Journal Entries From my time as a Lobbying Intern

My last semester of college, I worked for a lobbying firm in downtown Lansing. At Acuitas, a smaller and more specialized firm located just beside the capitol building, I gained invaluable experience regarding how our political machine functions on a state and corporate level. I worked with an incredible team, and had the opportunity to meet many influential politicians and businessmen. It was at this job where I realized that the things I value professionally exist within the context of research and socialization. I loved the fact that I got to talk to so many people, participate in planning events and research for client projects. During this time I also journaled…a lot, and through my chronicling of my time at Acuitas, I am able to reflect on the experience with an immense amount of gratitude. Since I am looking for work now, I thought looking back at this job would give me the chance to see what I learned about myself and the field of politics. So, below are some of my entries during my five month stay as a lobbying intern for their firm:

Olivia Le Pera: Week 1

I never really saw myself working in lobbying, it was never really on my professional radar. The stigma surrounding what lobbyists are, and what they do, really threw me off. However, based on my first day on the job, I’ve come to realize that the depiction of a lobbyist could not be more muddled. Maybe I lucked out with Acuitas, or maybe my current experience reflects the reality of what lobbying is. Going into my first day, I wasn’t sure what my responsibilities would be or what the work would consist of. One thing that I was worried about was the social aspect of the job, I have a really tough time schmoozing or buttering up people in hopes of gaining their approval. Sure, I have worked in a few fields that require social grace and smoothness, but this is really different. Going door-to-door, calling businesses and politicians, that is something I haven’t experienced before. Fortunately, I found out a big part of the job is not only the social, but doing research, including keeping up with current events and understanding legislation. That is my forte, its more controlled and less “fake”, per se, than attempting to convince legislators to back bills, projects, or other things of that nature. My first day presented me with the diversity of lobbying, and not only that, but it showed me that without lobbyists, companies would be in a major pickle when it comes to getting things done. Without firms advocating for these projects, or inquiring on legislation, corporations and other groups would struggle to see progress in their respective fields. My firm, Acuitas, works with a wide variety of clients, whose interests range from clean energy to corporate. At our Monday meeting my boss, Kevin Korpi, informed the team of prospective clients and current legislation we should be keeping tabs on. It excited me to be able to engage with the corporate world from a legislative perspective, and our client base provides such a wide breadth of interests that it seems nearly impossible to get bored. After we had our briefing, I was assigned to do outreach for a company called Indivior—a competitor to Narcan—and then, once that was completed, I went to my first committee hearing on the sale of whippets. That’s what I mean when I say it’s a cool profession, I would never in a million years have thought that I would be strolling into a hearing on whether it’s cool to sell nitrous gas, but there I was taking notes on it. Just wild, and I can’t wait to continue down this path for as long as I can, because I can tell that the experience will provide me with a tremendous amount of satisfaction.

Olivia Le Pera: Week 2

I started working here at the same time as another intern, and I thought it would be great to have someone in the same position as me learning about how this profession works. I could not be more wrong about my initial assumption. You know, in my class we read Plato’sGorgiasand a lot of his whole spiel is about rhetoric and how, when an individual knows how to speak well, he can use that skill for good or “evil”—super melodramatic I know—and if an individual does something bad, their soul is tainted. This is a mega summary, and I probably didn’t even do a good job at explaining that concept, but when I read that the first thing I thought of was lying. Because, in a lot of ways, lying does taint the soul. It riddles the liar with guilt, if they actually acknowledge that their lies have consequences. This all circles back to my coworker, because she lies about everything. For example, the first day of work she tried to bargain with my boss and convince him that a different firm in Lansing offered her a job that was willing to pay her DOUBLE (so like 30/hr), and then she said that she got a scholarship to go to UMich but chose not to accept it because she wanted to go to law school there. You hear these things, especially upon first meeting a person, and you take a step back and think about how pathetic you have to be to lie for NO REASON. The reality is this: if she got a job that was willing to pay her double than my firm, why even bother with this internship? If she got into UMich on a scholarship, respectfully, why go here? Now, these lies don’t harm or necessarily affect me, but they bother me because I don’t lie. This isn’t to say that I am some saint, because I have lied before and sure I have exaggerated about certain qualities of mine, but I don’t lie to people. I just don’t see a point, and I always find that it’s better to be transparent than lie. Maybe it’s because as a kid I would lie about stuff and, since my mom could sniff out a lie like a bloodhound, I realized it wasn’t worth it to go through all the trouble and not even get what I wanted. This isn’t the case for everyone, I mean, some people lie about their entire lives and never get caught. But you never really experience the satisfaction of whatever success you’ve obtained when you had to lie your way to the top.

Olivia Le Pera: Week 3

This week Acuitas is hosting the first ever nuclear caucus, pretty cool if you ask me. I used to go out with a guy who was super into Nuclear, so it’s awesome that I have the opportunity to actually learn about what he was so passionate about. Essentially the state is trying to reinvent a few plants on the west side of Michigan, and the big sell is that Nuclear energy is the most efficient, and cleanest form of energy. Last week I went around the HOB (House Office Building) and informed members of the newly founded caucus of the meeting, and I bumped into a good friend of mine who is also a James Madison Alum, Jasper Martus. I told him about the caucus, and I was like, “listen I don’t know if I have any jurisdiction over this or whatever, but you should totally stop by.” His response to my very warm invitation was, “When I think of nuclear I think of the Simpsons and that scares me,” we need to be MORE OPEN PEOPLE COME ON. Like a little nuclear didn’t hurt no one. *unfortunately, pans camera to Chernobyl* but we can perfect what was once imperfect…hopefully. No Russian involvement this time, just good ol’fashioned AMERICAN SCIENCE AND SPIRIT. Anyways, yeah so basically I was working the front desk and I was able to meet with so many different representatives, and Jasper connected me with the head of the Nuclear Caucus—Representative Filler. Super cool guy, and a very well-respected rep from around here. We spoke a little bit before the caucus began, and he asked to schedule a meeting with me for next week. I guess my charm and wit have really propelled me high into the politisphere—that’s a joke, of course, because I still am bad at the whole talking to people in a gentle a cordial tone all the time—but he is a really great guy to know. Anyways, while they were meeting in our conference room we were all eating the leftover Panera that was catered, and it was just a good vibe. While that was happening we are also prepping for the Clean Air Task Force luncheon that will be happening this week, so that means like three days of free lunch. God, I love the corporate world—also a joke, I am really funny today—but I really love being able to participate in projects and conversations that I otherwise wouldn’t know about/be able to. Though my role is, realistically, microscopic, I like being able to engage with people who have real roles in politics and understand what it means to be in a caucus or to be a public official. Like, I had no idea what a caucus was before this one, I genuinely did not understand what that meant, so it’s actually pretty epic that I got to experience one for myself.

Olivia Le Pera: Week 5

I learned about the Lake Michigan Car Ferry (aka the S.S. Badger), the country’s oldest functioning coal powered ship. The problem with this bad boy is that, based on the coal component of her situation, she is not very environmentally friendly. The idea right now is to reinvent the Badger as something that encompasses new energy while keeping its historic form. So, I was designated with the task of setting a few meetings up between Acuitas and certain reps, and also I had to look into specific legislation that would see how LMCF fits into specific budgets. Then, I worked on Michigan Forest Products lobby day that’s happening on the eighth of May. I created an excel spreadsheet of each representative and senator that supports MFPC and works in the UP, and then I contacted all of them in regard to the lobbying day. It’s a relatively slow week, All I have really had to do was this and then the newsletter. I met with Representative Filler about my question from my previous entry regarding American Republicanism, and he gave me a pretty solid answer to my question. He basically said that the traditional Republican would align with what is now viewed as a more “moderate” republican, someone who values the idea of smaller government and doesn’t necessarily care for the personal rights such as sexuality, gender and religion. After this brief conversation, we spoke about my resume, and during this conversation he made a few calls to some congressmen he knows and asked if they were looking for any help in D.C. Let’s see what their responses will be, you always hope for the best, but the job market is really not good these days…especially on the East coast.

Olivia Le Pera: Week 7

Throughout my time working at Acuitas, I have been loosely working alongside Tony—one of the key lobbyists at this firm—in matters surrounding a direct competitor to Narcan. His focus at this firm surrounds public health, which is why he is also the head of the MiAND lobby day. The point of legislative or lobby days is to get people in the work force to engage with legislators on matters they need assistance with. In this case, there were about two-to-three dieticians from each district in Michigan here to meet with representatives on issues with funding. Our job is to print out necessary materials, keep policymakers up to date on when these individuals would be in town, reserve an area for the event to occur, and set up prior to the event beginning. When myself and my coworker came to the Mackinaw room at the HOB, it was a crazy sight. We were met by this very frazzled older woman who was the head of the event, and she was just all over the place. She told all the dieticians the wrong things, didn’t bring enough of her own material to the event and, the best part of the whole thing, she didn’t buy enough food. Like, this is literally the dieticians lobby day and their whole M.O. is about food, so how do you NOT PROVIDE ENOUGH FOOD! It was actually insane because once legislators and their staff came to sit in on the conference, there was no more food—this is a huge selling point at events like these, especially for staffers. Regardless, the turnout was really good and all of the people were pretty chill. I was given the task of handling media coverage of the event, so I was taking pictures throughout the day of all the people, legislators and the information being discussed. It was a great experience, and tomorrow Acuitas is hosting the Hygienist Legislative day but I will not be manning that event.

Olivia Le Pera: Week 11

MICU, aka Michigan Independent Colleges and Universities, hosted their capitol day on the 17thand I had the unbelievable fortune of dressing up as a mascot for half the day. You might be thinking, lets rewind the clock for a minute how did you end up in a mascot costume, great question. The day before MICU capitol day, I heard my coworker talking about how he was going to dress up as a mascot and go to committees. I loved this, I loved how anonymous it felt, I loved how goofy it sounded. How could I not inquire on how I could participate in such an artistic display of academic pride? So, I told my coworker I was interested and boom there I was, at eight in the morning, suiting up in some half bird half beast costume (I was representing the Rochester Crimsons). I think this moment really showed my go getter attitude—or at least what I was willing to subject myself to in order to have fun and get stuff done—the people really didn’t expect me to get up there and put myself in a position where I had to dress up in some furry get up, but oh how foolish were they. I had such a great time, even though the suit smelled like feet and it was so hot to the point where I feel asleep in it. I met so many cool people from so many different institutions, it was just an opportunity that really made me think about how you never say no to an invitation. Now I can tell people that I have dressed up as a mascot WILLINGLY, and I loved it. Though it wasn’t Sparty, which really does suck, being that eyeless bird was really funny and just an insane experience. It made me feel like I was a kid going to day camp on a Friday, and there was like a performance or something and we were all gearing up to do the same thing. I loved it, which I guess isn’t that weird but being 22 and saying “Yeah dressing up as a mascot was the highlight of my week” also isn’t the average thing you hear. My job is great in this regard. I love the randomness of it all.

Olivia Le Pera: Week 12

The last week of my entire college career, and I reflect on this job with unbelievable pride. This was not a profession I intended on exploring, my interests were never particularly rooted in either politics or lobbying, but that’s what is so funny about life. I was provided with the opportunity to engage with this profession in a way that really changed my view on what a lobbyist is, and their function in corporate and government affairs. Though this firm is pretty small, that gave me the chance to work closely alongside associates and the CEO’s of this company, giving me far more hands-on experience than if I were at a larger firm. Though the beginning of my journey here was sort of socially rough, it really provided me with the groundwork to improve upon my interpersonal skills and not place so much pressure on people. I think that I tend to base what I believe to be right on people who do not think or act like me, and this job changed my perspective entirely. My life will only get harder if I continue to engage with people in this way, and I realized that at this job. I am not like other people, and other people are not like me, and that is beyond ok. The connections I have made throughout my time here have been vast and influential, making this experience hold an inexpressible weight on how my perspective shifted regarding this profession. I am grateful Kevin Korpi, for being such an understanding, flexible, generous and, above all else, inclusive boss. The boss makes the workplace, this I believe wholeheartedly, and he has done such an exceptional job at keeping everyone in check and providing for open, nonjudgmental discourse to ensue. Acuitas is unlike any firm or company I have worked for, and this job will be one I remember for probably the rest of my life.

Journal Entries From my time as a Lobbying Intern

The Perversion of Language and its Effect on Human Relations

Free Will Vs. Gods Plan

Through Young Eyes