An environmental issue or you know, we'll run across a Toad that we have to worry about or uh, you know something like that I was the legislator along with jim bomb guard senator bomb guard back in so I was 26 at the time We got 23 enumerated. So that was the huge first step back in 1999 spent a lot of political capital on that to tell you the truth um Never did I think that it would then take, you know 20 years to get this project actually going but it's just Been a mess. I mean it was um The rating of funds for a while from the transportation department And then the lawsuit that really just bogged this thing down to the point where it's been now 20 years Mayor van der scene When you were in the legislature your office helped us put together something called robber state in madison, right? Effort brings you going down to madison for the uh, have a celebration around our favorite product robbers And I was led by the chamber of commerce at that time Somewhere around 2004 or six They stopped having it now. You've seen many other communities come to the legislature down their date in the state capital Are we missing the bullet point giving this up? Was it an effective way for should wait to promote themselves? Not only businesses, but residents. It's a chance to meet with legislators Very comfortable atmosphere. So just a little feedback on that. Maybe you're kind of feeling as should you try to divide it or It's better leaving it go right. Yeah brought in madison is great I started doing that when I was a member an employee of the chamber And we'll go down as a staff within bar below the send and the group down there Mike you'll remember and we had a great advocacy day or afternoon Uh, the legislators will all come to john nolan park We played softball a bipartisan game of softball and then had a great brat fry and really enjoyed Kind of that relationship time with our legislators Um I'm just trying to remember why it why it all died most events like that have really kind of died in the capital Um Again, it's important to have ethics laws, but the ethics laws have gotten so Petty and specific. I mean you have to now you can't a legislator can't come And have a soda or a brat without ensuring that they've paid their six dollars I mean it's just so detailed and processed that it's hardly Effective and most legislators are like, you know what I'm not going to End up on the front page of the shabuagan press because I didn't pay four dollars for my brat You know when I went to shabuagan brat day. It just isn't worth it um, so most events like that like, um Brat day chipua valley rally was a big thing those things have really kind of died out You know, I think it would be worth thinking about what's the way to to regenerates or Rejuvenate something like that because it was fun. You know again, that's part of the sad part of the legislature There's very little fun that happens down there You know people don't really talk or get along and it's worse now than it probably ever has been so You know, there would be a nice welcome relief But again, there's so much scrutiny and pettiness placed on you know, and again did did legislator a have two beers and all that stuff I mean it just got to be An unfortunate hassle in that regard. Yeah People had to take us through let's say a lobbying day for you where a company or organization Contacts you and they give a reason for why they need more exposure or whatever it happens to be Sure, ultimately when you go to Legislator a or whatever it is What's that? Yep, happy to so I can just tell you so today's friday, right so on wednesday um general motors Is a client of mine and we spent the entire day at the state capitol having the regional government affairs representative of general motors visit I think we were in eight different senate offices in the capitol. We have a bill that We'd like to defeat That we don't we don't think would be good to us as a manufacturing company of automobiles in the state of Wisconsin and so we think our chances and this is part of what I get hired to do is I try to evaluate where do you think we can You know get something passed or where can we kill it if we have to So I try to develop that strategy and then we spent the day going into those eight different senate offices who we felt might be of of interest to our point of view on the bill and The gentleman's name is brian so brian and I go in and you know I try to at one of the one of the maybe the advantages that I have as a former member There's some members there that I worked with so in that case. I'll take the lead and just say hey, you know van good to be with you You know brian's here to talk to you about our bill and really brian the the client Does the job of telling the story again? I think it's much more important for them for the senator hear it from them then for me because they know i'm paid and You know that's that's my job, but it's much more passionate and I think poignant if it comes from the client directly So we you know spent those A whole day actually in the capital talking to those eight different senators feel good about how the meetings went And my job is to kind of follow up with those senators and monitor the bill on their behalf To make sure that it doesn't move, you know out of the committee Hopefully are the next couple months So that's maybe a little bit of what I do is every day and I did this when I was in the senator So it's kind of a nice transition, you know, I I monitor every bill that's introduced or considered for for introduction I then email out to all my clients that would have an interest in that bill saying hey Is this something that's of you know specific interest to you or what level of interest would you have And then if they say yeah, that's something that we want to support and get behind Then that where I develop a strategy for that if it's something that we want to kill Then I work to develop that strategy That's basically kind of a day in the life of and then I will say And I do on behalf of a lot of our clients go to Legislated listening sessions and stuff like that. So I kind of travel around the state today I was down in janesville like I said for the for the boys and girls club participating in the state budget hearings mark so They are learning You know friends and either you or from your colleagues or fully as a firm Say hey, we're just not that's who they see at the top of we're just we're gonna take a path Somebody else lobby. Yes, we do. Yeah, and actually so that's one of the cool things about working for foley We're a very conservative firm Even though we've hired some people in the past that people have scratched your head at and say well I'd you hire him or her but we're a very conservative firm overall. We're which I really enjoy And knock on wood when you look at my Issue list to date there hasn't been an issue that I've been asked to lobby on a lobby on that conflicts with my Principles or political philosophy and that's just been a great coincidence. I'm certain the day will come where I'm gonna have to be like I can't believe I'm lobbying for this side when quite honestly as an individual I'm against it But you have to do that this part of the job I've just been lucky that every issue that I've been involved in has been based and fully does that I mean Any client that would pay me or the revenue that we get for that isn't worth Hurting the reputation of the firm And so we have a very Specific some people that's why some people don't like to lobby or they don't want to work for big organizations like foley They'd rather be their own single shop But we do an unbelievable conflicts check not only to make sure that we don't have a conflict on an issue with another client That we might represent legally. I mean again, we've had over 2,000 Legal clients around the world and so before I can engage with anybody They have to check and make sure that my issue wouldn't be of conflict with anybody But then we also kind of determine whether or not it's in the best interest of the firm as well And again, I think our reputation has been out there, you know, we rarely do we have to turn down a client I I will share I mean, it's just you know when It worked out well when I just left the legislature A lot of groups that maybe didn't have a real good standing with the republicans Thought maybe they could have an in with me with the republicans and we turned down a lot of that work Because we're just like, you know what I'm not going to I'm not going to use my So blatantly lose use my personality or my relationships there to help a group that maybe we as a firm don't Quite honestly get along with or support So we turn that work down And that's again cool. It makes me feel good about every day when I go to work. Yes What do you decide I wait for this? Yeah I've offered that but They they employ a different group and I'm not exactly sure what their strategy has been behind that but that's fine I think they're in a bit of a mess. I mean the new evers administration and the new evers dnr is not going to Work to find a way to make that a possibility The the walker administration and the dnr They wanted to protect the environment and have a good environment in wisconsin But they always tried to find a way to have that environment work with the development or with the You know the the economic opportunity that a development would bring about that's really what their goal was Was to try to say, okay Can't this all work and I just don't know if the evers administration has that interest I think that they're going to be much more focused on just the environmental side of things And quite honestly the emotional side of things and I think it'll be hard for them to to get over that Yeah Yeah, yeah, there's a lot of um You know they're now suggesting that the dnr under the walker administration didn't use the right criteria to evaluate the environment to impact and all that stuff That's a lot illegal You know throwing up against the wall to see what will stick and unfortunately I don't know if the evers administration will challenge that that much So let me just two seconds steve today. There is a public hearing down in Janesville again, this is where if you're really interested in government you got to go sit at a joint finance hearing for a day I did it for eight years I was just going to tell you where the other hearings are I got them here somewhere because there's a couple in the area right we got one up in green bay coming up and I apologize. I lost that list, but I would uh encourage you as an organization in advance of Next month when you're having your legislators in you know, maybe get to a public hearing Devin or terry or dewey would love to see some local faces there because it's a welcome relief and they've got a big They've got a big uh issue a big budget on their hands here. So after four budgets of Not having any tax increases in the state of wisconsin while doing pretty good investments in most areas of government services and after four balanced budgets Governor evers now has taken a little bit different approach. I mean he's got a pretty aggressive tax increase plan in his budget over a billion dollars in new taxes 600 million some dollars in new fees And it's already looking like his budget will have about a two billion dollar structural deficit Going into the next budget cycle. So the legislature I don't think is going to allow that to happen I mean after all the work that they've done in getting the state in the fiscal situation that it is right now and You know that could change or there could be some changes But it's hard to argue that we're not in a good fiscal situation in wisconsin right now. I don't think the legislature is going to allow that to be Taken away in one budget cycle But that'll be a key responsibility of devin dewey and terry to try to figure out how they do that On behalf of the citizens of wisconsin. So ask them some tough questions next month And uh, i'm sure they're looking forward to coming home to tell you what's going on Is it perfect? Thanks everybody. Have a great afternoon