Senator Mike Frerichs Office- Week 10

Monday began with the usual. I began with newspaper clippings, worked to respond to weekend emails, and then continued to work on a few constituent issues. Follow up with constituent issues is always a necessity; especially since the wheels of government tend to move at a slow pace.

With Laurie leaving the office tomorrow, today I had my focus upon being on the same page as Laurie as to what I need to accomplish while she is gone. As usual, I focused on emails, news clippings, constituent service work, etc. An issue which has seen a rise in correspondence as of late is the Olympian Drive Project. Fortunately, the News Gazette published an article on Tuesday which stated the city would not seek land acquisition as a means to accomplish the Olympian Drive expansion at this time. Therefore, I responded to numerous emails which were in the inbox in reference to the subject and was able to give callers some guidance on the issue.

I too took the opportunity to respond to a variety of miscellaneous emails in the inbox.

Time in the office Wednesday seemed to fly by. I believe our office may possess one of the slowest copiers I have ever seen. Today, I had to make copies of all of the General Assembly Scholarship applications that our office had received over the previous few weeks. Our panel of judges which serve to rank applications consist of 7 members; thus 7 copies of 28 applications. I did not have much of an option besides hovering over the copier for a few hours as the copier did its job. The printing process required the paper to be refilled numerous times and paper jams occurred a few times. By the time the copies were completed and ready to be stapled and stacked I had already reached the lunch hour.

As I returned to the office after my lunch break, the remainder of the day involved stapling all the applications and stacking and sorting the stacks by alphabetical order. Our Chief of Staff mentioned perhaps we ask applicants next year to make their own copies. Therefore all we will need to do is sort them alphabetically and deliver them to the panel. This option would also eliminate time utilized to open mailings which arrive on a daily basis with materials for the applications. I believe this would be a great option and should be installed next year. If an individual really wants a scholarship which provides for a years tuition I believe to ask for copies is a small token.
Upon logging into the Senator's email account Thursday morning the inbox had exceeded 300 emails. With the Senator at his Springfield office and the alarming rate of response with regard SB 1946, I had to contact Jim Shadid who works in Senate President John Cullerton's Office to assist in formulating a proper response to the email onslaught. Early in the morning, I received a response from Jim and was able to begin the lengthy process of clearing out the inbox. The effort to clear the inbox was slowed by the numerous phone calls which were placed to the office during this time too with regard to SB 1946. I believe I may have explained it before, but after we respond to emails we label them and archive them in an order to keep an electronic copy of all correspondence to constituents who contact the office.

A new intern, Mark Sulski arrived mid-day this afternoon to assist in the office. I was glad to have his help this afternoon. With the email onslaught many of the tasks which I had hoped to complete by weeks end with Laurie out of the office were being ignored. Mark a student at Eastern Illinois University decided to stay for a longer period of time than originally scheduled in an effort to assist with many of the tasks which I needed to complete. Together, Mark and I completed the Saw You in the News mailings which needed to be mailed, finished the filing, and eliminated the majority of emails in the inbox by days end. Mark was very talkative and admitted he has not worked as hard as he could academically, but his work ethic in the office impressed me. He too sorted and prepped the General Assembly applications for mailing to the panel of judges.

Friday was a shortened day in the office. I contacted the Senator last night to ask if he minded I leave early in the afternoon to take a bus to Springfield for a brief weekend away from Champaign. Prior to leaving for Springfield, I cleared out the remaining emails in the inbox and prepped a series of letters of congratulations and support which needed to be printed and picked up as soon as possible. I had just enough time to complete the necessary tasks and leave the Senator the necessary files before leaving.

*On a brief note- It was a nice weekend in Springfield. Although, it did rain on Sunday morning. Friday afternoon, my fiance and I arrived in Springfield in just enough time for an old acquaintance of mine to allow us to take pictures together on the House and Senate Floor. I thought it would be nice to place this picture with my others from a few years prior. And of course, the rest of the weekend we toured the historical sites and went to my favorite Museum- The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum.

Senator Frerichs Office Week 11

This morning I arrived into the office at mid-morning. I awoke not feeling well. After resting for a while the symptoms subsided and I headed into work. The office is quiet, yet hectic at the same time. Upon arriving at the office this morning I decided to finish organizing the materials (completed applications) of the individuals who applied for the General Assembly Scholarship. The General Assembly Scholarship in Senator Frerich's Office is judged by a panel of constituents. Our office makes a concerted effort to make sure that the viewing of applications is presented in an unbiased manner. Our Chief of Staff decided it was best to present the applications to our panel in alphabetical order.

It is ironic, whether or not directions are specifically printed on an application individuals choose not to follow. Numerous individuals who submitted applications too submitted more than the maximum three letters of recommendation. Therefore, in an effort to remain unbiased Laurie decided it would be best to allow the letters attached to the application be decided by date written (earlier attached). Other individuals simply decide to fill out another representatives or senators application and submit it to our office. Make sense?

After sorting through these applications and making sure these were in proper order I decided to work with one of our interns Ayesha to diminish the pile of News-Gazettes which were on the back counter. Although individuals in our office have good intent on cutting clippings on a daily basis for the Senator's Saw You in the News mailings it is just near impossible. The process from start to finish is rather lengthy. I just wish there was a manner to streamline the process. Cut the picture, laminate, cut, search address, stuff, stamp, mail. By days end, Ayesha and I with the help of Caitlin (intern) were able to complete and put all Saw You in the News mailings in the mail box.

I too took the opportunity today to have Ayesha complete some minor office tasks such as filing etc. to make sure the office is in proper order which will assist in its overall function.

Tuesday, two staffers in the Danville office, Dixie and Janice, arrived in our Champaign office to undergo a training regimen. Dixie and Janice are two older women who have kind hearts yet are behind the technological curve due to age. Due to their limited technological capacity it is often the case that Dixie or Janice will call our office when research into a certain topic need to be completed. It is our hopes that after this training that Dixie and Janice will be able to accomplish many of these tasks on their own.

We taught Dixie and Janice how to utilize basic tools (Internet, Gmail, ILGA, etc.) Now, with proper training in Gmail, Dixie and Janice will be able to access a wide-variety of responses of Mike's and will be able to offer a response whether via e-mail or snail mail to the Danville area constituents. Too, we worked with Dixie and Janice and taught them how to research bills utilizing ilga.gov. It is often the case due to the mass of bills before the legislature that Mike not know the contents of a bill by number. Dixie and Janice need be aware of this and attempt to familiarize themselves with these bills through ILGA in order to assist the Senator with any constituent inquiry. Too, using ILGA, Dixie and Janice can access voting records and see how a bill was voted upon which may assist in the formulation of a response etc.

All motivation within me was deflated as Dixie and Janice brought a stack of mail into the office on Tuesday and stated these are all the General Assembly Scholarships which were sent to the Danville Office. The countless hours which I had spent hovering over the copier had begun to haunt me.

Wednesday we continued training in a variety of areas with Dixie and Janice. The most exciting part of the training today was Microsoft Word mail merge. I taught Dixie and Janice how to construct a mail merge on Microsoft Word rather than printing letters individually. Imagine how much time has been lost by printing letters on an individual basis. Today, we utilized a spreadsheet and composed a letter with a focus on Pre-K funding which had 176 names. To see 176 letters individually addressed etc. in a matter of seconds had these two in awe. The simple things in life can bring utmost joy. Further, I showed these two how to utilize mail merge to print corresponding envelopes.

Our office is in great shape after having Dixie and Janice assist for the past two days. The back counter is clear of newspapers, filing is complete, emails have been addressed and are at a low count, and much of the constituent correspondence has been cleared out of the box.

The office was quiet after Dixie and Janice returned to Danville. The inbox is at a low count (30) and not many constituent letters remain to be responded too. Also, all the newspaper clippings are complete.

Friday- Good Friday Office Closed

Two weeks at AIA

The last couple weeks have been pretty busy but we are at a stage in most of our projects where each day is fairly similar, its merely a test of patience and persistence. We have a conference on UNCITRAL Model Law in June and the European mediator training course in August that we must now market to legal practitioners and academics around the world. My boss told me he really wants me to take initiative with this task so I have been trying to be as creative as possible in fin ding ways to disseminate news about AIA to the write places. Because I like enjoy writing a put together several editorial pieces and sent them to English speaking newspapers in the several different EU countries. It allowed me to not simply market our project but actually explain the history and future potential of international mediation in enhancing economic relations as well as informal justice. I had to adapt the editorials based on the country where the newspaper was, so that required some additional research. I was also able to publish an article about AIA and ADR in a magazine called “Corporate International.” You can read it for free online if anyone is interested. You can even see my goofy picture above the text. Enjoy.

One of the most exciting events of the past week was when I conducted a phone interview with the head of the mediation office and the United Nations. We spoke for about 45 minutes in what proceed more as a conversation than a Q & A. He is extremely experienced and knows a lot about the theory behind conflict management and peace studies. It was quite a learning experience to say the least. The fact that there is a mediation service for the UN, an international organization that by definition conducts its own mediation, says a lot about how widely applicable and unequivocal mediation services are. I was fascinated by the concept of “on-call mediators.” An on-call mediator often mediates during UN peacekeeping missions to ensure that the UN can do its job without being hindered by its own international conflict. The article I wrote about the UN mediation services will be in the April AIA newsletter.

Last Monday I went to the Vienna for the day (yes, literally only for the day) to do research at the United Nations UNCITRAL library. It felt a bit like studying for finals because I was trying to cram as much information into notes as quickly as possible. The research I am doing is to help my boss write his speech. However, I will be responsible for the opening introduction so I need to put together a brief text for that as well. Luckily, thanks to Brandon I was able to see a bit of Vienna before I took the place back that evening. Vienna is truly an amazing city. A one day does not suffice but it was great anyways, thanks again Brandon.

It is finally spring, which in Brussels means its conference season. Apparently it is very common in the months of April and May for international organizations and EU institutions to hold big conferences in the city. It is a great time to show off the European capital I think. Anyways, I will be going to several of these on behalf of AIA which is exciting. I have always enjoyed going to conferences because it allows you to get fairly extensive knowledge about a specific topic you may have been unfamiliar with before. The tough part is trying to connect AIA’s services to the issues addressed on the concerts and then trying to network to the proper attendees. Still, it is good practice for negotiation.

Treasurer's Office, March 15-26

The last two weeks in Springfield have been keeping me busy. March 29th marked the beginning of a two week spring break for the General Assembly so the two weeks prior to break were a bit hectic. Monday the 15th was fairly slow though, as the House was not due back in Springfield until Tuesday and the Senate was not beginning until the afternoon. Because I work almost exclusively with the House, I usually listen to the Senate (when the House is not in) but am not the staff member responsible for compiling the daily report so there was not much for me to do but listen.

Tuesday was busier, but not terribly exciting. Because the deadline to move bills out of committee has passed, committee hearings are much fewer in number- now held only to hear amendments to bills that had previously passed out- and session is much longer during the day. I spent most of my day listening to the House and determining what bills being discussed were of importance to our office and should be included in a report. Because St. Patricks day was Wednesday, both chambers adjourned early to allow for celebrating that night.

Wednesday was much of the same as Tuesday. The House was in session from 10-4 moving bills from 2nd to 3rd reading or passing them. While I enjoy listening to the debate I have realized how nice it was to have committee hearings throughout the day to break the day up. Wednesday was much of the same, as the House was again in session from 10-4. The Treasurer's office is working with the Attorney General's office on a piece of legislation to regualte debt settlement companies and it has proved to be somewhat controversial. Because we knew it would be more difficult to get the bill passed, our office divided up half the members of the House to lobby (the AG's office had the other half). The 11 or 12 representatives on my list were top priority for Thursday.

Because the House did not begin until 11 on Thursday, I wanted to make the most of the time prior to that to catch reps in their offices. Once they went on the floor I knew it would be a while before they were finished and it is often much harder to talk to reps once they leave the floor because many are often trying to leave for the day. I started early and did my best to find as many representatives as possible. About half of the people on my list were in their offices and I was able to speak with all of them. Most were very receptive to the legislation and a few even signed on as co-sponsors of the bill. One stated she needed more time to research and look into the issue, which is obviously understandable, but I hate not being able to get a good idea of which way they will vote. I worked right up until 11 talking to representatives, but then it was time for session to start and I needed to head back to my office to listen to debate.

The House was scheduled to begin at 9 on Friday so I came in early in an attempt to catch legislators in their offices prior to them going to the floor. I was unsuccessful though, as the ones I needed to speak with were not in their offices. Many of their secretaries stated that they would likely head straight to the floor upon arriving at the Capitol. The House debated until about 1 and the Capitol went from buzzing to quiet in a very short period of time.

Monday the 12th started slowly and remained uneventful until the House came into session at 3. It looked as though session would only last an hour or so because several committees had hearings scheduled at 4, but it wasn't long before my inbox filled with emails informing me that committee times had been pushed back and new hearings had also been scheduled. (There is a service in the capitol that staffers can sign up to receive email notifications when committees are scheduled, times are changed, additional bills are posted to the committee, etc. I did not have this service until a couple of weeks ago and now that I have it, it is extremely convenient.) I headed to a committee hearing at 5 to listen to a Senate bill that had passed out a week or two before. The bill would allow state universities to take out short term loans to fill the budget holes that are being created because the state is failing to make payments. The President of SIU testified asking that this legislation be passed. He listed some of the consequences of not being able to come up with the money to fulfill all of its payments and the situation for his university, like most around the state, sounds very dire. The bill passed out and multiple floor amendments have been added since then, placing restrictions on the borrowing, dictating how quickly the loans must be paid back, etc.


Most of Tuesday morning was spent in a House committee. The hearing lasted right up until 11 when the House began session. We had a number of bills we were monitoring that were sent to the committee. Session then lasted from 11-4 and I listened to the debate all day. Committee hearings began at 4 but our office was not concerned with any of the bills that were being discussed. I left the office at 5, which was probably a first for a day when one of the chambers was in session.


Wednesday was a big day for those in the Capitol and IL state government in general. What most are calling the biggest pension reform bill ever was passed in only a day, much to the surprise of many. However, I like most others, had no idea what was in store for the day so I went about my business as usual. I had meetings with two representatives in the morning to discuss our debt settlement legislation. I'll admit I had been putting off talking to these final two because I knew it was highly unlikely that they would support the legislation. While both were polite when talking to me, I was right in that they could not support it, each citing their own reasons. At least I had expected it and they were the only two that told me they could not vote for the legislation. After I finished my meetings I came back to the office to follow up on a few things before session began at 11. While I was in meetings, Sheleda had gone to the House pension committee to listen to an amendment that had been proposed and had gone straight to committee. It turns out this was the amendment that would spark pension reform for the state. The Senate had passed a bill in March of 2009 dealing with pensions, but the content of the bill did very little. The bill was then sent to the House but remained in the Rules committee until Speaker Madigan chose to use it for a pension overhall. The House amendment to the bill was what contained all of the changes and because it was introduced and sent to committee all within a few hours, no one had much time to even realize what the amendment would do. This caused a lot of problems for lobbyists for labor unions, as they did not have a chance to read the legislation, contact representatives, etc. Normally, there are posting requirments for legislation- a minimum of 24 hours (I believe) between a bill/amendment being introduced and going to committee, etc. All of these requirements were waived however to get the bill passed. As soon as the bill was read in the House, the Republicans immediately went to caucus, as most of the members really had no time to know what the bill did or hold any discussion. After they returned to the floor, the bill eventually passed out fairly easily considering that high profile of the bill. It did not take long to hear that the Senate had scheduled a committee to hear the bill and at 7:30 the bill was brought up on the Senate floor. Some discussion was held but again it passed out fairly quickly. I left the office around 8:30 after what was a long, but very exciting day in the capitol.

Thursday brought about much discussion of the new pension reforms that had swept through the General Assembly the day before. Labor unions were irate that all time requirments were forgotten and they did not have a fair chance to have their say. The media was either praising the legislation and the way its' passage was accomplished, writing that it really didn't make that many changes so there was no need to get so worked up, or criticizing the legislature for going along with the bill and the way it was passed. Regardless of what was all being said about the pension reforms, the House was still back in session early in the morning which meant I needed to listen to the debate. One of the first bills called was our office's debt settlement legislation. It was finally time to see if all of our hard work was going to pay off. Only one representative spoke against the bill and it passed out of the House will widespread support! 106-9-0 was the final vote count. Made for a good day in the office. The bill now goes to the Senate and we know we have a tough road ahead of us there. Then I listened to the House for the rest of the afternoon.

Fridays are usually very slow, but today was an exception as it was the deadline to have bills passed out of the House. If a legislator has worked hard on a piece of legislation that has not yet passed, today is the day they have to make it happen or the bill will be dead. The House debated until after 4, which is extremely late for them to be in on a Friday. Throughout the day it was apparent that members wanted to get moving home, as debates on bills got shorter and shorter and representatives began to leave the chamber. Once the House adjourned I was able to leave thanks to my boss, who declared that because we had worked overtime so much that week that we were able to leave a little early on Friday. A great way to end the week!

More about life at State

A lot has been going on in the past few weeks. After all the snow in DC, we realized that any meetings we had scheduled for the two weeks before were basically not going to happen. Everyone was far too busy attempting to catch up on their own work that they fell behind on due to the snow. Therefore, a planning meeting that we were supposed to have was changed to a conference call. We talked with some authorities in education, and they really want to do a big event about womens education. I see that money has a lot to do with what can and cannot happen, and funding seems to be low everywhere. Thinking of cost-effective ways to have lectures or conferences seems to be a necessary life skill around here.

I managed to get out on a tour of the French Embassy. It was quite underwhelming to say the least, but at least I got to say that I was on French soil. We really didn't see much, there were two interns who gave us a half-hearted tour. Then we were met with an American guy who works in the press office. He was very condesending so no one really liked him. He was giving very basic information about what a press office does, and even said "This may be over some of your heads," even though most of the people in the room were either undergrads in or had graduated from a university. Some actually already held Masters Degrees. We wondered how an American managed to get a job at the French embassy because we thought you had to be a French citizen. He explained that that is not completely correct, and that sometimes foreign governments like to have Americans (who are fluent in that foreign language) work for the press office so that they can review the media with an American perspective. He said that he is paid by the French ministry for foreign and European Affaris so he does not work as a contractor for the U.S. government. They also discussed internship opportunities and expressed interest in recruting some of us. I realize that going to graduate school in D.C. is much better when it comes to getting work experience, but I also realize that CLP is a good program that recognizes we can't get experience in Central IL, and sends us out to see what we are missing. I think that my residency of 7months will be much more beneficial than a few 10 week internships that many Georgetown, American, and GW students take.

I got to see how foreign issues affect travel. A person in my office had a trip cancelled because the airline workers were about to go on strike. I was suprised to see that she was not on another continent this morning (as she should have been) but I heard the story. I was also excited for a Black History month event that was occurring. The CEO of Black Entertainment Television (BET), a channel that I have watched since childhood was coming to visit the department. She was introduced by S, who I was also excited to see again. Debra Lee is the CEO of BET and she talked about black empowerment and entrepreneurship and was very good. I liked that she said that she comes from the segregated south and went on to get a BA from Brown University and a MA and JD from Harvard Kennedy School. She talked of days where you would never see a black face on television and how now it is commonplace. I realize that women like her set the stage for me. She was a child of the civil rights movement and attended an all black high school because the town was segregated. For her to come from that and be what she is today is very inspiring to a young black woman like myself. There are so many racial barriers that still exist in society, and even with a black president racism still exists. But to know the adversity that she faced, and that today its nowhere near as blatant as guns, dogs, and waterhoses, I know that I can be great. She was definitely inspiring and though I do not currently have dreams of being in business, I know that my dreams of working in government can come to fruition with hard work and dedication.

I met a country desk and he was very informative. I liked that when I asked questions about operations, he was very straightforward and not highly diplomatic. A lot of times, when I ask superiors about jobs or department culture they give canned answers, or the sort of thing you would find on the website. He definitely "served it up straight." He told me how many embassies are not always responsive and bureaucracy makes it worse. Many people prefer working abroad because in a small embassy the chain of command is much shorter. Whereas in Washington, you report to so many people that its sort of ridiculous. Then you sometimes will have to report to other departments as well and deal with their bureaucracy. I am definitely learning more about how career life would be if I worked with State which is what I was looking forward to.

Sara Cline- March 26, 2010

ARGGG- this is the second week in a row that my post has deleted just after writing it. I'm less than pleased!

I've spend the majority of my week working on the meeting requests for the Greek visits. Coordinating the schedules of 250 people coming to DC for the visits with the meetings with all the members of Congress is quite a task! I've been staring at the same spreadsheet all week and fear it is going to start haunting my dreams. (It really isn't too bad.. and I'm off to FL tomorrow for the week, so I have a nice break).

On Wednesday I went to meetings with members of Congress with one of Kevin's pro-bono clients, an army lieutenant colonel who just lost his wife to breast cancer. Here is a little bit of background on breast cancer and the BRCA gene (which his wife had) before I go into explaining the meetings:

-A typical woman has a 12.5% chance of developing breast cancer

-A woman with the BRCA gene (dominant genetic variation) has up to an 85% chance of developing breast cancer, and there is a test to determine if you're a carrier of the gene

-If a woman has the BRCA gene she can take preventative measures before developing breast cancer- anything from lifestyle changes up to a preventative double mastectomy. (Which, if you follow celebrity news, is what Christina Applegate did after learning she was a carrier of the BRCA gene). Women who choose this radical surgery early on have greater than a 90% chance of never developing cancer.

In the case of the lieutenant colonel's wife, she developed breast cancer and after sharing the news with her family found out that there was a history of the BRCA gene in her family. Her father's sister had developed breast cancer years before, gotten the test, and found out she had the BRCA mutation. The sister told all of her siblings and urged them to tell their children, and unfortunately this woman's father didn't tell her. After the fact, the woman's oncologist said if he had known her full family history he would have tested for the BRCA gene, and recommended a double mastectomy after finding it.

So, you're probably wondering where this ties into lobbying and my work at Patton Boggs. Australia just amended its medical privacy laws to allow doctors in the public sector to disclose information such as diseases caused by genetic variations to relatives if the patient refuses to do so, so that the relatives can have a test done (if they desire) and take preventative measures if necessary. We met with members of Congress so that the lieutenant colonel could share his story and to gauge their feelings on the Australia law.

Doing something like that in America would be extremely difficult because it would require opening up the HIPAA laws, and people would fear for their privacy. The meetings were a first step to brainstorm with members and discuss possible options to take, so that people can be more informed about their health. In a perfect world, families would pass medical history along, but that doesn't always happen. In the meetings the lieutenant colonel shared that his wife's oncologist now has a breast cancer patient with the BRCA mutation in her mid-40s with daughters in their mid-20s, and the mother won't tell her daughters about their increased risk for cancer. Although he wants to tell them so that they can make informed decisions about their health, he cannot. Although there is no clear solution, this type of meeting was very interesting because it was so different than the typical meetings where constituents are asking their members of money to fund certain projects.

A long-awaited arrival

After ten glorious weeks of interning on the hill, I have finally buckled myself down, signed into the account, and prepared to make my first blog post. Thankfully, I have kept fairly diligent notes of my work, so re-counted the past ten weeks will not be a challenge. So sit back, relax, and away we go!

Week 1: January 11-15

The first day of my internship at the Senate Republican Conference was absolutely thrilling. I was nervous walking into the Hart Office building, conveniently located a short two blocks from my DC row house, and originally went to the wrong room. Apparently, the conference's normal office space is undergoing renovation, so when I arrived at what I thought was my final destination, I found instead a giant cement cell of fallen wires and open sockets. A quick call to my intern coordinator set me straight, and soon I was being introduced to the wonderful people I would spend my next five months with.

The function of the Conference is to serve the Republican Senators. They are our bosses. This means that I will not spend my internship on the phone with angry constituents or glued to a computer batching emails. Those were my main responsibilities at my last hill internship, which I spent over on the House side. While that proved to be an invaluable experience and one I will never forget, I was now looking forward to new and different challenges. I was assured that's exactly what I would get. The other two interns and I were graciously received by all of our bosses, and told to hold on for a wild ride. This was not the type of job you could bring your B Game to. Every day counts, because the work we would perform was valuable to the Conference and was a necessary piece to the very complex puzzle that is the United States Senate.

Weeks Six and Seven at the icd

The last two weeks at the icd have been really busy. Last week we were given a new assignment of developing and writing a business plan for the establishment of a new research department. We have been working to prepare a business plan for this new department and that has taken up a good deal of our time. It is difficult to decide on something so large with a group of around 8 people, as everyone has their own ideas on how the department should progress and how exactly it should be structured.

In addition to this task of developing the research department we have also been assigned with changing our writing focus to one that is more based on opinionated writing, rather than the news related composition that was our focus previously. I’ve really enjoyed the freedom that I get from this, as I basically have the opportunity to write about anything that I feel strongly about. Being one of the members of my team that tends to produce more in terms of writing, this need for more written output also allows me to get out of some of the more mundane tasks around the office.

Besides spending a majority of my time working on written articles I was also responsible for preparing and writing the guidelines, objectives and background information for a new program that is being developed at the icd, to facilitate exchange between Europe and the US. This work wasn’t quite as interesting, as it was far dryer than the other material that I get to work with, however, in terms of importance, this program description carried a far greater weight.

In addition to these tasks I also had to opportunity to have a personal meeting with the Director of the icd to speak about my case study and how it has been progressing. It was nice to get some feedback and ideas from someone who has made a career out of furthering cultural diplomacy, as he provides a much deeper insight into the field. It was also nice to get an opportunity to develop a more personal relationship with the man in charge of the organization.

This week has had a much different focus than the last. We have been hosting the Cultural Diplomacy in Europe forum at the icd, and there have been many relevant and interesting speakers around the office and we have been spending most of our time interviewing these people and attending speeches and writing reports on differing events.

I was pretty lucky with the speakers I had the opportunity to interview. My first interview was meant to be with the Deputy Head of the Turkish Embassy, who I had a great interest in, especially regarding Turkey’s candidature to the EU, however he was not permitted by the Turkish government to give interviews, so that was a little disappointing. However, I felt much better when give the opportunity to speak with the Consul General of Greece, Mr. Efthymios Efthymiades. With so much at stake with Greece’s collapsed economy, including how the exchange rate can alter my own income, and the recent bailout events, which have the potential to fly in the face of the Lisbon Treaty, the Greek Consul General was someone I was very interested in speaking with. I also had the opportunity to interview H.E. Dr. Dietrich von Kyaw, the Former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Federal Republic of Germany to the European Union, who could be much more candid in his remarks as he is currently retired.

The worst part of the week, however, came on Friday when, a half hour before we were meant to go home, we were asked to stay late to finish databasing for another division that wasn’t able to finish a project that had to be completed that day. This kept us at work about 3 hours overtime on a Friday, which was extremely frustrating, especially as databasing is probably the most boring assignment you can have. Well that’s it from Berlin for this week.

Sara Cline- March 19, 2010

Hello everyone,

This week has been mainly administrative, so there is not much to report.

The main focus has been getting meetings set up for the 150+ people coming out for the Greek visits in April. We've sent a meeting request to each office, and let me tell you, putting those together was quite a project. Members got different letters based on who we have coming for the meetings that would be linked to them- Constituents, friends/personal relationship people, and brothers/sisters (if Member is Greek). So there was a standard letter that went to members without any of those qualifications, a Greek letter, a constitutent letter, a friend letter, and Greek + constituent letter, a Greek+ friend letter, a Greek + friend+ constituent letter, and a constituent+ friend letter. Once I got the spreadsheet set with which member had people in which categories, we did a couple of big mail merges, and then poof... over 500 meeting requests went out.

Since then, I have been doing follow up- scheduling the meetings, providing addresses/hometowns of the constituents to the schedulers so they can verify the people coming are really from the district, calling people, filling out additional forms online/faxing them, etc, etc. It isn't the most glamorous, but someone has to do it, and Kevin's assistant who has done it in the past is in China. I actually enjoy making lists, so this isn't too bad, but just gets overwhelming!

Not sure what to expect next week, but it should be interesting!

Senator Frerichs Office- Week Nine

This Monday our Chief of Staff Laurie has traveled down to Springfield to train Senator Frerich's new legislative assistant. Therefore, I once again headed up the office. Although, I spent a relatively small amount of time in the office this morning. Today the University of Illinois held its annual Government and Non-Profit Career Fair at the Illini Union. Since I will hopefully finish with my Master's next May barring any issues I need to have my focus upon finding a job here in the near future.

I spent the morning in the office tweaking my resume and updating pertinent information. However, sadly the turnout at this year's career fair was dismal. On average, the career center states that 50-60 organizations usually attend the event. This year only 19 organizations attended the event which meant that options were extremely limited.

I have my sights set on working for the FBI. I believe I have the experience which is needed to be succesful within the organization. I chose not to apply for entry into a new program last fall in order to complete the CLP program. Needless to say, a former IIW roommate was accepted into the program. Lets just hope I chose the right path.

Tuesday morning, Laurie arrived back in the office. She had car trouble last night on her way back to Champaign for a meeting. She was supposed to be in Springfield to finish training Mike's new legislative aide.

I spent the majority of the morning working on a series of constituent issues and continued to work on emails in the inbox.

Lately, I have been working on a case for a gentleman who is looking to apply for his private security contractor's license. Although, he does not meet all of the requirements. He does have extensive security experience but has not worked 3 of the past 5 years for a licensed security firm in a management position. The Senator is looking to possibly assist this individual by inserting a clause with regard to former security experience. I will continue to follow up with the individual by email.

Too, one of the constituents I have been working with decided to stop by the office today. This individual is one of those constituents who you know you have done all you can and refuses to accept the answer. I spoke with her the other day and asked her to give us time to work on her request (a minor request-in addition to her main request) and she still did not heed the advice. This proved to be a bit irritating; especially since she called before she stopped by and hung up the phone on me.

Tuesday afternoon (Personal Time-Lunch with Fiance's Grandparents)

Wednesday I began work in Springfield. The Senator has placed me in the Senate Communications Office at the moment. This morning I began to make calls to a wide-variety of media organizations across the state in an effort to update each media list of all Democratic Senators.

I followed up this request which took a significant amount of time with making more phone calls in an effort to seek out organizations which would be interested in attending a media event organized by Senator Schoenberg. Senator Schoenberg has a bill that prohibits Illinois insurance companiesfrom having investments in countries that fall under the U.S. Dept ofState's definition of "State Sponsors of Terrorism." He would like tocoordinate a media event in his district with various community groupsthat would have a vested interest in this matter.

Thursday I continued to work on updating media lists for the Senate Democrats. I was also given an assignment to seek out quotes of all Republican Senators which made mention of pension reform.

Friday I returned to the district office and wrapped up the weeks work with a variety of emails constituent work etc.

Treasurer's Office, March 1-12

The last two weeks in the office have been very busy so I am finally getting around to posting what has been going on here for the last couple of weeks. It looks like the entire month of March will be busy. The General Assembly begins spring break at the end of the month and there are several deadlines before then so everyone seems to be working overtime to get as much accomplished as possible.

Monday, March 1st, started the week off on a slower note but it did not last long. I doubled checked all of the committee hearing postings for the coming week to ensure that we were not missing any important bills and generally just prepared for the busy week ahead. Tuesday morning started off slower as well, but both the House and Senate began session at 12 that day and it was busy from then on out. Between session and running to committee hearings all afternoon, it was 6 o'clock before I knew it and I left the office sometime after that.

Wednesday once again proved to be the busiest day of the week in the Capitol. Committee hearings started at 8 and ran all day for both the House and the Senate, except for when the were in session. I came in early in an attempt to catch Senators before the went to committees to speak with them about our bills that were in committees. There were so many of our bills in committee that week in the Senate that it was almost hard to keep track of what bill I was speaking to who about. I fortunately talked to 2 senators before they went into committee and caught one between committee hearings, all who said they would vote positively in committee for the bills. After running around after Senators, (Brittany and I often joke that we stalk legislators because it is almost impossible to catch them in their office on busy days. You really do have to track them down by checking with their secretaries, checking committee hearing times, etc.) I went to the House Judiciary I committee (Civil Law; Judiciary II is criminal law) which lasted almost 2 hours, right up until the time session began. While I often enjoy listening to the committees, those that run for 2 hours can sometimes seem to drag on. I then came back to the office to listen to the House in session and catch up on all of the emails that had accumulated in my inbox while I was out almost all morning. Session started late and ended late, throwing off all of the committee hearing times for the rest of the afternoon. Eventually everthing got back on schedule though. The Senate was a different story however. Committees were up to two hours behind and one of the Treasurer's staff based in Chicago was in town to testify about a bill in committee (one of the several I had been lobbying prior to the hearing). The bill was finally called around 5:45 that evening and fortunately passed out of the committee with no issues.

Thursday mornings are typically very busy and this one was no different. Because legislators often drive home after session on Thursday afternoon, they try to squeeze in as much as possible in the morning. I was in by 8 and went to several committee hearings, followed by listening to the full House for over two hours in the afternoon. Thursday afternoons are often quiet after legislators leave, but the Senate stayed later than usual. Because of this, I ended up in a Senate appropriations hearing for 2 and a half hours. With the financial crisis the state is facing, one proposed budget would cut funding to all state agencies and constitutional officers by 10%. Colleen asked me to go to the committee to listen to who was testifying, what they were saying, etc. However, 8 state agencies were slated to testify before they even got to constitutional officers. In the time I was in committee only 6 agencies testified before the committee recessed for the night. While appropriations hearings are not the most thrilling way to spend a couple hours, it was extremely informative. It is amazing what money is spent on and how much by certain agencies.

I often like Friday mornings because the building is quiet after a busy couple of days and preparing for the next week keeps me occupied for all of the morning and part of the afternoon. Colleen was also nice enough to let Brittany and I leave earlier that day because we had put in extra hours throughout the week. Great way to end the week!


Monday the 8th was a slower beginning to what turned out to be another very busy week. Friday the 12th was the deadline for the House to get bills out of committee so hearings ran long all week as legislators tried to get their bills out. Barring an extension being granted to get a bill out, any bills not making it out of committee by the deadline are dead. This also made committee hearings rushed, in addition to running longer. The GA was not in until Tuesday though, which allowed everyone to get ready for the rest of the week. While the day was slower, I found out that the Senator I lobbied to co-sponsor one of the Treasurer's bills had in fact signed on to the bill. This development wasn't anything of great importance in the grand scheme of things, but it was the highlight of my day to know that I was successful in speaking with the Senator and I had been an asset to the office in a more tangible way.

Tuesday started quickly, as I had a meeting right away in the morning to meet with a representative about Treasurer's bills. Three of our bills were in House committees that week so our team was kept busy trying to track down Reps. The representative I spoke with would hear all 3 of the bills (one in one committee and two in another) so I spent a decent amount of time speaking with him. He promised to vote favorably on two of the bills, but would not guarantee anything about the third (A bill that would regulate Debt Settlement companies in Illinois), saying he wanted to hear both sides testify in committee before making a decision. I was a little surprised to hear this, as he supported the legislation when I originally spoke with him about it. As it turns out though, all of the Republican committee members (including this Rep.) turned out to be in opposition of the bill even though we had spoken with all of them. After leaving his office, I once again began my stalking measures to track down other Reps. that would be hearing our bills. I managed to speak with one of the phone before caucus began at 11 and then Session began again at 12. Tuesday afternoon is always busy with hearings so I went to several. The debt settlement bill is in the Consumer Protection committee that afternoon, but because I had to attend another hearing I was not able to listen to that particular committee. Testimony and questioning of our bill lasted over an hour and a half. I was nervously waiting back in the office to hear what happend. Sheleda was texting me updates and because testimony was taking that long it did not look good. Even though we recieved assurances from almost everyone on the committee that they were supportive of the bill, there were enough no votes to defeat the legislation, much to our disappointment. Our office worked really hard to ensure the bill's passage but it simply wasn't enough.

Wednesday started off early again with committees beginning at 8. I went to committee at 8 and then went to Judiciary I again at 9, which lasted until 11:30 when session began. Again, deadlines to get bills out equaled very long committees all week. The House was in session only briefly because the Governor was set to give his budget address at 12. Brittany and I attended the address along with Paul, the deputy Treasurer (the Treasurer attended as well, but he sat on the floor- our seats were in the gallery). Compared to the State of the State address, the budget address was almost an hour shorter. Gov. Quinn got right to the point and then made a quick exit. The third floor was packed with media trying to get interviews with people coming off the floor, so Brittany and I went back to the deserted second floor to avoid some of the traffic. Because of this, we actually ran into the Governor surrounded by media and state police as he was doing his best to make it back to his office quickly. A small scuffle occured between a reporter and an officer who was trying to push the reporters out of the way. With the address being so short, the House went back into session until committees began at 2 again. The Treasurer testified in front of two House committees that afternoon while he was in town- an appropriations hearing and the State Government committee hearing. The state government hearing heard the other 2 bills our team had been lobbying earlier in the week and thankfully both passed out of committee with no problems. I left the office around 6:30 that night which was actually much earlier than I had expected.

Thursday was busy again (surprise, surprise). I thought I would have to be in early for committee hearings, but everything was pushed back until 9 so it was nice to not be in early. After being in another 2+ hours hearing, the House went into session for over 4 hours. I usually find listening somewhat entertaining (House members seem much more prone to lively debate than the Senate- at least in my experiences so far) but after listening for over 4 hours I was getting a little tired/bored/worn out. There were more committee hearings for both the House and the Senate after session but everything wrapped up pretty early and I left around 6.

Friday are normally quiet- except for days when there is a deadline. Our office spoke with the sponsor of our Debt Settlement legislation and after working out a few concessions on our part we managed to get the bill in front of committee again. The hearing lasted long again, almost an hour, and would have gone longer had the Reps. not had session to get to. The bill passed out of committee, but with the agreement that bill would not move any further until an amendment was drafted and brought back in front of the committee. There is still a long road ahead to get the bill passed. Both the House and the Senate were in session until about 1 that afternoon so listening kept me busy. The rest of the afternoon was very quiet!

Sara Cline- March 13, 2010

Well, I posted yesterday at the end of my day at work, and for some reason there was an error and I lost everything I had written, so this is my second attempt. It's been another busy and exciting week with Patton Boggs. On Tuesday, Jacksonville Transit Authority (JTA) was in town to talk with their Senators and Reps about their appropriations requests. The JTA visits were very much like the SORTA ones, since they were both regarding transportation issues (buses, improving street/intersections, transportation hubs, etc.) JTA was one of the clients where I did a lot of work to help prepare the forms for appropriations requests, so it was nice to go to the meetings and actually talk with the members about the requests.

As many of you probably know, earmarks have been in the news a lot this week. On Wednesday the House enacted a ban on earmarks for for-profit companies, and on Thursday the House Republicans voted to ban all earmarks. Needless to say, the mood of the firm regarding these issues is extremely tense. The ban will likely be temporary, and seems mainly political.. both parties seem to be willing to try to do anything to have an advantage in the upcoming election. The frustration felt by lobbyists is that even if the money isn't spent in earmarks, it will still be spent by the government in another way (which is something a lot of people don't realize). So, this could mean that a lot of the hard work put into appropriation request forms (trust me, it is a lot of work.. many people who I work with have been having haunting nightmares about the intense forms) and visits might have been for nothing. On Fridays there is a weekly public policy department meeting that I unfortunately missed this week due to a conflict, but I am very anxious to hear what people will say about this next week. Expect a full update next week on what is happening and how the lobbyists and clients are handling everything.

Besides the regular appropriations work, I have something very exciting to report. Around the time I started working for PB, a former local and state elected Louisiana official and unsuccessful US Senate candidate began working with the firm on a project to get more Republican women in politics. On Thursday and Friday, I got to go to meetings with Republican women members of Congress to discuss Project Go Pink (you'll see 'GOP' in the title, and pink obviously has a female connotation).

Project Go Pink (PGP) has two arms. The first is the blog/corporation side. This portion of the project will be a website that showcases all of the female Republican women in Congress, talks about the challenges women face in politics, and provides a platform for women to get more involved in politics. The corporation hopes to hold regional conferences where it will educate Republican women who want to go into politics on what to expect (since many things are different for men and women). The project will provide mentors for women, and help them become involved and mobilized (for example: people could register to do phone banking from wherever they are located, and then if a Republican woman member needed a group to help her make calls, this group could be utilized). The other part of PGP (which has to be separate for legal reasons) is the PAC. The PAC would raise money for Republican women candidates. Unlike EMILY's list which donates to Democratic women, the PGP PAC wouldn't have a litmus test. The only two requirements for receiving funding are that the candidate must 1) be a woman and 2) be Republican. The PAC hopes to support women at all levels of government, and is something that is truly missing from the Republican party right now.

The meetings I went to on Thursday and Friday were to ask members to support PGP, so that we can say at the official launch "all female Republicans in Congress support Project Go Pink." Everyone we met with was extremely excited about the idea, and agreed to help in whatever way they could. (Sidenote: google Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN).. we met with her and she is one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen) The official launch is going to be March 24th, and there is a lot to be done before then. I think next week I'll be doing a lot of work to help for that. And always, I am working on getting ready for the Greek student visits which will be happening in mid-April (which I cannot believe is only one month away!)

That's it for now. Hope everyone is having a great time with their residencies as well.

Senator Frerichs Dist Office Week 8

Unfortunately, my post for this week will be relatively short. The office has been rather quiet this week. Our Chief of Staff Laurie has been out of the office the entire week while in Springfield; therefore, I have headed up the Champaign District Office this week. Senator Frerichs finally hired a new legislative assistant for Springfield; however, I will still be headed to Springfield on a bi-weekly basis to work in another area where I can be of assistance.

Next week, I will be in Springfield which will be a nice change of pace considering the work which I have been doing this week. With Laurie out of the office, I worked on a variety of menial tasks in an effort to catch up on all the work which needed to be accomplished. This meant this week I focused on clipping newspaper articles for the Saw You in the News mailings the Senator sends out. Too, I spent quite a bit of time sending out emails in response to a wide-variety of constituent concerns. After weeks of working to limit the amount of emails which were left with no response for an extended period of time, I am happy to say that the inbox is now in single digits.

Further, I have worked to assemble a variety of spreadsheets which will be utilized to mail out form letters which will soon be composed on key issues. Too, I am working on completing a list of all the agencies within Champaign and Vermillion County which are eligible to receive grant funding; this list will be utilized to mail out grant information to all of these agencies.

Thats the gist of the office work this week. I look forward to next week as I will hope it will be quite a busy week in the State Capitol. Or perhaps with the upcoming St. Patrick's Day holiday, it may not be. I remember past memories of working in the Capitol years ago (Sullivan Caucus) and coming into work the next day as many representatives and senators spoke of their previous night's engagements.

Perhaps to, I will begin to expand on the constituent work I do here next week to the best of which I am able to make my posts more lively; a lot of information need remain confidential.

Best

Matthew

Last two weeks at AIA

The past two weeks at AIA have especially busy, so I will also group them together in one post. I have spending a lot of time putting the finishing touches on the EMPTJ course outline, and contacting participating mediation centers to get the necessary registration forms. Now comes the difficult part, the marketing campaign. My boss really wants me to take initiate with this aspect, which is a lot of pressure but allows me to be very creative. I have contacted all of the english newspapers in the EU with an editorial proposal, and I am hoping to be able to write an article about international mediation in general that does not sound too much like a mere EMPTJ advertisement. I will try to explain its relevance to international cooperation in general, and especially for the internal market of the EU, which has grown increasingly complicated and ridden with disputes since the financial crisis. I will also use social media, e.g. facebook and ADR blogs to spread word. I am very happy that we already have 3 potential students who would like to register. I am confident we will reach 30 before August, which is the maximum.

The UNCITRAL conference that will take place in June has also needed a lot of attention. Aside from booking a location, creating registration forms and brochures, I have also been researching recent developments in UNCITRAL because I will be writing the introduction to the conference and the publication, as well as providing relevant annexes. Mr. Billiet had be sign us up to use the UNCITRAL library for a day at the end of March, which means we will be flying to Vienna for the one day to spend hours upon hours in a library. I will learn a lot I'm sure, but I would really like it if we could see the city as well!

After learning that the UN recently introduced a mediation office into their human resources department, I was able to get an interview with their chief mediator later this month. I put together a long list of questions, which is more of an outline for a broader discussion and sent it to his office. I am hoping to reveal the importance of a mediator to the ability of an internationa organization to meet its goals, which in the UN is especially important. I think that without a strong internal mediation service, the global community will essentially suffer because the UN will less functional. Thus, the mediator serves as a bridge between the UN's missions, and the civil society. Anyways, that is what I expect to write about after the interview.

Monday I will go to a conference in Brussels on the Belgian Economic Mission to India as a representative of AIA. Our organization is looking into possibly expanding into India, because it international arbitration has recently begun to grow in popularity in the region as its expands economically. The conference is only half a day, so I will mainly be trying to network and spread word of AIA's latest projects. I'm looking forward to learning more about the commercial connection between the two countries, and will likely write an article about it for next month's newsletter.

Weeks Four and Five at the icd

I grouped these two weeks together because we were largely working on the same thing throughout this time. This work was centered around the academic report on the Berlin International Economic Conference. The reason this took so long is that after we had initially completed the report, our supervisor decided that he wanted it redone in a completely different way, which required completely different analysis and research. This was enormously frustrating, but also seemed like a good glimpse into what actual working life could be like in the future. We have learned, however, that the format of report that we turned in at the end of the week was accepted and will be published on the website in the future, so that is encouraging and pretty cool.

Outside of the work on the report I also had the chance to go to the Berliner Festspiele and German Foreign Office (basically the German State Department). The Berliner Festspiele is one of the icd’s partners and a promoter of cultural exchange within Berlin. They gave us an overview of their activities and a rundown of what they have planned for the future. It wasn’t terribly interesting, but it was good to get a glimpse at another culturally-based organization in the area, as the role of culture in society is an ambiguous one and one that, when addressed differently, can take on an entirely new meaning. The German Foreign Office was more interesting as they outlined how the ministry uses their funding and what effects they intended their funding to have on foreign policy. We also were informed on the areas in which the office puts their main focuses. One of the reasons this was particularly interesting was that the man giving us the presentation was actually at one time an intern at the icd.

Another interesting task that I had this week was reporting on a speaker at the Cultural Bridges in Germany conference held by the icd. This is something that we do quite often; however, this particular speech was in German, so my language skills were really tested for the first time. I was able to understand a large portion of the speech, but found myself scribbling down words to look up later as well. This article also allowed me to do some research on the unification of Germany and the social effects that linger in the country. As part of this I also interviewed around 10 participants at the conference to incorporate their perspectives into the article. We were going to use these interviews as testimonial interviews for the conference, however when we got into the office this week we found out that the microphone we were using ran out of batteries and that the interviews weren’t recorded. Luckily I did the interviews with my boss, so I can’t really get in trouble. That’s all for now.

Senator Frerichs Dist Office-Week Seven

This week in the office was quite an experience. On Monday morning, the Senator called the office to speak with his Chief of Staff to ask if she was available to come down to Springfield for session. Of course she called her contacts and made arrangements to be in Springfield Tuesday through Thursday.

Monday was a busy day to say the least. This morning Laurie gave me a series of messages which were on the voicemail of which I needed to follow up on. In the effort to contact all of these people and address their drastically different requests I had spent the majority of the morning/afternoon on the telephone.

I have learned to enjoy this position in the office. I enjoy having a decent amount of contact with constituents and making contacts for them in different state departments to address their requests. Although, sometimes the constituents do not like the answer which I must report back to them and of course that is a different situation.

Since Laurie was out of the office the majority of the week, I was determined to make sure the office was in proper order upon her return. With interns in the office, I took it upon myself to assign tasks to these individuals in an effort to accomplish the goal. In the time Laurie was out of the office the filing which was needed was finished, the newspapers on the back counter for Saw You in the News mailings was cleared, etc.

The main accomplishment of the week, I must say was clearing out the email box. Some of the emails in the inbox dated back to prior to Christmas. The email in the inbox numbered around 160 emails when she left-upon her return only 40 remained. 40 is a pretty manageable number of emails; especially since many relate to potential legislation which we cannot archive until the end of session.

Friday I was under the weather and spent the day resting in bed. I hope to hear great things from Laurie when I return to the office on Monday as I strived to keep the office in great order while she was away.

Sara Cline- March 4, 2010

Hello everyone! I'm taking the day off tomorrow to do a Pentagon and Capitol tour, so my post is coming a day early.

This has been a very exciting week. I have been on the Hill with clients three times. On Tuesday I was out with the Pikes (fraternity), who were lobbying on behalf of the Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act (which I've talked about a ton). Since I've posted on this topic/lobbying with the Greeks before, I'm not going to go into much detail. The best part was that one of the men on my team (the team was four members of the international executive board and me) was a former Congressman from Indiana (Ed Pease). During the down time between meetings, he told us the ins-and-outs of what it was like as a Congressman. I have been in meetings with Members before, but this experience was truly unique. Since he is a former member, he was able to chat very candidly about anything and everything we were interested in hearing about with regards to Congress.

On Wednesday I was out with Ohio University. We met with their two Senators (Brown and Voinovich) as well as a number of their Representatives. I have so many comments about the experience:
(1) They were asking for money for about ten projects- I don't think I should go into the details of the project, however. While they will not all be funded, they'll get some money. I did some quick research to see what U of I is doing in the way of lobbying, and it seems like not much. Unless they have spent so little on an outside lobbyist that it hasn't had to be reported, they don't have one. In my opinion, having a lobbyist to help a school get money for projects it would otherwise not be able to fund is critical, and something U of I should look into. Unlike other meetings I have gone to, in every single office the Senator or Representative made time to personally meet with us because we were with the President of the University. I talked with my boss about it after, and he said that Members are very interested in talking personally to University Presidents and want to hear about the state of the campus, and help with regards to appropriations as much as they can.
(2) When we went to Senator Voinovich's office, one of his staff members took us to his "hideaway" office to speak with him personally. Voinovich's hideaway office is located directly below the Senate chamber in the Capitol (whereas his office is in one of the Senate office buildings, across the street from the Capitol). It was perhaps 1.5x the size of my bedroom at school and only had room for a small desk, tv, couch and a few chairs. The Senator didn't even have a computer in there! I thought it was the coolest thing ever... It took us about 20 minutes to wind around the tunnels below the Capitol to get to his office, I definitely felt like I was in Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol". Once in the office, the Senator devoted over 30 minutes of his time to talking with OU's leadership about the OU campus and the projects it requested. He was extremely prepared for the meeting, and was familiar with all of the requests beforehand. In the middle of the meeting, he looked up at the TV (which was showing a vote going on in the Senate) and said hold on a minute, I have to go vote. He left the office, and about 2 minutes later we saw him appear on TV to vote, and then he came back down to continue the meeting. That meeting, was one of the best and most interesting meetings I have been in so far.

Today (Thursday), Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA) was here to talk to their Sens/Reps about their requests. Unlike OU's projects, SORTA's were very straighforward ($ for hybrid buses, transportation centers, etc). Through the visits, I continued to learn about Appropriations requests, especially for T/HUD (Transportation, Housing and Urban Development).

I'm set to go to the Hill next week as well, so stay tuned for an update on how that goes.

Treasurer's Office- February 22-26

This week in the Treasurer's office was pretty run of the mill when comparing it to the experiences I have had so far. Both Monday and Friday were fairly slow (as days when the legislators are not here tend to be), but I managed to keep myself busy- Monday, double checking everything to make sure I am prepared for the week ahead and Friday doing everything to get ready for the next week. On Fridays our office goes through all of the committee hearings posted for the following week and determines what hearings we need to attend and what bills need to be watched. Mondays usually involve double checking what we did the previous Friday.

Tuesday was much busier as usual because the legislators were back in town. The House did not do much while in Session, but had multiple committee hearings after. I went to the House Agriculture and Conservation hearing hoping to hear a number of bills called. I was not disappointed, as a bill that our office is not directly concerned with but wanted to monitor because of controversy was called. The bill calls to reinstate the humane slaughtering of horses in Illinois. A bill that was passed in 2007 made this illegal. However, a lack of this option in Illinois has forced horse owners with horses that are "unwanted" (They are often old and are no longer able to serve any purpose, like riding) to now send horses to Mexico for this option instead. As the sponsor of the bill pointed out, putting a horse in a trailer for 40+ hours to make the trip to Mexico to face unknown conditions in a slaughterhouse is hardly more humane than having such a procedure done in Illinois. Unwillingly, I feel as though I became somewhat of an expert in the horse slaughtering business after listening to the long discussion. It wasn't an easy topic to listen to and it was almost a little hard to believe that such a topic was being discussed, but in the end I understood why the representative had proposed the bill. As did the other members as the bills passed unanimously out of committee.

Wednesday was another busy day (which I prefer any day over a slow one). Several committee hearings in the morning, followed by listening to the House in session at 12. After the House adjourned, Sheleda, Brittany and myself headed to the Stratton building (where almost all of the Representatives have offices) to speak with legislators about a bill that is an initiative of our office and was in committee the next week. Unfortunately with the craziness that afternoons often bring with multiple committee hearings, it was hard to track down many of the legislators. However, I left my card with secretaries or made appointments to speak with legislators before the hearing. I had to run to committee at 4 as well so I was not surprised at my lack of success tracking down legislators.

On Thursday I had to be in the office at 8 (normal start time is 9) for a committee hearing. The hearing actually started relatively on time, but none of the bills I was there to monitor would be called. Oh well. However, one of the representatives I failed to track down yesterday was in the committee, so after returning to my office I called his secretary to make sure he was available. I quickly ran to the Stratton to catch him before he went off to another committee and was lucky enough to speak with him. He is actually the representative of my home district so it was nice to make that connection. He also agreed to support the bill which makes my job that much easier! After I finished speaking with him, I ran to various other committees until the House began session at 11. A lot of bills were called while in session but none were of importance to our office or anything controversial so there was nothing really to report. One thing I did enjoy hearing however was a Representative speak to the House about how early they were adjouring (1:30- normal for a Thurday) so that the legislators could go home for the weekend. She cited the horrible fiscal crisis the state is in as one of many reasons the legislature should not be adjourning so early. While I doubt this will make any difference in the minds of most legislators, it was nice to hear the frustration of so many citizens vocalized on the floor.