Podcasts about government relations manager

In this episode, we are thrilled to be chatting with Yarik Turianskyi.Originally from Kyiv, Ukraine, Yarik has a background in policy, communications and international relations and is what we call an ‘Arrow,' someone who is originally from interstate or overseas and has moved to Adelaide, South Australia. Yarik moved to Adelaide at the start of 2022 to take a Senior Policy Officer role at the Department for Energy and Mining before moving to the South Australian Business Chamber in a Senior Policy role and has not looked back. Currently working as the Corporate Communications & Government Relations Manager for Mitsubishi Motors Australia, Yarik brings his wealth of international experience with him to drive strategic engagement with key stakeholders, enhance Mitsubishi's public relations efforts, and strengthen its relationships with government bodies in Australia.We chat to Yarik about what brought him to Adelaide, his first impressions of the city, and what he enjoys most about living and working in South Australia.This podcast was recorded on the traditional lands of the Kaurna people and we pay our respects to elders past, present and emerging.

Send us a textIn this episode, guest hosts Sharon Gilmartin, Safe States Executive Director, and Paul Bonta, Director of Government Relations, discuss Advocacy Day, which took place on March 20, 2025. Paul shares why it is so important for Safe States members and partners to participate in Advocacy Day, especially this year.Christa Thelen, Safe States Program Manager, interviews participants at Advocacy Day in Washington DC on March 20th to have them share their experience about the day.Brandon Neath, Safe States, Government Relations Manager, shares policy-related resources at the end of the episode for listeners to check out on the Safe States website (www.safestates.org). These include: the Injury and Violence Prevention Network and the Policy Fellows Program.

Key Points: Megan Bradshaw shares her personal recovery journey and how it led her to pursue a master's in public health at UNC Chapel Hill. She discusses her new role as Government Relations Manager for the Center for Lyme Action, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit dedicated to increasing federal funding for tick-borne disease research and policy. The Center for Lyme Action organizes "fly-in" events, where patients and advocates virtually meet with members of Congress to share their stories and push for increased Lyme disease funding. Megan highlights the power of grassroots advocacy, explaining how patient voices influence legislative change despite bureaucratic hurdles. She explores opportunities within the current administration's focus on chronic illnesses and the potential role of federal agencies in tackling Lyme disease. Megan encourages patients and caregivers to participate in the upcoming virtual "fly-in" event, offering training and support to help them make a difference. Advocacy is not just about policy—it can be an empowering part of the healing journey, providing patients with purpose, connection, and a platform for change. Resources & Links:

Jonathan Miller interviews Craig Katz, Government Relations Manager of CBD Kratom, about policy challenges and opportunities facing the hemp industry in Illinois and Missouri. If you have questions about the episode or ideas for Hemp related topics, email us at hemplegallyspeaking@fbtlaw.com. Hemp Industry questions covered in the episode: What is CBD Kratom's role in the US hemp industry?Given the opposition of Governor JB Pritzker, what's the status of legislative policy in Illinois?With the support Mayor Brandon Johnson, how are regulatory efforts proceeding in Chicago?How is the hemp industry navigating legislative battles with Big Marijuana and divisions among themselves in Missouri?Having served in the legislative trenches where the sausage is made, what are your general feelings about the future of US hemp policy?

(Note: This video does not replace proper medical treatment. If you need medical advice, please seek a Lyme literate medical professional.) In this powerful episode of Love, Hope, Lyme, we dive into the world of Lyme disease advocacy with Meghan Bradshaw and Johanne Schwartz from the Center for Lyme Action.

Our year-in-review crew is back to reflect on 2024 and look ahead to 2025. Special guests include: Kara Pennoyer, Chief of Staff to Public Service Commission of Wisconsin Chairperson Summer Strand; Matthew Spencer, Director of Government Relations, Madison Gas and Electric; Luke Fuller, Government Relations Manager, Dairyland Power Cooperative; Jessica Niekrasz, Vice President of Operations, BIOFerm.

Tina was 33 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She discovered a bumpnear her clavicle and went to her OGBYN who promptly sent her for a mammogram.Tina is among a growing number of young women being diagnosed with breast cancer. Tina's treatment started with six rounds of chemotherapy, followed by a double mastectomy earlier this summer. She is currently doing some rounds of low dosage chemotherapy throughout the rest of this year and recently started radiation treatment as well. Tina works as a Government Relations Manager and works in public policy forDoorDash. Tina loves to travel and goes to Ireland several times a year. Tina and herfiancé Erik also spend a lot of time on outdoor adventures with their dog, Buddy. Dr. Mayer received her medical degree from Harvard Medical School, completed aresidency in Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and a fellowship inHematology/Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She obtained a Master's inPublic Health from the Harvard School of Public Health. She was awarded the 2023Canellos Award for Excellence in Clinical Investigation and Patient Care, the 2024Dana-Farber Clinical Innovation Award, and is a Boston Magazine “Top Doctor.”

Patti Komline, Government Relations Manager with Downs Rachlin Martin, joins Kurt & Anthony for their weekly Legslative Update.

Patti Komline, Government Relations Manager, with Downs Rachlin Martin, joins Kurt & Anthony for their weekly Legislative Update. Patti talks about a proposed school funding change currently in the Ways & Means Committee.

Patti Komline, Government Relations Manager with Downs Rachlin Martin, joins Kurt & Kelly for their weekly Legislative update.

Patti Komline, Government Relations Manager for Downs Rachlin Martin, joins Kurt & Anthony for their weekly legislative update.

Learn more about what goes on in the halls of Congress as Hal sits down with BHA Government Relations Manager Kaden McArthur to discuss the 2023 wins BHA played a role in achieving for the conservation of our public lands and waters. 

Patti Komline, Government Relations Manager, for Downs, Rachlin, Martin, joins Kurt & Anthony to give they're weekly legislative update. https://www.drm.com

Scott Dorenkamp, Livestock Program & Government Relations Manager for the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) and Heidi talk Rodeo. Everything from how rodeo began, self-imposed regulations, animal care, and the way of life for the people and animals. There are attempts across the country to ban rodeos, yet many have not even attended an event. […] The post Animal Tales EPISODE 28: R.O.D.E.O! appeared first on Radio Influence.

Scott Dorenkamp, Livestock Program & Government Relations Manager for the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) and Heidi talk Rodeo. Everything from how rodeo began, self-imposed regulations, animal care, and the way of life for the people and animals. There are attempts across the country to ban rodeos, yet many have not even attended an event. […] The post Animal Tales EPISODE 28: R.O.D.E.O! appeared first on Radio Influence.

Jakub Zientala is co-founder and Government Relations Manager of the European Kratom Alliance. He has appeared on KSP episodes #82 and #96. In this episode we have an update about regulation of kratom as a “psychomodular” substance in Czech Republic. We also talk about the legal status of kratom in the Netherlands and other European … 111. Jakub Zientala of European Kratom Alliance Returns Read More » The post 111. Jakub Zientala of European Kratom Alliance Returns first appeared on Kratom Science.

On this week-in-review, Crystal is joined by Founder and Editor of The Needling, Lex Vaughn!  They discuss a Hitler apologist on The Seattle Times Editorial Board, problematic items on display in a Seattle Police Department break room, complaints filed against Bob Ferguson's opaque transfer of campaign funds, and WA Republicans wanting to make the long-term care tax optional. The conversation continues with Kshama Sawant's push for a rent control trigger law, dueling tenant-protection laws on the Tacoma ballot, and former US Attorney Nick Brown's entrance into the Attorney General race. UPDATE: After the show was recorded, The Seattle Times fired David Josef Volodzko. As always, a full text transcript of the show is available below and at officialhacksandwonks.com. Find the host, Crystal Fincher, on Twitter at @finchfrii and find today's co-host, Lex Vaughn at @AlexaVaughn.   Resources “Business Perspectives with GSBA's Gabriel Neuman” from Hacks & Wonks   @finchfrii on Twitter: “Wonder why the Seattle Times endorsements are the way they are?   Here's a member of their editorial board:”   @finchfrii on Twitter: “Do you stand by this,  @SeattleTimes ?  Are you keeping a Hitler apologist and genocide minimizer on your editorial board?”   “New Seattle Times Columnist Believes Hitler Wasn't as Bad as You Think” by Charles Mudede from The Stranger   “Deep! Hole Seattle Times Editorial Board Writer Digs After Nazi-Apologist Comment Officially Reaches Hitler's Bunker” from The Needling   “Seattle police kept mock tombstone for Black man, Trump flag in break room, video shows” by Mike Carter from The Seattle Times   “Complaint pushes for Ferguson to reveal donors of $1.2M in campaign transfers” by Jerry Cornfield from Washington State Standard   “WA Republicans propose making new long-term care tax optional” by Claire Withycombe from The Seattle Times   “Seattle Democrats Snub Sawant After Request to Endorse Rent Control Trigger Law” by Hannah Krieg from The Stranger   “Tacoma voters to decide on dueling tenant-protection measures this fall” by Heidi Groover from The Seattle Times   “Former U.S. Attorney Nick Brown launches 2024 campaign for Attorney General” by Andrew Villeneuve from The Cascadia Advocate   “Former U.S. attorney Nick Brown announces bid for Washington AG” by Joseph O'Sullivan from Crosscut   Find stories that Crystal is reading here   Transcript [00:00:00] Crystal Fincher: Welcome to Hacks & Wonks. I'm Crystal Fincher, and I'm a political consultant and your host. On this show, we talk with policy wonks and political hacks to gather insight into local politics and policy in Washington state through the lens of those doing the work with behind-the-scenes perspectives on what's happening, why it's happening, and what you can do about it. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get the full versions of our Tuesday topical show and the Friday week-in-review delivered to your podcast feed. If you like us, the most helpful thing you can do is leave a review wherever you listen to Hacks & Wonks. Full transcripts and resources referenced in the show are always available at officialhacksandwonks.com and in our episode notes. If you missed our Tuesday topical show, I had a conversation with Gabriel Neuman, Policy Counsel and Government Relations Manager for GSBA, about the organization's work as Washington's LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce. Today, we are continuing our Friday week-in-review shows where we review the news of the week with a co-host. Welcome to the program for the first time, today's co-host: Founder and Editor of The Needling, Lex Vaughn. [00:01:22] Lex Vaughn: Yay, I'm so glad to be here. [00:01:24] Crystal Fincher: We are very big fans of The Needling over here, so really, really excited to have you on. And we have no shortage of topics to talk about this week. We will start with an odd development that was not on my bingo card, but we have evidently a newer Seattle Times Editorial Board member who is a Hitler apologist, genocide minimizer? [00:01:53] Lex Vaughn: They hire him to make the rest of them seem less conservative - that's the only thing I can think of. And I can't believe that his comments have been online for almost a week now or so, and he hasn't just been fired - 'cause he's not apologizing and the way he tried to clean it up was so much worse. He had a follow-up tweet saying - I guess I should have said Pol Pot or Leopold II. [00:02:19] Crystal Fincher: What did he actually say? What happened here? [00:02:23] Lex Vaughn: I feel like it's important to look at the exact quote - which I should bring up. So first of all, he's taking on this tacky - or hacky - article about the statue of Lenin in the center of Fremont. And everybody has a moment when they move here when they're - Is that Lenin? I thought it was a fisherman at first, I'm - It couldn't possibly be Lenin. And there's always a moment when you're new here, you're - Explain. But I think people who've lived here for a long time are - I'm tired of explaining, figure it out - Google exists, dude. So first of all, just funny that he's even taking this really tired argument. And then the way he tackles it - to make it original - is to say, somehow, Hitler was better? [00:03:13] Crystal Fincher: He's not a fan of Lenin, as many people aren't - I don't think that's a controversial opinion at all. However, he decided to make his point by comparing him to Hitler. His argument was - at least Hitler wasn't that bad. Then went into all of the ways that, in his opinion, Hitler wasn't bad. And like you, I feel like I need to pull up the exact words - because if I paraphrase, you're gonna think I'm exaggerating and it's that bad. [00:03:41] Lex Vaughn: I have it in front of me. Okay, I guess what his intent was was to just illustrate how bad Lenin was, but no one usually tries to prop up Hitler in doing that. The exact quote from one of his tweets is, "Hitler only targeted people he personally believed were harmful to society whereas Lenin targeted even those he himself did not believe were harmful in any way." [00:04:08] Crystal Fincher: Which is wild. So this is unfolding on Twitter - he shared his article, he's sharing this perspective on Twitter. And obviously Seattleites' jaws are dropping in unison and many replies back to him. But one of the replies was, "The big problem with genocide is whether or not you sincerely believe the people you're genociding are harmful to society." To which Josef Volodzko - is the reporter's name - replies, "I'm not talking about genocide." To which that man replies, "Is genocide not a key part of Hitler's 'targeting people,' bud?" [00:04:44] Lex Vaughn: Oh my God. [00:04:45] Crystal Fincher: To which he replies, "Yes, but I wasn't talking about genocide. Did you bother to read what I wrote?" [00:04:52] Lex Vaughn: It's just amazing that the statement itself is so bad on its own. And then when you look at all of his replies, you're just - How does he think he's making this better? He's making it worse? [00:05:04] Crystal Fincher: Just FYI to everyone everywhere - anytime you're talking about Hitler, you're talking about genocide - there's so many problems with this. But predictably, he has shared other very questionable opinions on his timeline. As a Black woman, I have frequently seen people minimize the American slave trade. A popular talking point on the West was - but other people did it worse. And so he has a tweet talking about - Well, the Arab slave trade was much longer and basically worse than the American one. And I have never seen people who have those two opinions and will share them with no nuance. If you're in an academic setting and you're studying it, obviously you're gonna talk about historical genocides and all of that - you can have those conversations in context. But here - the context you've heard, and there isn't much of it, and it's very, very troubling. And usually people with those two opinions, who especially are not afraid to share them publicly, have a whole lot of other troubling opinions there. The bigger issue here to me, aside from the fact that it's wild that The Seattle Times is evidently fine with this perspective, is the fact that it's a relatively new journalist hired by The Seattle Times - moved here from, I believe, it was rural Georgia - hasn't been here for long, but somehow still made it onto the Editorial Board, which is just a very questionable practice by The Seattle Times in the first place. Do you want someone to be familiar with the area, with the people? - because this article is just so off. The reason why that Lenin statue hasn't been removed - and there have been efforts to remove it - is because it's on private property. Unlike a lot of other statue, monuments that have been removed elsewhere - those were on public property, so it does become a public concern to remove them. That's why the conversation has not been a conversation. Seems like he's trying to characterize the left as somehow loving Lenin in Seattle - that is not a thing - not a thing! [00:07:03] Lex Vaughn: And there's just no better way to, I think, make yourself seem like a dumb transplant - 'cause it's a whole culture around that statue of - it's seen as this thing that just got shipwrecked in a part of the city. Nobody wanted it. Nobody asked for it. Just this weird, giant, heavy thing on private property that people have just decided to cope with the best way they can. As a former reporter at The Seattle Times, I know there's gotta be reporters who are very pissed off right now - I know that the Editorial Board did things that we even petitioned against when I was there. And it's so frustrating when the Editorial Board is destroying, or getting in the way of, the better work that the real journalists are trying to do at the newspaper. I've always found it ridiculous that so much money is even dedicated to that stupid Editorial Board - when you could be funding better reporting that actually makes your publication stand out and be valued here. That publication is surviving despite the Editorial Board, not because of it, and instances like this just make it - wow. [00:08:14] Crystal Fincher: It is wild, it's a problem. And the premise of it doesn't make sense, and there's arrogance about it too - it's just so weird. And no one has to mount a defense of Lenin at all, period. We certainly don't need to mount a defense of Hitler to underscore that Lenin was harmful. So - What you doing, Seattle Times? [00:08:37] Lex Vaughn: It's not even about, necessarily, a political disagreement. The logic of this guy is completely off. There's a line in the column about Lenin where he literally says - Do you think that statue would still be there if he owned even one Black slave? - you just moved to a state named after George Washington, who died with 317 slaves. [00:08:59] Crystal Fincher: It makes no sense - completely out of touch, does not reflect the population here. Somehow they thought he would not only make a good reporter, but a good member of the Editorial Board. And we just talked about, on a recent Hacks & Wonks, how problematic - aspects to a number of the political endorsements made by The Seattle Times Editorial Board and the logic used. And wow, this helps to explain why it really, really damages the credibility - there is no apologizing for Hitler - that is never necessary, it is never appropriate, and he just found a way to double and triple down. The Seattle Times has been silent about it. Plenty of people have been contacting them, calling them. [00:09:43] Lex Vaughn: Honestly, it's nothing, I think, that Editorial Board isn't used to. It's just they have this narcissistic idea that they're doing something brave. And they're actually just doing something very stupid by having people like him publish on their behalf. [00:10:00] Crystal Fincher: This is certainly a reputational hit. I think lots of people don't see this as merely a difference of opinion, but a minimizing of genocide and some deep-seated need to find redeeming characteristics for Hitler. Someone was talking about - What about this about Lenin? And he's - Well, you know, Hitler fed hungry children and had a program for that - as a comeback. [00:10:25] Lex Vaughn: At this point in time where, unfortunately, Nazi sentiment and racist sentiment is becoming sadly more overt and shameless - unfortunately, there are some conservative readers of The Seattle Times and that Editorial Board that think parallel to what this guy is saying in his tweets. [00:10:46] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely, so we will keep an eye on that. Also this week, The Seattle Times reporting side broke news that a tombstone for a man killed by SPD and a Trump flag was on display in an SPD break room. This was caught by officer-worn body camera footage and seen. And it just seems like an absolute mockery of the City and its residents, the reform process that has supposedly been underway - just terribly disrespectful and problematic. How did you see this? [00:11:26] Lex Vaughn: I'm sure a lot of us weren't shocked that's the kind of interior decoration a precinct had, especially because we had six officers who were there at January 6th. A lot of us are already very aware and not shocked that there's some shameless white supremacy and racism within the ranks of the police department. And I think I'm almost frustrated - people acting surprised. Why isn't it being taken more seriously that there needs to be as little tolerance for - the tombstone, itself, is such a especially grim, violent thing - being proud of killing someone that lived here, that's really sick. [00:12:08] Crystal Fincher: And keeping, in essence, a trophy - which unfortunately, is not unusual. We've seen this at other departments across the country. It's very troubling, it's very violent. It's not a healthy culture at all. And just in a larger conversation - one, it was pointed out by many people, you keep talking about the financial stuff, and wow - there's been lots of money thrown at recruitment efforts and salary efforts. And they're very well compensated - just another report came out recently about how many officers are clearing $200k/year. But this is why people are not joining the office - most people don't agree with this - this is disgusting. This is not within the realm of what the public wants from policing. And who wants to join this? This is toxic. This is the kind of culture - if you're celebrating your killing of someone, if you're maintaining a trophy and basically mocking it, that's not the protect and serve impression that people who want to help their community are going after. And so there has to be an addressing of culture here. We can't continue to ignore it. The other thing that is so striking to me - and continues to be - is that it's like we forget what the structure of the City is. This is a department that Bruce Harrell is in charge of. He is the executive who is in charge of this department - the buck stops with him. There's a chief that answers to Bruce Harrell. The chief gave some nonsensical justification here, but Bruce Harrell doesn't appear to have even been asked about this, particularly with his pronouncements on the campaign trail before he took office and early in his term that he was gonna ensure that the culture was appropriate. And at times he made some weird statements in - making them watch a video and sign a statement saying that they agree to something else. Is this the culture of policing that Bruce Harrell is comfortable with? His silence would indicate that, but it would be nice if a member of our press would ask that question. [00:14:20] Lex Vaughn: Mayor Harrell is so good at talking the talk and not walking the walk. We all know he's not gonna really do anything about it, but he's not even talking about it. In too many US cities, including Seattle - no one's gonna say it, but I think a lot of these political leaders are just - Yeah, cops are now a bunch of racists. Well, what are you gonna do about it? That's been something people are asking for. What they're not saying is they don't have the balls to really punish these people, or they don't wanna go through the process of punishing these people - which if we look at the City of Kent, they did fire a guy, right? [00:14:56] Crystal Fincher: We had a literal Nazi cop assistant chief - and I say literal because it came with a Hitler mustache, and SS insignias on his office door in the department, and anti-Semitic jokes, really bad stuff. Initially, the mayor decided to suspend him for two weeks - that became public knowledge and then they asked him to leave - these contracts make it challenging to fire officers. They ended up paying him - I think it was half a million dollars - to retire. And it's a mess. [00:15:31] Lex Vaughn: Even in that case, it's like that's the most accountability we could exercise on people - this is just a really large payout to get them to leave - wow, that's not an incentive. Aren't we supposed to create a lack of incentive for this? So that guy lost his job, but he got a nice severance package. And it's just too much of a pain to deal with the guild or the union behind him to just straight up fire him? [00:15:55] Crystal Fincher: Like with many union positions, there are rules and regulations, there are protections and policies. And with police, there are so many establishing precedents for keeping people in problematic situations that it's now hard to fire someone for things that are justified. The officer who was reinstated for, I believe, punching a woman in the face and breaking her jaw in SPD - who was actually fired by Chief Diaz, but reinstated after arbitration. So these contracts and what is set up by them, and the precedent of letting things slide, only make things worse moving forward. But also, we have a lot of leaders who are afraid of - one, legislation, any legislation at all - and sometimes you do need to push the envelope 'cause sometimes those firings are still sustained. And you should try to sustain them because that's the right thing to do. But they're a very powerful political lobby and they use tactics on the ground to reinforce their political point - we just saw in the Chicago municipal election that the police basically threatened to walk off the job if the candidate that they didn't like was elected. Now the city was - No, we want that candidate and elected him. Of course that was an empty threat, right? And they've tried that before in New York when they did stop policing - crime actually went down, calls actually went down - that's an interesting thing to talk about at length. But yeah, there are a lot of leaders who are afraid of taking them on. And even not taking them on, but just standing for some common sense reform. Even if you weren't saying - We don't want any cops. Just - Hey, we want some standards for ethics and behavior that we wanna stick by - that has not been received well. And they have gone after people, with their sizable war chests, who have tried to live up to their campaign promises to work on fixing the culture. And to have any hope of doing that - for those who think that's a viable option - if this is posted in the precinct, what message do you think that is sending to people who may not be comfortable with keeping trophies for people who are killed? [00:18:11] Lex Vaughn: Even if you are a good cop in that office, you know what you're up against. And it's a popular phrase that all cops are horrible. But even when there are cops that do have integrity, that job is so much harder for them to do with integrity when they have to work with people like that. I'm very frustrated that there really isn't any true accountability for our police departments. And I think a lot of people underplay just how much sociopathy we're enabling with our own taxpayer money. [00:18:43] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. And how much we expect from everyone else - we expect minimum wage service workers to do a better job of deescalation than our highly paid police force - and that is backwards. We hold low wage workers to higher standards of behavior and accountability, and it just doesn't make sense. And we need to do better. I hope people ask Bruce Harrell what his plan is to deal with this and make it better. This is his responsibility. Ultimately, the buck stops with him. Also wanna talk this week about a development in an ongoing story about our gubernatorial race that is shaping up - lots of people in there. This story concerns Bob Ferguson and donations that he received. So background, Bob Ferguson is our attorney general - is running for governor now. And had a bunch of donations over years - a couple million dollars in donations - to his attorney general race and campaign fund. Our campaign finance laws say that you are allowed to transfer money from one campaign to another if you get the permission of the donor. So lots of paperwork going on - lots of writing and tracking who said what, there's a big database there. And what actually came about is that the law - which has been in place this whole time, which hasn't changed - says that we have campaign donation limits. Our Public Disclosure Commission initially said - Okay, yeah, you can transfer things over - but didn't address the naming of donors or ensuring that in that transfer that people don't exceed the donation limit. 'Cause he already had people donate, and basically donate the maximum, to his gubernatorial campaign. They may have also, and likely there are people who - some of those same people who donated to his attorney general campaign. [00:20:43] Lex Vaughn: So they might be able to double that. [00:20:44] Crystal Fincher: So if they transfer that money over - yeah, then they essentially can give double the campaign contribution that they're supposed to give - that is against the law, but that wasn't made clear by the Public Disclosure Commission until recently. Now, when the Public Disclosure Commission announced - Oh, we're gonna clarify our interpretation of this law and we're gonna make it clear that people have to stick within the donation limits. And they said - And we'll do this at our next meeting - basically. So the Ferguson campaign said - Uh oh. Literally the next day after they announced it said - Oh, we're transferring this over now. It's technically before the deadline, so we don't have to abide by the disclosure for that meeting. So if you look at Bob Ferguson's campaign finance disclosure right now, there're about almost $1.2 million of this dark money. And when you compare that to the money that all of his opponents have - they don't have anything close, right? - so this is giving him a humongous fundraising lead, which in our current political system really matters and is a definite advantage. But it's likely that there are donations that are beyond the limit. The tricky thing here is the law - the actual law - has not changed, so this has technically been against the law the whole time. The tricky thing is the Public Disclosure Commission gave perhaps an incorrect or incomplete interpretation of this law - it's usually who people go to for guidance. So there's a new complaint, basically asking Bob Ferguson to unmask his hidden donors - the donors that are not reported right now - to ensure that he is in compliance with campaign finance donations, because it doesn't make sense. And also, especially for someone who said that they aren't gonna take corporate gifts, that they aren't doing that - well, we don't know. We don't know what this money is - it is dark money. And Bob Ferguson has previously railed against and sued, for example, Facebook and Meta for lax campaign finance information collection and reporting, right? So this is an issue that he has engaged with before. And they do have all of the information to report. You have to do all of that work in order to get the authorization to transfer the money from the people, so they have the information. It's not like it's this big administrative burden to track this information down - that work was done in order to transfer the money. So the question would be - [00:23:12] Lex Vaughn: Okay, so they flat out wouldn't be able to transfer that money without those donors signing that - [00:23:18] Crystal Fincher: Giving their consent - right - so you basically have to contact the donor. [00:23:22] Lex Vaughn: Why isn't that public record - just those documents? [00:23:26] Crystal Fincher: No requirement for it, currently. I have not seen campaigns violate this honor system. Most campaigns do abide by the letter of the law. And really the Ferguson campaign is arguing - Well, we abided by the interpretation that the PDC gave us. And so at the time of the direction, we did what the direction said and no more - and that it should be legally fine. But certainly the spirit of the law here is a challenge, and they're going through court for the substance of the law. But I do think it's really interesting. And especially from someone coming from the position as the chief attorney of the state, that it seems like it would make sense to do this. It seems like it flies in the face of small-d democracy to do that, but there is an argument there and there was confusing guidance - you can't deny that - that happens sometimes. So the question is - The law hasn't changed this whole time and the law says what it says. So was he in violation of the law? [00:24:27] Lex Vaughn: He's basically - I think I can get away with it, so I'm gonna try. Bob Ferguson has done some great things as AG - I like some of the things he's come out against and taken initiative on fighting, but there's moments where he's very disappointing as well. [00:24:43] Crystal Fincher: To me, what I see from this is - there's just a lot that we still have to learn about everybody's records. We know who Bob Ferguson is in terms of his work as attorney general, certainly he has a lengthy record that we can examine in his time as attorney general. And I'm certainly, as someone on the left side of things - there's a ton that he's done that I've appreciated, that I agree with - lawsuits against the Trump administration and other federal actions that were egregious that he stood up against. And that other Western and Democratic attorney generals and governors have been standing up against. There's a lot more to do and a lot more that he's going to be responsible for as governor - and we don't know what that is yet. Similarly, we don't know what that is with a number of the other candidates. So I think a lot of this, especially the news about his touting the endorsement of former Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best, raised a lot of eyebrows - but that invited a lot of curiosity and questions from people, I think, and really underscored - we need to pay attention here. Though there may be a significant financial advantage, there may be more to the story. But similarly, there's a lot of other candidates and we have to figure out what's going on with them too. I just hope that people thoroughly examine who people's relationships are. And part of that story is who people's donors are. One thing I can say - working in politics for 15 years now - is people's donations do have a stronger correlation than the promises they make on the campaign trail. So pay attention to who those donors are. But that advice, which I've talked about on the show plenty of times before in many different contexts, is more challenging when there's over a million dollars of dark money sitting there in a campaign - that just doesn't sit well with many people, I don't think. And it seems like there's an easy way to remedy that. I also - can it be that much money that's over the limit? It feels like you could still name who these donors are, and as long as they aren't contrary to anything that you've already promised - I'm not gonna take money from these types of interests - maybe a million bucks is over there. But even if it's a couple hundred thousand bucks that's over the limit, you still have a dominant financial lead. So why not do that? is the question I have, but we'll see how this continues to unfold. I also want to talk about news this week that Washington Republicans want to make the long-term care tax optional. Now this long-term care tax comes about - lots of people have heard about it as Washington Cares - amid a long-term care, elder care crisis that we're really having. Looks like the majority of Americans are going to, at some point in time in their life - and a majority of Washingtonians - require long-term care. A lot of that is elder care scenarios, people falling ill for a period of time - people are living longer, and with that often came living with more ailments that required more intense care. But this is something that the majority of Washingtonians are anticipated to need, but that is really expensive and that is causing bankruptcies, it's causing financial hardship for a ton of people. And like many things like retirement and social security, like other insurance, when you know that it is likely you're going to incur an expense and you don't have the money saved up for it, you look at the population and it is going to be a financial crisis for most of the people it encounters, it then becomes in the interest of the state to take action to say - We need to make sure that this really expensive service that people need is going to be available to them. Hence, the Washington Cares program and a tax, I think, that averages about $29 a month for someone making $60,000 - I think that was what I saw reported - we'll link the article in the show notes and the resources, obviously. But it is something that came about because of a need. And if you know people, as I do, who have required long-term care without the money and it has bankrupted them, or they've had to become a ward of the state to get into a nursing home or something like that - it's financially devastating and generationally financially devastating. And as we're talking right now - with as many people going through financial hardship, with inflation of so many other things, there are more people who are vulnerable to this. And so this initially passed, it then essentially repealed and passed in a more compromised version. But like many insurance programs, it requires that lots of people pay in in order to fund the benefits for everyone paying out. So what making this optional will do - and Republicans know this - is basically break the program. [00:29:35] Lex Vaughn: Is this a thing where people get to opt out of certain payroll taxes? That whole concept to me is strange. Are there other optional payroll taxes? [00:29:44] Crystal Fincher: Not really, especially for something like this where it is a state-funded benefit. Like social security, like other things, most legislation isn't just passed and then that's it. Many legislation goes through many tweaks over the years. Our favorite benefits and entitlements have, so there are likely to be other tweaks coming up to this. One that was just made, or that may be upcoming, is allowing benefits to be used if someone moves out of state, for example - so they're continually listening to feedback. But what is not workable - financially and just operationally - is just allowing people to opt out. Also, I think Senator Karen Keiser mentioned that it does not appear that they have the votes for this - it's more of an anti-tax talking point. And if it's Washington Republicans, they're gonna have an anti-tax talking point. [00:30:35] Lex Vaughn: Yeah - you're in deeper in your knowledge of our state politics. What chance does this stand of happening? Are there enough people that would make that happen? What floors me sometimes, especially when it comes to state politics, is both houses are Democrat controlled. I know that Republicans do succeed in some of their missions like this, but part of me is - Why are we even worried about it? Who's gonna betray us? [00:31:02] Crystal Fincher: Just looking at Senator Keiser's quote - this doesn't appear to have the votes. And now I will say that it did get repealed and basically redone because there were Democrats that had concerns - that they heard from enough people that they felt had concerns about it, that they did basically take another shot at it - and edited it to make it better and respond to some of the concerns that they had. Because what I don't wanna minimize, it's not $30 a month - this is something that is really, especially amid other inflation that we've experienced - although inflation is now slowing, post-Inflation Reduction Act actually, but it still happened. People still are under tight budgets. And so $30 a month can be felt by people. The balance is really what benefit are you getting from that $30 a month? And the evaluation here is that eliminating the chance for financial catastrophe and a loss of life savings, basically, later in life - or even just if you need some long-term care there is worth the benefit. That there are so many people suffering from that right now - that this would alleviate more harm than it creates, is really what the evaluation is. And frankly, that evaluation is the case for a lot of legislation and taxes or revenue that's gonna be raised. So I don't think this has a chance unless there were more Democrats that were going to be concerned, but I think that most concerns were addressed with this latest iteration. And I do think that it's positive. People do require long-term care - how many people do you know that have been sick for extended periods of time, or that whether it's COVID or cancer - I think it's necessary, I support it, I think that it would be bad to repeal. But Washington Republicans are banking on something else - they try to run against this in prior elections and were not successful - I would anticipate the same thing happening. So I think Republicans are trying to spin up some fear from voters, and I'm sure they'll have some receptive ears from more conservative or traditionally anti-tax voters. [00:33:12] Lex Vaughn: What we have seen, in a positive shift in the last few years in general, is nationwide Republicans had to give up on campaigning against Obamacare because enough time has passed that people of all political backgrounds have benefited from it. Maybe the Republicans who offered this up need to understand that more people are in favor of better healthcare coverage. And it's becoming a little more accepted that the whole community needs to step up and better fund a bunch of things like this. [00:33:45] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. One of the things that's making everything hard to afford these days is the cost of housing, the very high cost of housing locally. There's been talk from a number of people about the ban on rent control in our state and lifting of the ban. Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant has sponsored a rent control trigger law that basically, for Seattle, would enact some rent control measures if and when our legislature decides to end rent control. Councilmember Sawant wrote to members of our legislative delegation, including Representative Gerry Pollet and Senator Jamie Pedersen, asking for their support of this law. Got back some responses that were a little snarky, basically said - Now we ain't heard from you in all this time, and now you're calling up asking us to support this. [00:34:39] Lex Vaughn: At the last minute - this is her trying to cram it in at the last minute. [00:34:42] Crystal Fincher: Yes - Gerry Pollet saying - I sponsored legislation to do this - now that legislation didn't make it out of committee or have a hearing. Jamie Pedersen essentially chastised Councilmember Sawant for not working with them in other things that they passed. Councilmember Sawant responded by saying - Now, I don't know where you've been, but I have over several years been advocating for this, have passed resolutions in support of this, have previously indicated my support for a legislative solution to this. So I'm on record, have communicated before that I am supportive of efforts in the Legislature. And the reason why you didn't see me in the Legislature supporting your bill that you introduced, Gerry Pollet, is because you didn't even get it far enough to have a hearing. So there was no opportunity to weigh in - it didn't go anywhere. But you also failed to answer the question - Do you support this effort in Seattle? [00:35:41] Lex Vaughn: Such a weird deflection. [00:35:42] Crystal Fincher: Yes, so there is some acrimony between the sides there. I think Nicole Macri also weighed in and said - There does appear to be acrimony and I need to look more specifically at it. Clearly, we can look at this last legislative session and there were not enough votes, unfortunately, to advance renter protection rent control measures. We absolutely have to mitigate against rent increases, the high cost of moving and living. [00:36:14] Lex Vaughn: And I mean - can we get real? The average Democrat was not really actively recruiting people like Kshama Sawant. Give me a break. [00:36:23] Crystal Fincher: Yes, and Kshama Sawant is notoriously not a Democrat and very critical of Democrats for inaction on things like this. And she took the opportunity to be critical of Democrats in her communications here. Now, do I think that a rent control renter protection should pass? Absolutely. Do I think the ban should be lifted at the legislative level so that cities can choose to do what they feel is best? Yes. But it's going to be interesting to see how this proceeds. I would hate to see an effort that may have a chance get torpedoed because of personality conflicts. [00:36:59] Lex Vaughn: Yeah, when we're talking about - yeah, something as critical as housing for people - get past all of this personality BS. Especially when you're all on the kind of left end of a political spectrum - focus on where you have common ground and get something done. I don't know who enjoys seeing unproductive arguments like this. To me, it highlights just how cowardly most Democrats are in Washington state when it comes to topics like rent control. And that it's still such a touchy topic here - because not to pull the California card, I'm from California - and there's a lot of really great rent control laws in California that I grew up with and had in the first cities that I lived in as an adult. And they were so prevalent that I thought everyone had rent control and I didn't get it until I left. And I can't believe that in 2023, you still got Democrats here in Washington state going - Oh, I don't know, I'll be called a socialist if I support this, I don't know. Ugh, Jesus - it's just pathetic that really the only person who's really forcefully, I think, promoted rent control is Kshama Sawant. And Democrats should be ashamed that - yeah, a socialist has led that, not Democrats. [00:38:15] Crystal Fincher: Certainly at the local level. Yes, I think there are others who have indicated support of this over the years - and there are some more progressive Democrats who have been supportive and some legislation that was introduced to do this, but certainly the majority of the delegation does not agree or else this would be law right now. Also, housing costs are a big topic for everyone across the state. The City of Tacoma just decided to put dueling rental protection initiatives on the ballot for November. I don't know if you've been following this, but there is an effort in Tacoma to pass some pretty comprehensive renter protections - allowing notice for people who are moving, capping late fees at 10%, providing rental assistance if - tiered rental assistance based on the amount of increase if someone can't afford it for moving into another location - extended notice. Now they've been pushing for this, they have had a lot of momentum behind this. However, there are a lot of landlords and interests who have been lobbying against this and basically lobbying the City to pass a watered down version of this. And what the City decided to do was not only put the more comprehensive version on the ballot, but also put the watered down version on the ballot - which would cap late fees, not to the degree that the other more comprehensive initiative would, it would provide for more time to notice, but doesn't have some of the really helpful provisions that some of the other legislation has there. And what a number of people are saying is by putting both on the ballot, you're really doing both to defeat instead of giving people a clear choice between - do you want to do this or not? It's much harder and it's a much more confusing set of issues to get your arms around and choose between them. And so this is not a move that a lot of people received with excitement and definitely feel that this hurts the prospect of anything passing. And then there are some who say - Well, people deserve a choice. How did you see this? [00:40:25] Lex Vaughn: That's probably the desired effect of the people who volunteered the watered down option - is just to make it seem too confusing and get people to not do their research and go - I don't know - throw up their hands. 'Cause I think the more voters feel like they have to heavily research things, the more they feel - Oh, I don't know if I should even vote. Just your average humble person is - Oh, I don't know. I didn't do my research. I don't - it's probably not a big deal if I don't vote at all, 'Cause I don't know what this is. I'm not gonna research the difference between these two things. What was the ballot item in Seattle? I forget. I forget - it was like - [00:41:06] Crystal Fincher: It was approval voting versus ranked choice voting. [00:41:08] Lex Vaughn: Yes, that's the one - that's the one - that was so confusing. Even as somebody who thinks of themselves as pretty politically informed, at least more than the average person, I had to really spend an afternoon going - What? I had to do some homework to know what I was voting on there. [00:41:28] Crystal Fincher: Yeah. [00:41:29] Lex Vaughn: I guess this is a tactic, right? Where it's like - you're euphemistically giving people more options, but really you're just confusing people so much that they don't even wanna vote at all. [00:41:44] Crystal Fincher: Confusion is usually not helpful for initiatives. Usually if there is voter confusion, they don't vote, they vote No on everything - that happens more than not. It's not like it can't be overcome, as we did see with ranked choice voting. [00:41:59] Lex Vaughn: Yeah, people did get interested. [00:42:00] Crystal Fincher: But it usually takes more money, more communication to do so - so the job did just get harder. And in our last piece of news today, we have a new entrant into the race for attorney general to replace Bob Ferguson. Former US Attorney Nick Brown has announced that he is running. What is your read of this? [00:42:23] Lex Vaughn: He follows The Needling, so he must be a good option, right? [00:42:29] Crystal Fincher: I do have a better opinion of people who follow The Needling than those who don't. [00:42:34] Lex Vaughn: Yeah, he's getting the real fake news. [00:42:36] Crystal Fincher: State Senator Manka Dhingra has announced that she also intends to run. I made a comment in another publication that we do have a record to examine with Manka Dhingra - whether you agree or disagree with it, there is a record there to examine and that is a helpful thing. Nick Brown is largely an unknown for a lot of people - certainly has a record as a US Attorney, has been visible and active within Seattle - I've seen him in press conferences with Mayor Bruce Harrell talking about, and he's talked about - Hey, we can't arrest ourselves out of these crises, that type of thing. Now the policy, the politicians he was beside - effectively were trying to and continue to try and arrest themselves out of some things - but that wasn't his decision. [00:43:26] Lex Vaughn: There's only so much he can do in that decision. [00:43:27] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, so I'm eager to hear - and if you look at what he said when he announced, I'm certainly curious to learn more. He does seem to have a distinguished resume and although he hasn't been in politics and doesn't have a record there, that doesn't mean that you're not qualified and capable to run for office and have gained valuable experience in what you've done. So I just think there's a lot to be explored and I think it is healthy to have several options here. [00:43:57] Lex Vaughn: Yeah, I'm glad to see him join. [00:43:57] Crystal Fincher: Here we have two Democratic options. Because I do think that we should have a robust debate about what that role is, what it entails, and what our approach is going to be. So really just - I'm curious and will definitely be staying tuned. [00:44:13] Lex Vaughn: Yeah, I think early on in some of these contests, it's - when you haven't done the complete deep dive on every candidate yet, you're kind of - Oh, it's good to have some options here. And I know that I personally need to do more research on both of them before I make a call on who I support. But yeah, it's good to have options. And I do think that - I don't know what will happen, but I honestly think that office, AG, is almost as important as the governor's office to me. 'Cause it's like they're really - they're interpreting the law and really holding people accountable, which is, I think, a huge deal. It's one thing to come up with laws and sign things, but it doesn't matter if no one's holding people accountable. I like that Bob Ferguson did go after some people pretty strong and I liked seeing it. And I hope that the next AG has that same fire 'cause we'll need it. [00:45:11] Crystal Fincher: I agree. And with that, we thank you for listening to Hacks & Wonks on this Friday, July 14th, 2023. The producer of Hacks & Wonks, and really the wind beneath my wings, is Shannon Cheng. Our insightful co-host today is Founder and Editor of The Needling, Lex Vaughn. And if you are not following and into The Needling - woe to you, fix it, make it right. You can find Lex at @AlexaVaughn, that's V-A-U-G-H-N. You can follow Hacks & Wonks on Twitter at @HacksWonks. You can find me on all platforms, any and all platforms basically, at @finchfrii, that's F-I-N-C-H-F-R-I-I. You can catch Hacks & Wonks wherever you get your podcasts - just type "Hacks and Wonks" into the search bar. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get the full versions of our Friday week-in-review shows and our Tuesday topical show delivered to your podcast feed. If you like us, please leave a review wherever you listen. You can also get a full transcript of this episode and links to resources referenced in the show at officialhacksandwonks.com and in the episode notes. Thanks for tuning in - and we'll talk to you next time.

On this Tuesday topical show, Gabriel Neuman, Policy Counsel & Government Relations Manager for GSBA, has a conversation with Crystal about the organization's work as Washington's LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce. With a focus on community building and inclusion work, GSBA stands out from traditional business-oriented organizations in the support and services they provide to their member businesses. Crystal and Gabriel then discuss the business perspective and how GSBA is getting involved on challenges faced such as business taxation, workforce development, childcare accessibility, public safety, housing and homelessness. As always, a full text transcript of the show is available below and at officialhacksandwonks.com. Follow us on Twitter at @HacksWonks. Find the host, Crystal Fincher, on Twitter at @finchfrii and find more about GSBA at thegsba.org.   Gabriel Neuman Gabriel Neuman (he/him) is GSBA's Policy Counsel & Government Relations Manager. Gabriel began working as GSBA's Office Manager in 2019, when he was attending evening classes at Seattle University School of Law. He has been thrilled to continue to serve GSBA after law school in the public policy world. Now, he collaborates with GSBA membership and local leadership to understand community needs and transforms those perspectives into advocacy. Prior to joining GSBA, Gabriel worked in the legal field and studied Political Science and Public Affairs, also at Seattle University, while collaborating with grassroots organizations on improving child welfare policy. Outside of work Gabriel enjoys crocheting, gardening, reading sci-fi, and live music.   Resources GSBA   GSBA and CHBA Present: District 3 Candidate Reception on Thursday, July 20, 2023, 4:30-6:30p   Transcript [00:00:00] Crystal Fincher: Welcome to Hacks & Wonks. I'm Crystal Fincher, and I'm a political consultant and your host. On this show, we talk with policy wonks and political hacks to gather insight into local politics and policy in Washington state through the lens of those doing the work with behind-the-scenes perspectives on what's happening, why it's happening, and what you can do about it. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get the full versions of our Friday week-in-review show and our Tuesday topical show delivered to your podcast feed. If you like us, the most helpful thing you can do is leave a review wherever you listen to Hacks & Wonks. Full transcripts and resources referenced in the show are always available at officialhacksandwonks.com and in our episode notes. I am excited about today's show and to be welcoming Gabriel Neuman, who is Policy Counsel and Government Relations Manager of GSBA. Welcome. [00:01:02] Gabriel Neuman: Thank you - I'm excited to be here. [00:01:04] Crystal Fincher: Thank you very much - great to be able to have this conversation with you. I think I just want to start out by helping the listeners understand - who is GSBA, what does GSBA do, and what brought you to this work? [00:01:18] Gabriel Neuman: GSBA is Washington's LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce. We started in the '80s as a way for LGBTQ folks in Seattle to find organizations and businesses that will accept them and provide a safe space for them. And over the years, it's evolved to form this big organization we have now. We have a scholarship program, which we began in the '90s, and we provide four years of recurring funding for students that are LGBTQ+ and allied. In addition to that, our chamber focuses primarily on serving small local businesses. And so through our chamber programs, we have a ton - we have a Business Academy, which is small business support through classes, and then we have one-on-one consults - so we help you create and sustain a business through questions and support. We have our networking and business connections pieces of our chamber - we host a lot of events under that. And then we also have our advocacy wing, which really focuses on trying to create a sustainable economic landscape for LGBTQ folks in Washington. So that's kind of GSBA in a nutshell - there's a whole bunch more. And for me personally - why I decided to join this work - I actually started to work at GSBA as office administrator, where I worked full-time while I was in Seattle University School of Law part-time during evening classes. And I came to GSBA because I really wanted to do something within my community. And I stayed because policy has always been a passion of mine and something that I wanted to do in a career. And GSBA was really supportive in providing that opportunity for me, and it just kind of ended up working out, so excited to be here. [00:02:59] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. And so for a lot of people listening, sometimes on the news you hear a lot about the Seattle Chamber, Downtown Seattle Association. There are a number of business-oriented organizations throughout the city, county, and state - what really differentiates you and the work that you do at GSBA, and some of the results or work that you've done with members that you're particularly proud of? [00:03:26] Gabriel Neuman: Yeah, I think there are quite a few kind of different touch points. The Seattle Chamber and DSA are fantastic organizations, and we work well with them. But I would say that GSBA is focused a little bit more on the community-building aspect. And so we understand that to foster a collaborative environment and a business community that is sustainable for everybody, that means that everybody in the community needs to come and be invited to that table. And so GSBA really focuses on centering underserved communities in our work, and in connecting folks to each other in order to build and expand in that capacity. And then in addition, I think that a lot more of our work is centered on LGBTQ, but social justice initiatives in general - so we do a lot of DEI work, we do a lot of inclusion work for LGBTQ folks. And so it's really the kind of expertise we provide in that landscape that really differentiates us from those other orgs. [00:04:20] Crystal Fincher: In terms of policy, what have you been advocating for and have helped to pass, and what are the top things that you're working on now? [00:04:27] Gabriel Neuman: Yeah, last year was a fantastic year for LGBTQ rights in Washington state. Unfortunately, nationwide, we did not have the same results. And so in Washington this past year, a lot of our legislation was built to support our community - both in Washington and then also to support folks who are coming from other states in which they experience discrimination - and making sure that they're safe here in Washington. So what that looks like is GSBA - so we have a Policy Council that consists of folks from our community. And if anybody is listening and might be interested in that, please let me know - it's open to the public. So we have a Policy Council that serves in an advisory capacity for us, so that we can hear from our members in our community directly. And then we prioritize based off of what we think GSBA, as both a business organization and a social justice organization, can take the lead on - which ones we can support, but make sure the leadership resides within the organizations that are better fitted for it and then which ones are more like tertiary support. So there's a ton of support for LGBTQ legislation that was taken and led by other organizations, but GSBA supported them through testimony and through connecting our members to testify. So what those bills look like are we have a fantastic Shield Law that was just passed. And what that means is that folks from other states who are coming here to receive gender affirming care or reproductive care will not be able to be prosecuted in their state - that our Washington resources will not be used to prosecute them for receiving those services. And so that's gonna be really helpful - again, to provide that shelter and that opportunity for people coming here, but then also it protects practitioners in Washington who provide those resources from facing persecution in those other states. So that's really fantastic. Another bill that we advised on was the privacy bill - there was multiple privacy bills, but this one protects - helps to protect - healthcare data and making sure that your information about your gender identity, and your sexuality, and your reproductive history cannot be sold or used by organizations that may not want to, might not have your best interest at hand. So we are really excited about those. Some additional ones are there's a bill that made it easier for folks to seal their name changes - so if you're trans and you want to seal that name change due to fear of backlash from the public, we now have the ability to do that. And I worked on that as a community volunteer before I came into this position, and so I was really excited to see that one pass as well. So that's the LGBTQ side. On the business side, we were really happy to support a bill that makes it - basically, it makes it easier to set up ownership sharing programs - so giving employees a stake in the company - and that has been shown to produce a much better work quality of life for employees. But it also makes it easier for - if you're an LGBTQ business owner and you want to make sure your business stays in the hands of the employees you worked with for 20 years, or it stays in community - you have more freedom to do that now. So we're really excited about that one. And then a lot of kind of trying to get an increasing in our tourism budgets and providing additional funding for things like that. So we've kind of been - had our hands in a lot of different pots here - but it's been a busy year. [00:07:42] Crystal Fincher: And that's something that I have noticed - in really over the years - is that you do have your hands in a lot of different pots and are doing a lot of that work. And it does look different than you sometimes might expect from a purely business organization. You do a lot of the social work, more of a focus on equity, hearing from your members - seems like more comprehensively than a lot of other organizations may. I want to talk about some specific issue areas, revenue starting off - big conversation, always a conversation both locally and at the state level. One big piece of really consequential legislation was the JumpStart Tax for Seattle, which GSBA was in support of. And there have been conversations about maybe redirecting that perhaps, maybe changing what we're doing with it. What's your evaluation of the JumpStart Tax - how it has been performing, especially for small businesses, and where would you like to see that go? [00:08:38] Gabriel Neuman: Yeah, so from my understanding, the Seattle JumpStart Tax was intended to fund public housing - or affordable housing - and reinvest in our Green New Deal, and be attributed to some specific areas that our city needs additional funding towards. But right now, our general fund in the City is at a deficit, so we need more money in our general fund. And so they've been using the JumpStart Tax funds to help rebuild that deficit in the general budget. So what that means is that instead of the JumpStart funds being used for what the voters voted on them to be used for - affordable housing, Green New Deal-type things - it's instead being used to just furnish the general budget. That needed to happen - our city programs need to be funded. But it can't happen continually. It cannot be used as a continual, as a way for our city to lean on this tax in order to fill that shortfall - because there was so much political support brought behind this, and so many different people lent their voices into creating this tax and architecting it so that it would fill this very specific void in affordable housing that we have. And when it gets passed and that funding is not being used in the way the public thought it would be used, that results in a lack of - the public loses their confidence in our officials to delegate and to be able to actually reflect on those conversations they have with their constituents. And that really creates a compounding issue of how can we make sure that - that civic engagement and trust continues to exist, because that's literally the heart of our democracy. And so right now, I know the City has created a Revenue Stabilization task force. The goal of that is to find ways to basically fully furnish the general fund so that it does not have to pull from the JumpStart Tax. That task force - it'll be interesting to hear the results of the task force - they'll be releasing a paper to the City Council in July, outlining their plan and their suggestions. But there are some interesting conversations with participants on that task force around - the goal of the group was initially to just find ways to increase funding to the general fund. But some other folks in the group want to see if there are ways to cut current spending so that we can have a mixture of both taxes and spending cuts, so that we're not just increasing taxes on our businesses. And so there's a little bit of discussion there and I'm very curious to see how that'll play out. But - [00:11:07] Crystal Fincher: Is GSBA in favor of cuts, along with expansions of the tax? [00:11:13] Gabriel Neuman: Yeah, I think that we would be interested in understanding where those cuts would go and what that would look like, and see if there are avenues in which we can try to lower the amount. Because the reason that our general fund has all these additional programs that are underfunded right now is because when COVID started, we got a huge influx of federal funds and that money was used by the City to create a bunch of programming to help support and sustain our community during the pandemic. And a lot of those programs were very successful and we want to continue those programs, but we're not receiving that federal funding. And so I think that, just in the interest of having a well-rounded and well-researched perspective on where our budget is in general, we do support the idea of looking into all aspects - including spending cuts and different taxes, but - so we're interested to see what the City is gonna do. [00:12:07] Crystal Fincher: Gotcha. One of the biggest areas of spending in the general fund is in public safety. Would that be an area that you would be looking to find some room in through cuts? [00:12:17] Gabriel Neuman: Yeah, I think that - public safety is a major issue for our members. And what our members are wanting to see is - they're wanting to see some sort of reassurance of their safety - and that's just not happening right now. People don't, they don't feel like those bases are being covered. And GSBA - we follow evidence-based approach to our policy - and the evidence right now says that increasing public health programming, increasing behavioral support for folks that need mental health support, and increasing resources like rehabilitation services that are supportive of folks that go through them, those are the types of things that promote a safe environment. And so GSBA is in support of programs like that that don't take a punitive approach to public safety, but rather a community-oriented and person-focused approach. So if that means less budgeting allocated towards the more punitive policy approaches within Seattle, then yes, we are in support of that. Yeah. [00:13:19] Crystal Fincher: Which is interesting 'cause it does seem like the City is increasingly moving in that direction. At the time of this recording, we have recently heard about the recent departure of Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell, perhaps about some differences in opinion on how things should proceed in this way. So are you actively advocating for more evidence-based investments and policies at this point in time? [00:13:45] Gabriel Neuman: Yes, we are - so GSBA is - we're currently researching the different policy proposals that have been introduced and voted on and voted down by City Council. We're planning on - I'm going to be polling our members, and I'm gonna be using that poll as a way to create a letter from GSBA and from our membership to submit to City Council that demonstrates our members' experiences and what they would like to see changed in order to make their environments better. So we're currently planning and preparing that. And in addition to that, a lot of our conversations around public safety have been done more at the community level. And so what that's looked like is we've hosted - our Capitol Hill Business Alliance has been really on board with trying to prepare our businesses to protect and to basically just secure their own premises. And so what that looks like is we've had a lot of events with non-police related trainings - and so that looks like public defense trainings, personal defense. We've had events where we have private security folks come in and show businesses what are the best practices for environmental security, where should you put your lights and your cameras, and things like that. And we've had just a lot of different - we've been trying to promote a lot of different ways for community to help support each other. So on Capitol Hill, for example, we're creating a Slack channel for businesses to communicate amongst each other - where if there's an area of concern, or if there's an employee that needs additional help like walking to a bus stop after their shift or something like that - that businesses can talk to each other, and to connect in that way, and have that kind of additional safety net. So a lot of our response so far has been kind of community-based and creating those types of networks, but we're looking to, and we're wanting to expand, those conversations more into the sphere with our elected officials. [00:15:33] Crystal Fincher: That sounds good, and we'll definitely be looking forward to that letter also. I also want to talk about the issue of revitalizing the economy. Certainly businesses of all types struggled to get through the pandemic - the pandemic is still here and happening - and businesses are facing a number of challenges from hiring and retaining employees, to understanding benefits, to just dealing with this larger economy. What are you hearing from your members are the biggest issues businesses are facing right now and what would help? [00:16:06] Gabriel Neuman: One of the big issues is going back to the earlier topic of taxation - is that businesses pay a ton in business and occupation tax. As you know, Washington has the most regressive tax system in the nation - and so instead of relying on an income tax, a lot of our taxes come from B&O, or business and occupation tax, which is directly placed on our business owners. In fact, in Seattle, our business owners pay around 70% of Seattle taxes, so a ton of money goes in there and it's hurting folks. And so we're trying to find ways to promote a more equitable tax structure so that our businesses can continue to thrive and that our government is working to support that. So that's one thing on the advocacy space. In addition, a big thing that we see is - are gaps in workforce development. There are a lot of positions that are open that people just are not applying for and that there are just not enough - that people, that the skills related to those careers are just not being offered at or made available at an economic rate for people. And so they cannot get those skills and so they cannot work at those jobs. So we have been really going forward with workforce development - this has been one of our big platforms for this year - is really trying to find ways to support our community in entering into those spaces. So there are expected needs for a lot of totally niche and really cool industries, like maritime officers - they need people to run the ferries, or people to do mechanics on our buses in King County, or folks to work at the airports - really cool stuff. So through our scholarship program, we just created a new source of funding that supports folks going through certificate programs. So now you can sign up, you can apply to our scholarship - and if you're wanting to go through a certificate program, then we can work with you to find out funding for that and through that route. And then in addition, we're also creating a workforce portal to allow folks to - who have gone through our programming - to connect to our businesses. And so we're doing a lot of promotion and facilitation for our members to be able to have the skills they need to enter there. But then there's, on the flip side, there's also a component of - we need to make sure that these industries are ready for our community, that they are ready to support and to accept LGBTQ folks. And so - because we want to make sure that we're sending people into a work environment that's gonna be successful for them. So we have an amazing LGBTQ inclusion program that we offer for organizations - where we go in and we, first we meet with the org, and see what type of support is it that you need? What do you want that to look like? And then we help with making a plan, and we have presentations where we can come in and speak with you and your employees and just give you the one-on-one on how to welcome LGBTQ folks into your org. And so we're building out that program much more and we're really proud of that. And then in addition to the kind of presentation and consulting piece, we're also creating a suite of actual products that businesses can use - for example, a guide on how to deal with name changes in the workplace, how employees and bosses and colleagues can all support that and different things like that. Another thing is helping employers to understand what a trans-friendly healthcare plan looks like for employees. So we are trying to take the extra step of not just saying - Make sure that you have a DEI statement - but instead going deeper and saying - What is the infrastructure that you have set up right now? And what can we do to make it a better environment for folks who are going to be joining your industry? So those are two areas in workforce development that we're helping with, but this is a statewide issue and it intersects with many other issues that are also impacting Washington. Kind of the third thing that employers are facing is that childcare, or the lack thereof, is also having a huge hindrance on their employees and on workforce retention. Because how are you supposed to take care of your kids, and work at a job, or go get your training, or do these things? And so AWB - the Washington Chamber - Association of Washington Business says that childcare is going to be one of the biggest issues going forward in the business advocacy front, just because of how substantially that impacts. So we're doing some research into better understanding that piece as well and how that affects our members. [00:20:34] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, absolutely. And those are all really important - glad to hear that they are in the priority. And it really does bring home the point that businesses do have to contend with societal issues and the impacts on their employees, potential employees, other people in the community. So things like you talked about - just the absolute evil and hostile legislation against - starting against the trans community, but it seems to be expanding against everyone. It is just so challenging. And you talk about the important work and really helpful work of helping your members in the greater business community really structurally and institutionally set up processes that will sustain equitable treatment of everyone. When it comes to a wide variety of businesses - certainly small businesses are facing a lot of challenges. Do you find that with issues like the B&O tax, taxation overall, that small businesses are being burdened more than larger corporations? [00:21:34] Gabriel Neuman: I cannot - I am not too familiar with the full tax scheme of larger corporations, but I can say that small businesses are facing huge crises with what they're dealing with in terms of taxation. There's, like in Seattle, they pay 70% of our taxes here. And there's just this kind of gap where we're seeing - well, they're paying - while folks are paying these taxes, they're still not seeing a lot of their essential services getting covered, at least in Seattle. So for example, we field a lot of concerns around excess trash in certain areas in the neighborhood, or we're seeing businesses have to respond to behavioral health crises in a way that hopefully a medically trained person employed by a state agency would be able to better respond to. And even things like our roads not being sufficient for bikers or for walkers being able to go to those places. These issues continue, these kind of basic infrastructure issues continue to impact businesses, and so when they're paying these taxes and they're not seeing these kind of basic things being done in their neighborhoods - there's this question of, What am I, what is this for? And again, that kind of feeds back into this lack of trust in our institutions and it exacerbates this dynamic - this kind of us-versus-them dynamic that we really don't want to see and it's not helping anyone. So I think that it's the amount of taxes people pay, but then also just what are the actual material results that they're seeing out of this? And so that's what kind of, we're trying to do a lot of work with our City government to help them understand that issue and to expand programming and support into those areas that - the kind of bread and butter of our communities. [00:23:23] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. Another issue that everyone is contending with is housing and that absolutely impacts who can live in an area, dictates who can work in an area, and whether employers can retain employees, and what kind of wages are competitive. Are you active in housing advocacy? [00:23:42] Gabriel Neuman: We are not active in housing advocacy right now, but that is something that I want to get advocacy going on in the upcoming year. This is my first year in this position. And so there are a lot of areas where we really, for my first year, wanted to focus on setting the stage as a business organization and focusing really on the kind of business issues. But now that we are facing the intersection of all these things - housing is a business issue now, childcare is a business issue now - businesses are having to have opinions on and stances on things that they never had to before. And so GSBA, as a result, is now expanding into more of these different areas too. We want to make sure that we're educated and that we're having - that our analysis is reflective of the evidence. And so I've been doing a lot of research and trying to understand the housing issues from multiple different lenses, and as well as our Policy Council as well, so that we can have more of an engagement with that next year. But that is another - that is one of the major issues for our businesses - is housing, because how are you supposed to find employees? Again, harking back to that workforce development issue, how are you supposed to find folks that can afford to live near your business, or can afford to drive - transport to your business - and who have the skills to do that? Like it's just incompatible - something needs to change. So yes, we're going to be entering that field a lot more. [00:25:14] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. So we're in the midst of City Council elections in the City of Seattle - you have a lot on your docket and you have a lot of advocacy that you do within the City - it's a major economic engine for the county and the state. Are you engaging in these City Council elections? [00:25:33] Gabriel Neuman: Yeah, so we are - we're working with Capitol Hill Business Alliance, which is the Chamber of Commerce on Capitol Hill. They also are under the GSBA umbrella, so they're part of our org. We're collaborating with CHBA on a District 3 reception, and that will be a space for - we're inviting all the candidates that are running for District 3 to Optimism in a very kind of casual atmosphere where folks can come and they can have those one-on-one conversations and meet those people as people. So we're really excited about that, and that'll be on July 20th. And then after the primaries are over, we're partnering with Seattle City Club to host a series of four debates in the contentious elections. And as someone who's done debate for more than half my life, I'm very excited to help with that. So yeah, we're really focusing on trying to get the word out about those elections and increase engagement 'cause it's really important. [00:26:25] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. Are you seeing any specific policy directions that your membership or that you could say your membership is looking for, leaning towards from these candidates? [00:26:38] Gabriel Neuman: Yeah, I think that we - our members want something - they want to see, they want a representative that will listen to them and that will come to them and say - I'm your representative, here's who I am. What can I do for you? They want a representative that listens to them and that will - that wants to incorporate that perspective. Because every neighborhood in Seattle is unique and every neighborhood has its own character, and that's important for representatives to embody that and to reflect that. And especially in Capitol Hill, businesses want to know how they can stay safe and they want to be able to know that their neighborhood is going to retain the aura of safety so that folks will continue to go there. But again, they also do not want to see that reflected as more uniformed police officers walking around Capitol Hill. They want to see a community-oriented solution to this. And what that means is a representative that really understands the community and that knows how they can talk to the community to come to ways to bridge these issues. So definitely someone that's willing to come to the table on that. So I definitely say public safety and business taxation as well. There's a recent - recently Councilmember Pedersen brought forward the idea of a potential capital gains tax in Seattle, which would again impact the business community. And we're still - right now we're trying to find ways to enter that conversation and explain and try to find ways to make sure that that taxation doesn't actually affect our members. They want equitable taxation, is what I'm saying there. And housing - they want people to work at their businesses and that means access to housing, access to transportation. It's interesting, especially over the last few years, I've noticed that a lot of organizations are taking a much more social justice-oriented lens to policy issues because - again, that area of intersectionality is becoming much, much more apparent and it's not something that companies can ignore anymore. And it's been really fun to see this kind of increase in desire for participating in those conversations and how those partnerships can look in the future. [00:28:53] Crystal Fincher: Sure. Another issue that is top on the minds of residents and businesses both is that of homelessness and the struggle that the entire region is having with this. What do you advocate for at GSBA to try and meaningfully address this issue? [00:29:13] Gabriel Neuman: Yeah, there's - the one thing that comes to mind is we are trying to help connect those folks to - back to their community. We want unhoused folks to know that they are a part of a community and that they have a space for them. And one part of that looks like initiatives helping businesses to prepare to hire folks that have been involved in the criminal justice system. And so there is a Ban the Box initiative in Seattle and now what we're doing with our business consulting services is making sure that employers are aware of - that they should be hiring folks that were formerly incarcerated, that these people are awesome and still need to be considered as members of our community and helping them to onboard and prepare for that. That's one thing we're doing. Another thing is we are - I want GSBA to get more involved in the local referendums. And I've been in communication to see what we can do to support the new Housing Levy that'll be introduced to expand housing. We were very supportive of the behavioral health crisis levy that was just passed, we're really excited about that. And we're wanting to continue to work with those groups as well so that we can have pipelines of - Okay, if you know someone that wants to work at this, in this industry, in the maritime industry who is unhoused and they're going through your program to get housing, how can they connect with us so that we can support them in the workforce development area? So really trying to bridge those resource gaps and communicate with our community partners in that. [00:30:49] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. Another issue facing the region is that of transit and transportation. We have lots of investments, continue to need more in road maintenance and safety - but also a focus on people who don't drive, or who choose not to drive, or can't drive and who are walking or riding or rolling or on transit. What are the top priorities in terms of transportation and mobility for GSBA? [00:31:19] Gabriel Neuman: Yeah, transportation is - it really is about being able to get from where you're living to where you're working. And we wanna make sure that there are bus routes that enter into the lesser-served neighborhoods and that transportation options are being introduced and promoted in those neighborhoods, so that those folks that don't have access - that might not have a car - can actually get access to those major transport hubs. So increasing bus access and then also increasing - again, particularly increasing transportation to those major transport hubs, like the light rail stations and things like that, so that people can get into the core area and then go off to where they need to go. That's one aspect. And then another thing that we've been doing is we've been working with our ride share companies in helping to aid them in setting up ride share infrastructure in cities that are not Seattle - having Lime bikes in smaller towns, for example, or in Eastern Washington. Or the scooters, as well - seeing those types of services in smaller areas, because they're fantastic in enabling people, again, to bridge those transportation gaps. And you see a lot of those transportation gaps in smaller towns and smaller areas. And that's where those kind of ride share programs can go a really long way in allowing people just the accessibility and the freedom to move around where they live more. We've been really excited about that. And then on the LGBT side, working with the ride share companies to understand what are the specific experiences that LGBTQ community has in accessing those services and how can we expand that into, again, into expansion into those smaller towns - like where do queer people go in those towns? Where are the routes most likely gonna be taken and how can we make sure the infrastructure is built up to facilitate that? Lots of kind of little niche things in there that we've been having a great time with. [00:33:19] Crystal Fincher: That sounds good. And as we close today, are there any thoughts or particularly helpful things that you would leave people with that they should know or that would be particularly helpful in helping and supporting our small business community? [00:33:36] Gabriel Neuman: Our small business community, I think - honestly, I would say that the best way to have your voice heard is to really talk to your elected officials. And we can help that, we can help facilitate that. Or if you just call or email their office - they want to hear from you and they want to know what it is that you're experiencing. And they literally cannot hear from you unless they hear from you. Please do that outreach and please let them know when they do things that you like as well, because they need that positive feedback. But more than that, just know that you have some really awesome advocates behind you. The GSBA is one wing of a much larger business support network across Washington State. And I've had the pleasure of meeting with a lot of these folks and everybody's in it for the right reasons and they are in it to support you. And that is no ifs, ands, or buts about it. And utilize us as well - not just GSBA - utilize us, but utilize your business support community writ large around you to see what avenues and resources are available for you, because there are so many too that you might just not be aware of. I would say that to the business community. Can I have a shout out to our LGBTQ community as well? I just want to say, I know this year has been very tortuous and very sad, with the legislation and the legislative attacks that our community has had nationwide. It's just been one thing after another, but Washington has your back. Washington has just passed this suite of transformative policy that will help to shield you if you are thinking of coming here, or if you are here thinking of and have a family that want to come spend time with you, or whatever - Washington has your back. And we are also continuing to build on that infrastructure. And we're continuing to look at these and have a proactive stance and a proactive approach to what is it that people in our community need and what is it that they're not getting, and how can we bridge that? Please know that in spite of what you've heard nationwide, Washington is continuing to be a safe space and we've got you. [00:35:47] Crystal Fincher: Thank you so much for that. And as a queer business owner myself, appreciate the work that you do and that you continue to do and the policy that you're pushing towards. If people want to find out more information about GSBA, how can they do that? [00:36:01] Gabriel Neuman: You can visit us on our website, thegsba.org. You can also see us on social media - we're just GSBA on Facebook and Instagram and all that. And you can also email me - I'm gabrieln@thegsba.org. [00:36:16] Crystal Fincher: Thank you so much for joining us today. [00:36:18] Gabriel Neuman: Thank you so much for having us. [00:36:20] Crystal Fincher: Thank you for listening to Hacks & Wonks, which is produced by Shannon Cheng. You can follow Hacks & Wonks on Twitter @HacksWonks. You can catch Hacks & Wonks on every podcast service and app - just type "Hacks and Wonks" into the search bar. Be sure to subscribe to get the full versions of our Friday week-in-review shows and our Tuesday topical show delivered to your podcast feed. If you like us, leave a review wherever you listen. You can also get a full transcript of this episode and links to the resources referenced in the show at officialhacksandwonks.com and in the podcast episode notes. Thanks for tuning in - talk to you next time.

In this week's episode of GREAT POWER PODCAST, host Michael Sobolik interviews Julie Millsap about the last developments in the Chinese Communist Party's genocide of Uyghurs, the Biden administration's reprioritization of the issue, and what it portends for the future of US-China relations. Guest biography Julie Millsap serves as the Government Relations Manager at The Uyghur Human Rights Project. She became publicly involved in Uyghur advocacy in 2020, when she left China after 10 years residing and working in the Inner Mongolia region. She has also been a frequent collaborator with the World Uyghur Congress, Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project, and various other entities working on democracy promotion and human rights. During the course of her advocacy, she has met with government officials in Turkey, the United Kingdom, Lithuania, Canada, Germany, The Czech Republic, and the United States to raise the issues and discuss policy options to address the challenges posed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and needed changes to stop Uyghur genocide. She is fluent in Mandarin and resides in the Washington D.C. area with her family. Resources from the conversation Read Julie's tweet that sparked this interview Read Michael Martina's reporting in Reuters about the State Department's blocking of competitive actions targeting the CCP Read Michael's coverage of the Biden administration's diplomatic sacrifices to secure Secretary Blinken's trip to Beijing Follow Julie on Twitter Follow the Uyghur Human Rights Project on Twitter

In this episode of the Sage Advice podcast, host Chris Bonnell speaks with Allen Clarkson, Government Relations Manager at Western Governors University (WGU), discussing the incredible growth and evolution of the university over the years.Clarkson, who joined WGU as a contracted employee in 2005, shares his journey from grading papers for the IT college to becoming a pivotal part of WGU's expansion, holding 15 different titles in various departments. Initially intending to stay at WGU only for a short term, Clarkson was drawn in by the innovative model of the institution and the opportunity to contribute to something bigger.Underlining WGU's extraordinary growth from 2,000 to 132,000 active students, Clarkson attributes this success to the quality of education, commitment to innovation, and their focus on governmental relations. He discusses how WGU matured alongside internet technology, constantly learning to leverage it to better support students, and developing a unique model providing students with five points of contact within the faculty.However, the institution's expansion was not just about growing numbers but also about creating meaningful relationships with elected officials. WGU, originally founded by states for states, has never lost sight of its roots. The Government Relations team, including Clarkson, focuses on advancing policies that enhance access to education and uphold the credibility of a WGU degree. As a result, they've established partnerships with 13 affiliate states, creating opportunities for thousands of potential students.According to Clarkson, when partnering with a state, WGU doesn't focus on what they can gain but rather what they can contribute to the state and their students. Through this student-centric approach and consistent advocacy, WGU has grown into an institution beyond Clarkson's imagination.Bonnell's sage advice is inspired by Clarkson's favorite saying, "Don't leave 10 minutes before the miracle happens." He expresses gratitude for Clarkson's dedication and contributions to WGU's evolution, which illustrates the miraculous impact of staying committed to a vision.In all, this conversation offers insights into the remarkable growth of WGU, underlining the value of innovation, student-centricity, and beneficial partnerships.

In this episode of ICC Region I Radio, host Tim Spears sits down with Susan Dowty, Government Relations Manager with the International Code Council (ICC), to discuss the upcoming Building Safety Month and the resources offered by the ICC for local Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJs). Susan shares her background in the building codes industry, including her experience with the San Diego County Building Department and her involvement in code development, including being the structural secretariat for the first International Building Code (IBC). The conversation also covers the important role of government relations managers in making connections within the industry and the diverse considerations involved in making building standards. Tim and Susan discuss creative ideas for celebrating Building Safety Month, including the Lego contest for younger generations to engage in the importance of building safety. Susan also discusses the ICC's family of solutions, including the digital codes platform, community development solutions, and accreditation and recognition programs. Finally, they discuss how the government relations team adapted during the pandemic, utilizing virtual options for meetings and providing more opportunities to connect with industry professionals. If you're interested in the building codes industry, the importance of Building Safety Month, and the resources offered by the ICC, then this episode is a must-watch. Building Safety Month webpage: https://www.iccsafe.org/advocacy/building-safety-month/building-safety-month/ ICC Government Relations Team webpage: https://www.iccsafe.org/advocacy U.S. Federal Grant Programs: https://www.iccsafe.org/advocacy/federalgrants/ Digital Codes: https://codes.iccsafe.org/ ICC Career Center: https://jobs.iccsafe.org/ ICC Mentor Program: https://www.iccsafe.org/professional-development/safety2/#mentor Code and Standards page: https://www.iccsafe.org/products-and-services/codes-standards/

Explore Cynthia's journey from PhD student to Academic Manager at ETS Global B.V. Insights on transitions & internationality from over a decade of work & study.

In this episode, Neil Carberry interviews Samantha Beggs, our very own Campaigns and Government Relations Manager at the REC. They discuss the politics, economics and labour market drivers that will be informing Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt's Spring Budget announcement on 15 March. In this episode, you'll hear more about: The challenges the Chancellor will face around how to balance the books in light of reduced government spending, while boosting growth and providing support. How we obtain growth in the UK economy and what we need to do to get there, and what levelling up really means for local communities. The solutions the REC are taking to Government on behalf of the UK recruitment industry, and how we go about positioning a market that contributes over £42 billion to UK GDP a year.

Max Linder, Government Relations Manager at the American Academy of Neurology, provides a year-end update. This podcast is sponsored by argenx. Visit www.vyvgarthcp.com for more information.    

The Year-in-Review crew is back to discuss all things energy in 2022. Our panel answers questions about their top energy stories, ideas, projects, and podcast episodes of the year! Topics this year include: the Inflation Reduction Act, energy reliability, nuclear fusion, the Inflation Reduction Act, Miss Wisconsin (and now, Miss America!) Grace Stanke and her clean energy platform, electric vehicles, storage as the new solar, and the Inflation Reduction Act. (Notice a pattern?) Our panel includes: • Carrie Templeton, Chief of Staff to PSCW Chairperson Rebecca Valcq • Chris Hubbuch, energy reporter for the Wisconsin State Journal • Matthew Spencer, Director of Government Affairs, Madison Gas and Electric • Jennifer Shilling, Government Relations Manager, Dairyland Power Cooperative Our panel answers the question of what they'd do with “All the Power” in the industry with answers ranging from more news coverage of energy issues (guess!); encouraging Wisconsin's use of federal funds for clean energy projects; and, highlighting the positive work of the electric industry. Show Links: Spence & Chris - Favorite Episode of the Electric Wire: Electric Wire, Episode 28 - Shining a Light on Investor-Owned Utilities with Jeff Keebler https://youtu.be/M6g_x2Fd9XY Carrie - Favorite Episode of the Electric Wire: Episode 23: The Future of Utilities with Rebecca Ryan and Lauren Azar https://youtu.be/fgfVpRNS04o Jen - Favorite Episode(s!) of the Electric Wire: Electric Wire, Episode 24 - Nuclear Power and the Clean Energy Transition with Brent Ridge https://youtu.be/KGw0c7H8Vis Electric Wire, Episode 30 - Getting to Know Wisconsin's Electric Cooperatives https://youtu.be/sUjZS7wfNq4 Electric Wire, Episode 18 (2021) - New Energy for an Old Coal Plant: Beloit College Powerhouse Interview with Dan Schooff https://youtu.be/AsQh0eadEGA Kristin - Favorite Episode(s) of the Electric Wire: Electric Wire, Episode 27 - The Reality of Retail Choice with Laurel Peltier https://youtu.be/r6fD7EMD_BY Electric Wire, Episode 21 - A Second Wind: Recycling Wind Turbine Blades https://youtu.be/IebcxHpMf5M Chris Hubbuch's story about the Inflation Reduction Act and heat pumps: https://madison.com/news/local/environment/a-little-bit-for-everybody-how-the-inflation-reduction-act-boosts-clean-energy/article_d6e7fb5a-468f-5126-9b17-33d4883a7888.html Link to provide feedback about the Electric Wire podcast: https://forms.gle/yL5va4kR7RU4qiju8 Don't forget you can also give us some stars and leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts! Thanks for listening!

Kaden McArthur, Government Relations Manager at Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA), speaks with host Mike Leonard about a recent bill that would undermine the Wildlife Restoration Program, which exists thanks to the federal excise tax on firearms and ammunition. Rep. Andrew Clyde (GA-09) and 53 cosponsors introduced the RETURN our Constitutional Rights Act, which would eliminate the federal excise tax on firearms and ammunition. Hunters and the firearms industry lobbied for the creation of this excise tax, authorized in 1937, making the proposed elimination puzzling. While the proposed legislation offers a replacement for the tax, the replacement would be a cut to recent levels of funding. All this is to say, don't mess with a good thing - a highly popular user-funded conservation model that hunters and anglers are passionate about. Luckily, McArthur and Leonard don't think this bill will gain much traction. This bill does not make any changes to the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund, however, the precedent it sets underscores the importance of organizations, like ASA and BHA, having a presence on Capitol Hill to represent the interests of hunters and anglers. For more about BHA visit their website and listen to their podcast here. For ways to get involved in sportfishing policy visit https://keepamericafishing.org/ and https://asafishing.org/

Tragedy in Texas as 53 bodies are discovered in the back of a tractor trailer, an attempt to smuggle illegal aliens into the United States

Did you know that there are 400,000-500,000 animal exposures at over 700 PRCA (Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association) events each year? And that out of that huge number, less than 0.1% of those exposures results in an injury! Did you know that the PRCA collects injury reports from every single sanctioned event?  This podcast with Scott Dorenkamp, Livestock Program and Government Relations Manager, is full of all kinds of insightful information during this RodeoKids Podcast that will open your eyes and get you excited to share with other people! 

Internationally-sourced honey is essential for making baked goods such as honey wheat bread, breakfast cereal, honey buns, and more. But sky-high tariffs stemming from an active international trade case are threatening food makers' ability to not only procure - but pay for - this necessary ingredient. We break down what you need to know about this complicated, fast-moving issue as we talk with the experts about what this means for the baking industry, how ABA is tackling this issue with international trade entities, and what bakers can do. With special guests: Drew Felz, Government Affairs Representative, General Mills; Lee Sanders, Senior Vice President, Government Relations and Public Affairs, ABA and Zack Decker, Government Relations Manager, ABA

New technologies – from ride hailing to micromobility to sidewalk robots – could increase flexibility and convenience for city residents, but they can also create challenges with clutter, safety, logistics, and congestion.In this PAVEcast episode, we look at the lessons that the AV sector can learn from some of these product rollouts, how to improve communication and build informed consent with local communities and governments, and why these trust-building measures are in the technology's best interests.PanelistsMonica Laufer – Public Policy and Government Relations Manager, Argo AISabrina Sussman – Chief Administrative Officer and Senior Advisor, Ballast ResearchMarla Westervelt – Head of Policy, Coalition for Reimagined MobilityModeratorEd Niedermeyer - Communications Director, PAVE

Stemming from a role in the California State Assembly, Patrick MacFarlane quickly realized the importance of robust early care and education policy as a way to build thriving communities. A native of South Central Los Angeles, Patrick shares how his family's focus on service and commitment has shaped his passion for the child care field. He explains how his professional journey has challenged him to step up as a leader, and how he wants to inspire those around him. Together, Patrick and host Dr. Lynette Fraga discuss why fair wages are critical to sustaining the child care field, and what is needed for a more equitable system.  Patrick MacFarlane is the Government Relations Manager at Child Care Resource Center, where he leads their state and local public policy advocacy. Patrick also serves as a California Senate appointee to the Early Childhood Policy Council Parent Advisory Committee, and on the Los Angeles County Child Care Planning Committee. Patrick is currently a Policy Fellow with the National Black Child Development Institute.  Patrick is a former Public Policy Associate at Crystal Stairs, Inc. and previously served as Senior Field Representative with the California State Assembly. Very active in his community, Patrick serves as VP of Administration for Los Angeles County Young Democrats and as VP of Chapters and Societies for the Loyola High School Alumni Association Board. A University of Arizona graduate, Patrick was born and raised in Los Angeles, where he resides with his wife Raquel and 4-year-old daughter Leah. "A Seat at the Table” is an award-winning podcast produced by Child Care Aware® of America, the nation's leading voice on child care. Listen and subscribe at www.childcareaware.org/TheTable.  

Max Linder, Government Relations Manager at the American Academy of Neurology, provides a year-end update.

Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. Your host is  Kelly Molson, MD of Rubber Cheese.Download our free ebook The Ultimate Guide to Doubling Your Visitor NumbersIf you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue or visit our website rubbercheese.com/podcastIf you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review, it really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned in this episode.Competition ends April 29th 2022. The winner will be contacted via Twitter. Show references: https://www.ukhospitality.org.uk/https://twitter.com/UKHospKatehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-nicholls-093b0514/ Kate Nicholls is CEO of UKHospitality, the powerful voice representing the broad hospitality sector, having previously worked as CEO and Strategic Affairs Director of the ALMR.In July 2019, Kate was appointed Chair of the Tourism Alliance, the membership organisation for the tourism industry comprising of leading trade associations/trade bodies within the sector. Kate is also Chair of Mayor of London's Night Time Commission and is also a member of the Events Industry Board, London Food Board, Tourism Industry Council, Cultural Cities Enquiry, London & Partners Members Group and the Advisory Board for the Institute for Industrial Strategy.After gaining a degree in English and a post-graduate diploma in competition law, Kate worked as a researcher in the House of Commons and European Parliament before joining Whitbread as Government Relations Manager, starting her career in hospitality in 1993. Kate was Director at one of the largest independent public affairs companies, working with a number of hospitality, retail and leisure accounts before establishing her own strategic communications consultancy in 2000. She is a graduate of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge and Kings College London.A highly motivated Board-level adviser with a proven track record in devising and delivering strategic public policy and communication campaigns. Over 25 years experience working in a variety of government, corporate, agency and freelance roles. Transcription:Kelly Molson: Welcome to Skip the Queue, a podcast for people working in or working with visitor attractions. I'm your host, Kelly Molson. Each episode, I speak with industry experts from the attractions world. In today's episode, I speak with Kate Nicholls, CEO of UKHospitality and the Co-chair of the London Tourism Recovery Board. Kate answers your burning questions on how to attract and maintain talent in the current challenging climate. If you like what you hear, subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue.Kelly Molson: Kate, thank you so much for coming on the podcast today. I know how incredibly busy you are, so I'm very grateful.Kate Nicholls: Thank you. It's great to be with you. I don't think I've had any time in the last two years really where it hasn't been incredibly busy, so it's good to take some time out and have a chance to have a chat. So thank you for having me.Kelly Molson: You are very welcome. You are very welcome. I'm glad I could give you that time. Right, Kate, icebreaker questions, because this is where we start all of our podcast interviews. I want to know what is at the top of your bucket list?Kate Nicholls: Ooh, well, for the last two summers we'd been planning ... My eldest was just about to go to University when COVID hit, and for the last two summers we'd been planning to go to Costa Rica as a sort of last big family holiday. And of course that's been canceled for the last two years. So top of my bucket list at the moment is to go on holiday with my two daughters, ideally Costa Rica, but actually I'd settle for anywhere at the moment. I haven't really had a proper break. But yeah, Costa Rica.Kelly Molson: Costa Rica, definitely. Yeah. I hear you. I feel like anywhere with some sun right now would probably do you the world a good, Kate.Kate Nicholls: Exactly.Kelly Molson: Okay. If you could bring back any fashion trend, what would it be?Kate Nicholls: Well, to be fair, they've never gone away from my wardrobe, but I would really like to bring back the wrap dress. They were such a good staple for anybody who worked in the '80s and '90s and the early '00s. Quite like to bring them back as a major fashion trend.Kelly Molson: Yeah, good. Can't go wrong with a wrap dress, can you? Boots, wrap dress, cardie, done.Kate Nicholls: You can't. Very forgiving, pair with boots or heels or flats or trainers, and you can just adjust it according to how you're feeling during the week.Kelly Molson: It's the perfect work-to-evening outfit. They're perfect.Kate Nicholls: Exactly.Kelly Molson: Okay, Kate, and this might be a little bit like asking you what your favourite child is, but I want to know what your favourite restaurant is?Kate Nicholls: Oh, that's the difficult one because it changes so much depending on how I'm feeling and the time of day and what I'm doing. But during the lockdown, my local Korean cafe has been my go-to place for getting a quick fix, some comfort food, and they've kept me going throughout lockdown. I'm a big fan of street food.Kelly Molson: Oh yeah, love street food. We have a really big street food community in Cambridge, actually, and it's just amazing, isn't it? Like being able to try all those different cuisines in one place? Fantastic.Kate Nicholls: It is. It is. And I think I've got kind of a butterfly brain, so being able to go try lots of little things, lots of little samples and eat that kind of stuff is great. But the other thing we did do over the summer, my daughter and I, we went and celebrated the new three Michelin star female chefs that we had in London that were awarded. So again, I go from street food to high-end.Kelly Molson: Love it. Absolutely love it. Okay, Kate, it's unpopular opinion time. I ask everybody that comes on the podcast to share an unpopular opinion with us. It can be humorous, can be serious, whatever it needs to have to be your unpopular opinion.Kate Nicholls: Well, I did think long and hard about this one because there are so many unpopular opinions I think I could have. But if I'm sort of talking about the biggest one that would sort of divide a lot of people, cats are better than dogs. I'm really not a dog person.Kelly Molson: Oh, okay.Kate Nicholls: That's going to be controversial and split.Kelly Molson: It's very controversial. And I'm not going to lie, I've got two dogs, so I am a dog person. But Kate, my dogs are a nightmare at the moment. We've had a flea situation this year. I've got a very noisy little dachshund who is absolutely filthy. The weather is disgusting. You have to go out with them all the time. Cats are sounding more and more appealing to me by the day.Kate Nicholls: Cats are sort of neat, clean, undemanding. They're not as problematic as dogs. I always think dogs, you feel as though you've got another kid in the house. I mean, my unpopular opinion is based on the fact that I did have a nasty encounter with a dog when I was little, so I am quite scared of them. But yeah, dogs are not as good as cats.Kelly Molson: All right. Well, let's see what our listeners think. I'm not going to lie because it's the time of year I'm swaying towards a swaying cat, Kate. Yeah. You might have changed my opinion there. Nice. Listen, thank you again for coming on the podcast. I really do appreciate it. I mean, I'd be super gobsmacked if anybody that's listening to this podcast episode doesn't know who you are, but just give us a little brief overview of what your role is at the moment, just to explain how critical it has been over the past couple of years.Kate Nicholls: Yeah. So I'm currently Chief Executive at UKHospitality. That's the national trade body that represents hospitality operators and businesses and employers. And so we have 700 member companies. Between them, they operate just over 100,000 outlets across the UK, from a single-site pub, coffee shop, cafe, restaurant, park bar, hotel, holiday accommodation, right the way through to the national chains.Kate Nicholls: Our role as the trade body is to be the voice and face of the industry to promote the sector as a great place to grow, work, and invest, to engage with the government, to make sure we've got the most supportive regulatory and tax environment within which businesses can thrive and survive. And then to provide insight, advice, and guidance to our members on the way in which they can operate to be compliant and to help their businesses grow.Kate Nicholls: And so normally that's quite a broad-based role, but it was really front and centre as soon as COVID hit because clearly, we've got inbound tourism. We've got hotels that were hit first. City centre restaurants, pubs, and bars started to feel the effects of COVID back in February. And really since February ... I mean my first meeting on COVID with the government was the 28th of January last year.Kate Nicholls: And since then, it's been pretty full-on making sure that in real-time we can present the views, concerns, impact of COVID on our business sector and try and make sure that we get the support needed to sustain those businesses, to maintain the employment, to protect jobs within the industry when we've been so hard hit by COVID.Kate Nicholls: So really a big role with government, meeting government ministers and officials two, three, four times a week at the height of the crisis, and also being on the media to try and explain what the impact is of what appeared to be relatively small scale changes, what big impact that can have on business viability and really spelling it out to make sure that people understand what that means potentially longer term in terms of viable businesses, the economy, employment in the UK.Kelly Molson: And, as I said, you have been the spokesperson for the sector throughout the pandemic. And I have to say, Kate, you were in my top five Twitter accounts that I followed continuously throughout. So I had Kate's, I had Bernard Donoghue, I had ALVA, ASVA and Blooloop. And that was my top five to find out what the hell was going on in the sectors that we worked in. So thank you so much for sharing and for doing that role.Kelly Molson: So what I want to talk about today is about attracting and retaining talent within the attractions and hospitality sectors. But I guess, from a ... I don't run an attraction. I work with them. I'm an associate in that sector. So I guess I want to ask a couple of questions about the general public and what we can do right now.Kelly Molson: So we have a situation in our local town. I live in a town called Saffron Walden just outside Cambridge, a beautiful town, a market town, lots of lovely pubs. One of my favourite pubs, which is one of a chain, has had to close for a good couple of months now. And essentially, it closed because some of its other restaurants were so overwhelmed and so busy but so short-staffed that they had to redistribute staff from our pub to their pubs.Kelly Molson: And I guess that's happening in a lot of different places as well. So if we're unable to book a table because a venue is short-staffed, what can we, as the general public, do right now to support the sector?Kate Nicholls: Well, I think it does highlight a challenge that the industry has got. It's more acute in certain parts of the country, but up until Omicron hit and we were all going back eating and drinking out more regularly, the industry as a whole just did not have sufficient labour to be able to operate at full strength. So a quarter of our businesses in the same situation as the one you just describe saying that they were having to restrict hours, cut covers, not open for certain days of the week, turn away bookings simply because they didn't have the staff.Kate Nicholls: So I think as the general public, what we can do with those businesses is try and be a bit more creative in supporting them. Is there a different time that we can book? Because everybody tries to book dinner or lunch at the same time. Can we spread it out a little bit throughout the day? Can we look at going for early suppers or late suppers or brunches or afternoons? If we can't, then can we help them in other ways if they're still doing takeaway, if they're still doing delivery, we can support our businesses in that way. Or booking ahead in advance and making sure that we take out gift cards and those kinds of creative solutions some of our businesses have done where you can get cash through the tills and book two or three meals in advance.Kate Nicholls: So that's a main bit of support. The second thing is that if you do have a booking and your plans change and you can't make it, let them know, and let them know in sufficient time. Because we still are getting quite a lot of no-shows that people make these bookings, something changes. Plans always change, we do know that, but people aren't letting them know. And particularly at the moment when you've got larger scale bookings for Christmas, people will have bought that food in well in advance and will start cooking it well in advance, so you do need to let them know the day before or at least a good couple of hours before if you can't make your booking, and then they can pass it onto somebody on a waiting list.Kelly Molson: That actually leads to another question is how is the sector feeling right now? So with Omicron, with the Christmas rush, what's the general mood like in the hospitality sector at the moment? Are we seeing a lot of people booking, cancelling reservations that they have for large groups of people? Is it quieter than it should be?Kate Nicholls: Quieter than it would be at a normal Christmas. So even before we had Omicron, we knew that we weren't having the same level of bookings as we were seeing Christmas 2019 and previously, so trade is down. We have seen cancellations. They're running at about 10% at the moment, and we have seen a downturn in footfall over the last week. Not just for those bookings and corporate events, Christmas parties, Christmas socials, but just a more general decline in walk-in bookings and walk-in activity. So we are seeing revenues down over the course of the last week, 15, 20%, and that's as a result of the uncertainty.Kate Nicholls: There's a high degree of nervousness within the industry and a great degree of fear at the moment because we've all been in this situation before. Sadly, this time last year, people will have invested heavily to be able to open and operate at Christmas, and unless you get that Christmas trade-in, it can be very damaging to the businesses. They rely on having a good December in order to get them through the quieter months of January to March. And without that good December, there are many businesses that will undoubtedly go to the wall. What should be a very optimistic and hopeful time has, in the space of a week, turned to be very uncertain and very concerning.Kelly Molson: Okay. So look, some great advice there from Kate. If we can look at when you're booking, changing times, if you can look at supporting your local restaurants by booking gift vouchers, for example, or if they are doing takeaway, please do do that and let's try and get them through this really difficult period that we're seeing.Kelly Molson: Now Kate, as I said, I want to talk about attracting and retaining talent in the visitor attraction sector. I don't run an attraction. So what I did, and what I thought was a good idea, is to ask some of the past guests that have been on to ask me to ask you questions. And I've had some fantastic questions in from many of the different guests that we've had on. So let me just ask you a few of the things that have come in. Gordon Morrison, the CEO of ASVA, and Adam Goymour, park director at ROARR! Dinosaur Adventure, actually had really, really similar questions. So let me read out what Gordon wrote over because he puts it far more eloquently than I ever could.Kelly Molson: So Gordon said, "Staff are the beating heart of every tourism business and can undoubtedly make the visitor experience memorable both positively and negatively. As we face up to what is quite possibly the most difficult recruitment and retention environment in the tourism industry has ever seen, is it right that we should continue to rely on our people so heavily to deliver outstanding experiences? And if so, how do we ensure that our businesses are attractive, and how do we keep that top talent in the industry?"Kate Nicholls: I think this is the number one issue that all operators are grappling with at the moment as we come out and we've got a very tight labour market and we've got a real battle just to get staff in, nevermind the battle for talent that we had going into COVID. So we were already facing those challenges. I do think what we need to do is to use COVID as a reset moment and look again at our ways of working, style of working, what we're expecting of people. This gives us an opportunity to revise terms and conditions and to look again at hours of work in the sector to make sure that we are being as flexible as we possibly can and we are being as responsive as we possibly can to what new recruits are telling us.Kate Nicholls: Because we've got lots of new, younger people coming into the industry, many have had no experience before and are questioning, quite rightly, some of the ways that we do things. So particularly in food and beverages and things like that, less so in attractions, but you do get some antisocial hours. You do get double shifts. And people have different ways of paying people. And I think the labour scheduling and the flexibility that we can provide should be a positive rather than it being something that holds us back.Kate Nicholls: So I do think we can look again at making sure that we are as attractive as we possibly can be and that we've got our best foot forward. I think secondly, what we need to be doing as an industry is to look after the sector's employer brand. Individual business is very good at doing this, promoting themselves as a career of choice, but we want to get across the fact that we're a career and we have a great plethora of opportunities available to people if they come and work within our businesses.Kate Nicholls: Because we're an industry largely of small and independent businesses, we don't have the size and scale, but I think we can look again at the sector branding to be able to make sure we put the best foot forward, that we describe how important it is as a career, how meritocratic it is. Because there's no sector likes ours that provides young people with such opportunity where you can come in with limited experience, limited qualifications and skills. We will upskill you very rapidly and you can move into management within about two years. There's no other sector that will give you that level of responsibility and authority at such a young age and at such a low level within the business, and the pay and salary that goes alongside it.Kate Nicholls: So I think there's more we can do around that in terms of communicating career of choice. And also communicating that even if you only want to come with us for a short time, we will equip you with common transferrable skills that other employers will find valuable; business, finance, people management, leadership, conflict management. You get that by working in hospitality businesses and visitor economy businesses, again, at a very low entry-level, and these are soft skills, people skills that are valuable at all levels.Kate Nicholls: And then the final element is about making sure that we do invest in our people, that we do train them to provide continuing professional development and we invest in leadership and management as people go through. We're very good at taking people at entry-level and doing the immediate skills and training they need to be able to function. We need to look at how we can continue to invest in those people. That's what young people particularly are looking for from careers and employers now.Kelly Molson: Yeah, absolutely. It's really interesting what you said about the soft skills as well, because I think that one of the best starts that I ever had to my working career was working in hospitality and in retail because it gave me so much experience of understanding how to talk to people, how to communicate with people. And from that customer service perspective as well. I think it gave me such a good grounding in my career, and all of those skills I learnt then, I've taken through into what I do now in terms of sales and an account management role.Kate Nicholls: Absolutely. And if you think about some of the young people who've been most affected by COVID and had their schooling disrupted, their social lives disrupted for a couple of years, those are the skills that they are lacking. When teachers are talking about young people coming back into school, it's time management. It's personnel skills. It's social skills. It's communication. That's what they get from us.Kelly Molson: Yeah. Completely, completely agree. Mark Ellis, who's the interim lead at the National Memorial Arboretum, actually has asked a question that picks up on some of your earlier points there. He says that, "One of the outcomes of the industry-wide staffing shortage is that staff are able to negotiate a better work-life balance, which is a really good thing. Ultimately that is going to lead to better conditions throughout the industry, hopefully, more job satisfaction, higher standards and a better customer experience." Mark asks, "Do you think that we will see the appearance of some widely-accepted examples of best practice?" So things like how businesses will manage seasonal contracts or flexible hours or unsociable hours like you mentioned?Kate Nicholls: Yes. I think we will start to see that evolving as we go further forward and as we come out of this. I think that's what I mean by a COVID reset moment, that we can look again at the ways that we've done things to be able to offer that kind of attractive proposition to people. So moving away from some of the zero-hours contracts, moving away from some of the seasonal changes where people don't have that much certainty, and towards one that is focused on what the applicant is looking for and wanting and the flexibility that they're needing, and presenting it in a way which is appealing to them.Kate Nicholls: I think we will, if we work carefully at it, I think there's a great opportunity for us across the entire sector to pick up some of those really good case studies and examples and promote them and push them out around the sector so that we have a positive employability story to tell.Kelly Molson: That is great. Now, I'm going to pick up on that a little bit later on because we've had a really good question about that very topic. Let me ask you about the supply chain, though, and again, this is another question from Mark at the National Memorial Arboretum. So the supply chain at the moment is disrupted. Food costs are increasing. We all need to find a more sustainable way to feed humanity. What can we do as an industry, and this is the attractions industry, to help the public recognise that hospitality outlets that source locally, use seasonal ingredients, increase their plant-based options, that they are the best place to respond to these pressures? But at the same time, costs are going to rise through dual pressure of food and wage increases.Kate Nicholls: Well, I think this is going to be a collective challenge for all of us because it's inevitable that with the cost pressures that we've got that are building across the sector, and not just our sector but across the economy, prices are going to have to go up to consumers irrespective of what we're talking about in terms of local sourcing, et cetera, and the positive efforts we've got. So I think as an industry we're going to have to work to be able to communicate to consumers clearly why we are having to put prices up post-pandemic, and it is going to be a struggle and a challenge and there's going to be that juggling act which there always is around pricing decisions about how far you can push prices onto consumers before you turn off demand.Kate Nicholls: But with VAT alone going up, there is going to have to be a price increase that we are going to have to pass on. So I think that's one challenge that we need to look at separately. I think the advantage is it's going to be across the economy as a whole and we're not going to be doing it in isolation. So I think customers are going to get more used to hearing about prices and hearing about costs coming through.Kate Nicholls: And then I think, you're right, there is a real opportunity there for turning that conversation around and explaining about how local sourcing is more beneficial, meets the broader sustainability issues that consumers are increasingly concerned about. Not just consumers, potential employees. So sustainability and environmental and social governance issues are coming higher up the agenda when we're talking about recruitment and putting ourselves out as an attractive proposition.Kate Nicholls: People are looking for authentic stories about local sourcing, local supply chain, carbon net zero, limiting waste, all of those kind of positive issues that we can turn to our advantage. But I do think customers understand it doesn't come cost-free. So I think they are two sides of the same coin. I don't think we should be apologetic about the fact that we need to be able to invest in good quality produce in order to deliver a more sustainable food supply chain.Kelly Molson: Do you think those conversations are slightly easier to have now as well, since the pandemic? Because I think what we did see when attractions were able to open up and hospitality were able to open up is that we saw a huge increase in demand for things that were local. We wanted to understand more about our local environment. We wanted to be able to support our local independents. So do you think that's going to be an easier conversation to have now that we're in that mindset already?Kate Nicholls: I think so. I think COVID provides us with that opportunity. Certainly one of the strong trends, and it sees no sign of abating as we come out of COVID, localism and hyperlocalism was a trend we saw during lockdown when, inevitably if you can't travel, you explore in your neighborhood. But even as we reopened, people were exploring in their locality before they've got confident enough to go further across the country or into city centres. And clearly you're moving away from global travel for two years. Again, those are trends that become sticky with consumers and consumers are interested in hearing and exploring it more.Kate Nicholls: So I think neighbourhood is going to stick with us for a lot longer. Certainly as well in terms of the different ways in which we work, I don't think it's going to be as polarised as in the office or at home, but I do think you're going to be working remotely and people are going to be looking at neighbourhood and local options to be able to facilitate that. So I do think that that frees up the conversation to be had more generally about how we are making a more sustainable, more robust, more resilient supply chain by looking locally. But equally, that doesn't come cost-free.Kelly Molson: Absolutely. Let's talk about opening hours. So Mark had a really good question around that. So he says, "Over the last few months, as venues have reopened, we've seen many places change their opening hours, and that's to enable them to offer fair shifts for their staff in response to business needs." He actually says some are open fewer days each week, and some are closing earlier. The micropub and brewpub and taphouse that he tends to frequent, he does put in brackets here, "On an all too infrequent basis though. Nights out are a rare treat. But they're all offering a brilliant experience with great staff during their opening hours. Does Kate think that the public will learn to understand that not opening all hours is a new thing to be embraced, or do you think that pressure to increase the venues to go back to 11:00 to 11:00 will be the norm?"Kate Nicholls: I think it's probably too early to say yet with consumers and consumer habits and trends because I don't think people are going out in the same way that they were yet. What we have seen after this reopening, post the 19th of July, that there is an expectation from consumers to go back to normal and they're not very forgiving of those who aren't. So I think consumers during COVID have got used to having things when they want it, at the time that they want it, and rapidly, and they don't take kindly to things not being available for them.Kate Nicholls: So I suspect it will be more challenging to have that on a longer-term basis if that's a longer way of working. What we do know, however, is that what consumers really don't like is uncertainty. So if they can guarantee that you are always open for these particular days, these particular hours, they will understand that more readily than they turn up at your door and you're not open today because you can't get the staff. That's the bit that seems to create the disconnect.Kate Nicholls: And what we don't have yet is a loyal customer base back. So if they can't get it from you, they will go and find it somewhere else is what we're seeing very rapidly. So I don't think it means that everybody has to go back to 11:00 to 11:00, seven days a week and full service, but you do need to get back to some consistency and some standardisation for customers. And certainly what we're finding in the restaurant side, for example, are quite a lot of businesses in city centres are closing Monday and Tuesday, and that causes a degree of confusion for consumers when they're back out.Kate Nicholls: Now, having said that, our customer habits are going to change a little bit again over Christmas if we do have restrictions brought back in due to Omicron and therefore customers again will be adapting to changes and the ways that they're doing things and changes in the ways of working. But I do think that will depend on where you are located. If you are located in a city centre and people are not visiting the city centre as regularly, you need to have that certainty about when you are available and open that matches and meets with them. If you are in a local neighbourhood and a local area and you're part of the community, I think there will be increasing pressure back being available when the customers want you.Kelly Molson: Earlier in this question you mentioned that it's too early to tell because we're not seeing the demand, we're not seeing people going out as frequently as they were. It's a difficult question, but how long do you think that we need to leave it until we do start to see some data around that?Kate Nicholls: Again, I think that's difficult to be able to work out because of the uncertainties of new variants and changes in restrictions. We haven't had a clear consistent period where we've been able to trade normally. Had we not had Omicron coming along, I think we would have got a better feel for it. After Christmas, we would have been able to look back at five, six months where we could see what customers were doing, how confident they were, and could try and see trading was doing without the blips that were caused by supply chain shortages, delivery shortages, pingdemics, labour shortages across our industry. I suspect that it's going to be until the middle of next year before you can really start to plan with any certainty around what's stuck, what's a long-term trend and what's something that you're nudging consumer behaviour around.Kelly Molson: Thank you. You mentioned earlier about sharing best practices and we've had a great question from Hannah Monteverde who's the Park Manager at BeWILDerwood in Cheshire. So Hannah says, "It's not always feasible to be able to offer an increased salary or market-leading benefits." She'd be really interested to know of any examples of curveball ideas that have attracted staff recently. Do you have any case studies or examples of attractions that you feel have really bucked the trend for recruitment particularly well?Kate Nicholls: I think the ones that are doing interesting stuff around flexible hours, hours when you want it, more frequent pay. One of the things that we found across our sector was that people were getting paid after four weeks, six weeks in some cases when they were a new starter, compared to some of the newer startup companies and labour scheduling companies and temporary recruitment from Amazon where they were getting paid within the week. So as soon as they did a shift, they were getting paid.Kate Nicholls: And actually that was something that people found was really attractive, that as soon as they'd done their job, they were getting their pay almost immediately, so a return almost back to weekly pay packets was quite an interesting one. It's not necessarily creative or curveball, but it's just listening to what people were saying that was a frustration for them that they wanted to be able to have.Kate Nicholls: Food, uniforms, selling those kinds of benefits, the walking to work for anybody who's in a local attraction or provision of transport for those people who were off the beaten track and people relying upon cars, et cetera. Those are things that have been used quite creatively. And then flexible labour scheduling, giving people the ability to tell the employer when they were available to work and how many hours they had rather than getting that rota coming down on a fixed basis saying, "This is when we rota-ed you and you have to go away and work out somebody else to swap with if it coincides with your yoga class or your student lesson or a GP's appointment."Kate Nicholls: So I think putting more power in the hands of the employees and giving them the ability to be able to ask for what they want, when they want, hours and pay, those are the two creative ones I've seen most frequently.Kelly Molson: That's fascinating. I mean, the crux of it is flexibility, ultimate flexibility as the employee. That is such a simple change to be paid weekly, so that instant gratification, "I've done a really good job. I've been paid for it." What a simple change to be able to make that could make such a big difference.Kate Nicholls: Yeah. And there's technology that enables you to do it now. So on the labour scheduling front in terms of, "I'm available for these hours and I'd like some work." Stint provides the opportunity and there's labour scheduling that provides the opportunity to do that, to just log on and say, "I can do four hours," rather than, "I can do a full day." And that sometimes is better. And equally, there's technology that allows you to drawdown. So if the business still wants to keep a monthly salary payroll, you can draw down earlier ahead of your salary, so you just get it a bit more when you've been doing your work. Particularly relevant for young people coming into the sector.Kelly Molson: Yeah, absolutely. And hopefully retaining them for a little bit longer, because that is the challenge with the sector is that it has always been seen as a bit of a stopgap, hasn't it? And ideally, we want to-Kate Nicholls: It has, and in some respects, we shouldn't be apologetic for that because it is a good first job. It's a good first base. Transferrable skills that we talked about before. We obviously want to keep and capture those people who want to use it as a career. But equally, given the labour shortages we're facing, if we can keep those people with us for longer who are just looking at it as a stopgap, that's all to the good as well. And that's about making sure we invest in them and make sure that they're supported as they come into the company.Kate Nicholls: Because at the moment, churn is so high across the sector as a whole. People come in, find that the work's too busy, too demanding, not for them, and they go away again. So let's just support them, nurture them and try and help to make sure that they have as good an experience as they can while they're with us.Kelly Molson: Definitely. Final question for you from our attractions audience. And again, this is from Hannah. So Hannah asks, "Do we have any realistic idea of timescales in terms of the forecast for recovery?" And this is specifically around the recruitment challenges that we're having at the moment. She asks, "Is this something that we have to adapt and change to live within the long term, or is it something that we could potentially predict will slowly improve and recover back to a pre-Brexit and pre-COVID-19 scenario?"Kate Nicholls: Gosh. There are two factors to that, particularly if we're talking about labour markets. So the government-commissioned independent research to look at when domestic tourism for fallen revenues would recover to pre-pandemic levels, and I suppose that's the best indicator of when do you think demand is going to get up there? When do you think your money is going to come back? And the independent forecast suggested that domestic tourism revenues would recover by the end of 2023 and international, that's not until 2024.Kate Nicholls: Now the government has said it will work with the industry to try and bring that forward a year, but that still looks as though you're going to have most of 2022 where you are operating suboptimally, that you're not operating at full demand. And I think in terms of labour shortages and challenges, again, likely to be temporary but let's not forget that pre-COVID, we had a 5% vacancy rate. Post-COVID, it's 10%. So it was a tight labour market before we went into the COVID crisis.Kate Nicholls: How temporary is temporary? I think you're going to be living with cost price inflation and the disruption to the supply chain for at least six months of 2022 and I think the labour issues are going to be with us probably for a year or two. If nothing else changes, our biggest challenge for getting people back into work is twofold. One is we've got a hiatus in the talent pipeline where we haven't been able to train our own. Our apprentices haven't been able to go through people and vocational training, haven't been able to go through catering colleges, et cetera. Haven't been able to go through because people have been disrupted in education.Kate Nicholls: And the same goes at the higher levels for hospitality degrees, but also curator jobs and those kinds of occupational training skilled jobs in the sector. So you've got a two-year talent hiatus, talent pipeline hiatus, and you've got COVID travel restrictions that are preventing people from moving globally. And you can only see what's happened with Omicron to see that that's going to be with us probably for at least another year. So you are going to have a global disrupted labour market and you're going to have global disrupted supply chains for at least another year.Kelly Molson: Gosh. Another year of this.Kate Nicholls: Sorry.Kelly Molson: Weren't we saying this last year? We were nearly-Kate Nicholls: I don't mean that we're going to be having another year of COVID restrictions or the challenges that we've got, but I think the global supply chain, the global economy is still going to be in quite an uncertain state for the whole of 2022. And people certainly won't be moving around the globe as freely as they have been pre-pandemic. We're not going to get back to that sort of free movement. It's nothing to do with Brexit, but just that movement of people isn't going to be happening to the same degree, hence you've got a delay in domestic and international recovery. You've got a delay in international recovery.Kate Nicholls: The people who've moved abroad during COVID or people who would normally be coming into the UK to look for work or those with settled status who might be returning, they're not moving around because of COVID and they're not moving around because of the problems of international travel.Kelly Molson: Kate, thank you. Thank you so much for answering the questions today. It's been incredible to have you on. I'd like to end the podcast the way that I always end the podcast which is to ask you about a book that you could recommend to our listeners. It might be something that you love. It might be something that's helped your career in some way or helped shape your career in some way. What would you recommend for us today?Kate Nicholls: I am a voracious reader, so I usually have three or four books on the go at any one time. But I'm definitely a fiction reader. I've got two books. One that was really ... is a business book that I found really quite useful when I first was made chief executive about six, seven years ago. And that was Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In, which I would definitely recommend for any female leaders in the industry to look at. It talks about some of the different ways that people experience things at work and certainly helped me to think about how I wanted to support the next generation of women coming up and making sure that we had more female representation on boards.Kate Nicholls: And then my absolute favourite book, which is my go-to book at any time that I just want a little bit of escapism and a really good story is Wuthering Heights. However bad you're feeling, there's always something entertaining and enjoyable in getting lost in somebody else's story and that's my recommended read.Kelly Molson: Fantastic recommendations. I actually do remember on Twitter you tweeting photos of your book pile, your COVID book pile. They were huge.Kate Nicholls: Yeah. Because everybody knows I'm a reader and I read an awful lot, at Christmas I get big ... And that's what everybody buys me as a gift. So I always get quite a lot of books at Christmas, and last Christmas I got 20. And as we went into lockdown, of January, I thought, "Right, can I complete my reading pile before we come out of lockdown?" Actually, I had to go and buy another 30 books. By the time we came out of lockdown on the 19th of July, I had read 56 books.Kelly Molson: Oh my goodness, 56 ... Well, I guess books are a much better option than getting socks for Christmas, right?Kate Nicholls: Absolutely. Absolutely. So yes, I do have big piles. I still have piles of books all over the house that I'm still reading. But yeah, I usually have ... I finish three books a week.Kelly Molson: Oh, I love that. Well, listen, so if you want to win a copy of Kate's books, you know what to do. Go over to this podcast announcement on Twitter, retweet the announcement with the words I want Kate's books, and you might well be in with a chance of winning them. Kate, thank you once again for coming on the podcast today. Very, very grateful that you've been able to spare us some time to come on and chat, and I very much hope that you get that well-deserved rest and holiday to Costa Rica sometime very soon.Kate Nicholls: Thank you so much. It's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you for having me.Kelly Molson: Thanks for listening to Skip the Queue. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five-star review. It really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned. Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. You can find show notes and transcriptions from this episode and more over on our website rubbercheese.com/podcast.

On episode 60, we talk with Chris Worrell, Government Relations Manager of EDF about the key clean energy provisions in both the infrastructure and Build Back Better bills at the federal level. Importantly, we discuss how these bills would impact North Carolina and where we can expect funding to fall in our state. Additional resources from today's episode: Toyota Battery Manufacturing Announcement: https://bit.ly/3GxmYat NCSEA Clean Energy Award Winners: https://vimeo.com/nccleanenergy Clean Energy Champions Event Recording: https://bit.ly/31STLYg Research Triangle Cleantech Cluster Event Recap: https://bit.ly/3pP6FPH NCSEA Annual Giving Campaign: http://energync.org/their-tomorrow/ Presented by NC Sustainable Energy Association. Hosted and produced by Matt Abele (Twitter: @MattAbele) Be sure to follow us on Instagram at @squeakycleanpodcast.

One quality that has set women apart within the society is Multi-tasking. I see this expressed i the Proverbs 31 Woman; 'She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. "Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all." Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.'     in this episode of the phenomenal woman series I shared the stage with Eriye Onagoruwa,Eriye Onagoruwwa is a financial literacy expert, author and public speaker, Eriye is a multi-skilled professional with about two decades of post-graduation experience in the energy industry.She is skilled in gas and power multi-party contract negotiations and has proven commercial acumen in concluding complex gas and power projects and development frameworks, refinery commercial transactions and complex stakeholder management. She represented Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) as the commercial lead in the SPDC JV commercial negotiations covering multi-million dollar projects, worked on several NAOC JV commercial initiatives including its first IPP Power plant and led the company's refinery expansion project with NNPC.She also served as vice-chairman of the gas sub-committee of the Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS) of the Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry (LCCI).Eriye's career transitioned in 2019 from major oil and gas commercial transactions to stakeholder management, external affairs and sustainability. She is currently the External Affairs and Government Relations Manager for Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited.When she is not negotiating energy deals, impacting lives through corporate social responsibility initiatives or executing corporate affairs strategies, she is imagining a fictional world of endless possibilities, discussing financial literacy and investments or contributing opinion editorials to leading media outlets in Nigeria and beyond.Her first novel, Dear Alaere, a captivating tale of a woman's persistence in the face of love, hate, rivalry, betrayal and other travails, was published by Paperworth Books in 2020. In Dear Alaere, Eriye examines a woman's quest for the much-elusive work-life balance and societal acceptance in Nigeria's commercial epicenter, Lagos. She holds a Masters of Law in International Law and Policy from University of Ottawa, Canada. She is a member of the Chartered institute of Arbitrators England (Nigerian Branch).Her definition of success is living for impact and in service to humanity – and these are her greatest drivers in life.IG: @eriyeonagoruwaSupport the show

The 5Cs Framework of the Age-Friendly Public Health Systems                              "TFAH wanted to provide an opportunity to explore and expand public health's role in aging. Our goal is that state and local public health departments across the country become age-friendly public health systems. This means they recognize aging as a core public health issue and then leverage all their skills and capacity to dive in and improve older adults' health and well-being." -Megan Wolfe, JD (03:08-03:35) Americans are living longer and more productive lives than ever before and we’re going to see a rise in both the number and proportion of older adults – to nearly a quarter of the population by 2060. That’s 98 million people…and means if you were born in 1995 or earlier, we are talking about you and what you’re going to need as you get older. This will not only be the largest number of older adults in our history, but they will also be the most racially and ethnically diverse older population we’ve ever seen.  In line with that, in today's episode of This Is Getting Old, we will be talking about Age-Friendly Public Health Systems as part of our Age-Friendly Ecosystem Series.  In five previous podcasts, we talked about the history of the Age-Friendly Health Systems initiative and the 4M's. Today I am joined by Megan Wolfe, who is with Trust for America's Health – a non-partisan public health policy, research, and advocacy organization that envisions a nation that values health and well-being for all. The good news in talking about an Age-Friendly Public Health system today is that the COVID pandemic has illustrated the critical role public health plays in our daily lives, both as American and global citizens. Public health’s mission to improve the health and safety of our nation has not been in the forefront for as long as it has during the pandemic.  Every public health department should be age-friendly - and while we have a lot of work to do, a lot of great work is already being done and today’s episode highlights that. Part One of 'The Age-Friendly Public Health Systems.' America's public health sector has very few specialized programs that emphasize older adults' safety and well-being. It has always been an afterthought as public health struggled with the concerns of older people.   Building and embracing Age-Friendly Public Health Systems and communities is an important way of promoting public health, vitality, and aging. Thus, research, experience, and policy on aging projects began to transform this promising concept into concrete actions that could be  encouraged and supported by the government. These efforts answer concerns about the forms in which societies can impact healthier aging, age-friendly neighborhood programs, and outlines historical and future actions to promote community improvement mechanisms on behalf of our increasingly aging population. Two questions drove the conversation when thinking about Age-Friendly Public Health Systems: Does public health have a role to play in aging? Would the aging services sector welcome public health being engaged in this work? "To become age-friendly is to understand the principles for age-friendly initiatives, but then taking principles and determining how to tailor it to where we live; to the needs of that particular aging population." Melissa Batchelor, PhD, RN, FNP-BC, FGSA, FAAN The Importance of Creating an Age-Friendly Public Health Initiative  The reasons that public health hasn’t included older adults and aging has been two-fold: Many of the policies designed to support older adults, like Medicare, Medicaid, and the Older American's Act, did not explicitly include a role for public health. There has always been a lack of funding for general public health agencies for dedicated initiatives for those 65 years and older Public health has contributed to Americans' longevity, so it only made sense to explore and expand its role in healthy aging, in partnership with the aging services sector that already does so much to serve this population. The Birth of Age-Friendly Public Health Systems Initiative  In place of this state of public health, in 2017, a group of leaders came together to develop a public health framework to support older adults' health and well-being. A year later, under the leadership of TFAH, the John A. Hartford Foundation, the Florida Departments of Health and Elder Affairs, the AFPHS initiative started as a pilot in Florida and included. 37 of the states’ 67 county health departments. The Florida pilot demonstrated the value of  aligning and coordinating approaches for older adults to identify and provide  needed programs and services. Thus, AFPHS offers a framework that allows priorities to be established based on geographic region/ communities. It gives public health practitioners a place to start. Part Two of 'The Age-Friendly Public Health Systems.' What's the Framework For an Age-Friendly Public Health System All about? The Framework for an Age-Friendly Public Health System includes five key potential roles for public health.  The 5C's of an Age-Friendly Public Health Systems are;  Connecting and Convening with multiple sectors and professions to provide support, services, and infrastructure to promote healthy aging. Coordinating existing supports and services to avoid duplication of efforts, identify gaps, and increase access to services and supports. Collecting and Disseminating Data to assess community health status (including inequities) and the aging population needs to inform interventions. Communicating and disseminating research findings and best practices to support healthy aging. Complementing and supplementing existing support and services, particularly in integrating clinical and population health approaches.  "Public Health System Recognition Program is  designed to incentivize state and local public health departments to become age-friendly and take those steps needed to  transform their health departments to be age-friendly ones." -Megan Wolfe, JD  Want To Know More?  If you want to learn more, the Public Health Accreditation Board will be   considering healthy aging recommendations and has developed a Tip Sheet on how to get started to align healthy aging with the PHAB Standards and Measures. TFAH offers an informational  webinar on the Age-Friendly Public Health System Recognition Program. All state, territorial, local and tribal public health departments are eligible to enroll and participate in the Recognition program. You may also visit the Age-Friendly Public Health Systems website, and Megan Wolfe can be reached at mwolfe@tfah.org   COMING SOON is a stand-alone website for Age-Friendly Public Health Programs. So stay in touch and get connected! About Megan Wolfe Megan Wolfe is a Senior Policy Development Management at Trust for America's Health (TFAH), where she works with the Policy Development team to advance a modernized, accountable public health system.  Her current work at TFAH focuses on advancing Age-Friendly Public Health Systems. Megan has been engaged in public policy and advocacy for over 20 years and has represented Fortune 500 and non-profit organizations.  Before joining TFAH, she served as Government Relations Manager for ASCD, an international education association comprising teachers, principals, superintendents, and higher education professionals.  Her work experience also includes serving as Government Relations Manager for the National Association for Sport and Physical Education and as a staff member for the Senate Judiciary Committee working on the federal judgeship confirmation process.  Megan received her undergraduate degree in Government from the University of Texas at Austin and earned a JD from the Antonin Scalia Law School.      About Melissa Batchelor, PhD, RN, FNP-BC, FGSA, FAAN:   I earned my Bachelor of Science in Nursing ('96) and Master of Science in Nursing ('00) as a Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) from the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) School of Nursing (SON). I genuinely enjoy working with the complex medical needs of older adults. I worked full-time for five years as FNP in geriatric primary care across many long-term care settings (skilled nursing homes, assisted living, home, and office visits), then transitioned into academic nursing in 2005, joining the faculty at UNCW SON as a lecturer. I obtained my Ph.D. in Nursing and a post-master's Certificate in Nursing Education from the Medical University of South Carolina College of Nursing ('11). I then joined the faculty at Duke University School of Nursing as an Assistant Professor. My family moved to northern Virginia in 2015 and led to me joining the George Washington University (GW) School of Nursing faculty in 2018 as a (tenured) Associate Professor. I am also the Director of the GW Center for Aging, Health, and Humanities. Please find out more about her work at https://melissabphd.com/.  

HMM correspondent Corinne Carey spoke with Eòghann Renfroe, Empire Justice Center’s Policy & Government Relations Manager about protecting New York's Disability Advocacy Project in the pending state budget process.

HMM correspondent, Corinne Carey, spoke with Eòghann Renfroe, Empire Justice Center’s Policy & Government Relations Manager, about protecting New York's Disability Advocacy Project in the pending state budget process.

This episode features Dr. Genevieve Simpson who is the Government Relations Manager at Western Power, a Western Australian state owned energy supplier. Genevieve shares her thoughts on how utilities need to adapt to changing consumer behaviour, how they can work with regulators to achieve strategic outcomes and what impact climate change may have on utilities. She explains why she continues to work in utilities and shares her advice for women looking to progress their careers in this field. Genevieve is an active member of the Australian Institute of Energy. You can find more details about this organisation at www.aie.org.au.To reach me, Madhavi Shankarling, my email is smadhavip@gmail.com. I'd love to hear your thoughts, comments or suggestions.

Listen in as the AMA Government Relations Department staff—Director Mike Sayre, Western States Representative Nick Haris, Government Relations Manager, On-Highway Tiffany Cipoletti and Government Relations Manager, Off-Highway Peter Stockus—weigh in on motorcycle-related legislation and regulation in 2020 and what we can expect at the federal, state and local levels in 2021.Support the show

The team from LENSEC hosts “What's Your Perspective?” and this week we're interviewing a security industry expert on government guidelines for cannabis industry. Drake Jamali is the Government Relations Manager with the Security Industry Association. Join Neil Haley and Keith Harris as we interview Drake about the newly released cannabis industry security guidelines.

Jeff is joined by his former teammate Matt Floyd to discuss his journey from playing Division 1 football for the University of South Florida and South Alabama to becoming a Government Relations Manager for the Port of Tampa. Continue the conversation at: Twitter: https://twitter.com/JHawkins89 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChangingTheFieldPodcast --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/changingthefield/message

Leslie begins the show with her 'Ripped from the Headlines' news segment. Here are the stories she covers during the segment: 1. AP: "Juneteenth: A day of joy and pain - and now national action" 2. CBS NEWS: "Louisville police detective will be fired over Breonna Taylor shooting" 3. AXIOS: "Trump warns protesters against coming to Tulsa rally" 4. USA TODAY: "Oklahoma coronavirus cases surge, hospitalizations rise ahead of Trump's Tulsa rally" Leslie is then joined by two 'Dreamers,' Maria Praeli and Maria Morales, who were directly impacted by yesterday's DACA Supreme Court decision. The high court ruled that the Trump administration improperly ended the "Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals" program, AKA DACA, in 2017. They discuss what yesterday's DACA Supreme Court victory means to them and their families, as well as President Trump saying that he'll renew his efforts to end DACA. They also talk about what others can do to help in the fight to protect Dreamers. Maria Praeli is Government Relations Manager for FWD.us, a bipartisan political organization that is working to fix the failed immigration and criminal justice systems that have locked too many out of the American dream for too long. Maria moved to the United States from Peru in 1999 when she was five years old to seek medical treatment for her sister, whose leg was amputated in a car accident. Maria's work at FWD.us focuses on strengthening outreach efforts to elected officials, providing education and resources on immigration policy to congressional offices, and working on special projects related to Dreamers and TPS holders. After moving from Peru, Maria attended public schools in Connecticut before earning an associate’s degree in liberal arts from Gateway Community College, and then a bachelor’s degree in political science from Quinnipiac University, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude. Her Twitter handle is @MariaPraeli, and the handle for FWD.us is @FWDus. Maria Morales is a DACA recipient and Teacher at Denver Public Schools. At an early age, Maria knew she wanted to become a teacher. Now that her dream is a reality and the future of DACA is uncertain, Maria fears leaving the classroom and abandoning her students. She moved to the United States with her family when she was only 12 years old. Her family was seeking a better life filled with opportunities for her and her siblings. Maria grew up and attended college in Greenwood, South Carolina. Her DACA status prevented her from paying in-state tuition and teaching in South Carolina, but this did not deter her from continuing her education and pursuing her dream of becoming a teacher. After graduating college, Maria decided to join Teach For America and teach in Colorado. Maria loves the community she is serving, she has built strong relationships with families and students and for her home is here, where her students are.

Part 5 of a series on the Reimagining the Rural West Initiative explores how a variety of different business structures can provide stability to their respective communities. Join WGA Policy Advisor Laura Cutlip as she speaks with experts on small businesses, cooperatives, and remote work to learn how rural areas can use these models to strengthen their economies. Guests include: David Martin, Director of the North Dakota Small Business Development Network; Kate La Tour, Government Relations Manager at the National Cooperative Business Association; and Shelly Fausett, the Center Director for SoloWorks. Narrator: Laura Cutlip Produced by: Tyler Losier

Andrew’s 20 years of experience cover a broad range of communication and public affairs practice. His experience ranges from proactive and responsive media handling to strategy, operations and team leadership. Most recently, Andrew was the Director of Media and Social Media with a major NSW Government Department, building and leading teams of media and content specialists to support the Department and its Ministers on issues including: Planning, Energy, Water, Mining, Resources, Skills, International Trade, Small Business, Regional Economic Development, Infrastructure, Housing, Tourism, Industry Support, Crown Lands, Indigenous Affairs, Liquor Gaming and Racing, and the Arts.  Prior to Government, Andrew held senior positions in financial services and not-for-profit organisations. He began his career as an industry advocate and lobbyist in London. He was Head of Communications for the British Chambers of Commerce as well as Campaigns and Government Relations Manager for MAKE UK, the peak body for engineering, manufacturing and technology companies. Alongside his undergraduate degree, he has a Masters in Public Administration.   Discussed in this episode: How Government might move to better meet citizen expectations The implications of the 24/7 news cycle Moving to a more agile, digital Government Fast tracking great ideas and navigating complex approval processes Minimising risk and maximising opportunity in government communications Moving from a broadcast to narrowcast channels Andrew's advice for all Government communicators

Andrew's 20 years of experience cover a broad range of communication and public affairs practice. His experience ranges from proactive and responsive media handling to strategy, operations and team leadership. Most recently, Andrew was the Director of Media and Social Media with a major NSW Government Department, building and leading teams of media and content specialists to support the Department and its Ministers on issues including: Planning, Energy, Water, Mining, Resources, Skills, International Trade, Small Business, Regional Economic Development, Infrastructure, Housing, Tourism, Industry Support, Crown Lands, Indigenous Affairs, Liquor Gaming and Racing, and the Arts.  Prior to Government, Andrew held senior positions in financial services and not-for-profit organisations. He began his career as an industry advocate and lobbyist in London. He was Head of Communications for the British Chambers of Commerce as well as Campaigns and Government Relations Manager for MAKE UK, the peak body for engineering, manufacturing and technology companies. Alongside his undergraduate degree, he has a Masters in Public Administration.   Discussed in this episode: How Government might move to better meet citizen expectations The implications of the 24/7 news cycle Moving to a more agile, digital Government Fast tracking great ideas and navigating complex approval processes Minimising risk and maximising opportunity in government communications Moving from a broadcast to narrowcast channels Andrew's advice for all Government communicators Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Sarah will be joined by Lauren Frost, Government Relations Manager, discussing what it means to be an activist in 2019! Hear all about the diversity and power of activism on our #FeministFridays segment!

This week, we chat with Justin Kirnon. Justin is an experienced civic engagement professional known for his expertise in government relations and communications. He received both a Bachelor of Arts in Speech Communication with an emphasis in public relations and a Master of Public Administration from Valdosta State University.   Justin currently serves as the Government Relations Manager for MARTA (the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority). In his role with the nation's 9th largest transit system, he serves as a lobbyist at the Georgia State Capitol.   Among other topics, Justin shares why representation matters as he was working in sales when his career in politics was inspired by the election of the 44th President of the United States, Mr. Barack Hussein Obama.   Connect with Justin! Instagram: @jk.speaks Email: jwkirnon@gmail.com  ----- Stay connected with Journey to Jupiter! Follow on social media: Instagram: @JourneyJupiter Twitter: @JourneyJupiter Facebook: @JourneyJupiter Subscribe to our mailing list at jetaundavis.com.  

In this episode of The Pink Fox Podcast, hosts Mark, Keo, and Ronin, along with special guest and cannabis lobbyist Michelle Rutter, talk marijuana/CBD moves across the country, Khloe & Tristan, Kylie & Travis, Leaving Neverland, the failed Trump/Kim summit, Bill Hader as Jim Jordan, Michael Cohen, Kushner's security clearance, the end (?) of the Mueller probe, Captain Marvel reviews, the Game of Thrones Season 8 trailer, and other topics.

It's a pleasure to have Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, in the studio with US discussING her trips to Downing Street to make sure that the 3 million people working in our sector get a fair deal and how the trade association is giving small businesses (who make up 80% of our sector) the support they need.   We cover how we can all work to promote the reputation of the sector as a great place to work, invest and grow, as well as:   Working as a freelancer Saving the high street Sweating the asset ALMR & BHA merger Membership services Protect, promote, prevent Voice technology Hospitality post-brexit Promoting hospitality on TV Selling experiences, not products The 3 year plan to attract talent   KATE NICHOLLS   Kate Nicholls was appointed CEO of UKHospitality, the powerful voice representing the broad hospitality sector, in April 2018, having previously worked as CEO and Strategic Affairs Director of the ALMR.   After gaining a degree in English and a post-graduate diploma in competition law, Kate worked as a researcher in the House of Commons and European Parliament before joining Whitbread as Government Relations Manager, starting her careers in hospitality in 1993. Kate was Director at one of the largest independent public affairs companies, working with a number of hospitality, retail and leisure accounts before establishing her own strategic communications consultancy in 2000. She is a graduate of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge and Kings College London. LINKS:   www.ukhospitality.org.uk     https://twitter.com/ukhofficial?lang=en https://www.facebook.com/UKHospitality/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/ukhospitality/   UKHospitality podcast on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2PpzuCN THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS:   Mark Pitcher at https://www.SmashtheBox.me   Personal and Employee Inspiration, Motivation, Purpose Finding, Executive Coaching Be inspired every morning at 7.45am Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/SmashTheBoxMarkPitcher/ FOLLOW US: ⠀ ⠀ Mark / WE ARE Spectacular⠀   https://twitter.com/spectacularmark https://twitter.com/spectacularchat   https://www.instagram.com/spectacularmark/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/markmcculloch/     Do you want to be on the next Spectacular Marketing Podcast? Email gabby@wearespectacular.com

In this episode of The Pink Fox Podcast, hosts Mark, Keo, and Ronin, along with special guest Michelle Rutter, discuss Michelle's road to the pot lobby, the value of knowing your audience (AKA Lobbying 101), marijuana and the midterms, Flip Floppin' John Boehner, Cory Booker's Marijuana Justice Act, Saudi Arabia's premeditated murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the dearth of good lies in geopolitics, Trump's lies about the migrant caravan, House and Senate midterm predictions, what we'd do with $900 million, and other topics.

Today on the podcast, we interview Stephen Hodge, a professional and elite cyclist who has entered the Olympics and has completed 6 Tour de France, 4 Tours of Italy and 4 Tours of Spain. Stephen is currently the Government Relations Manager of the Australian Cycling Promotion Foundation and the National Advocate of Active Travel. His role includes building relationships with Parliamentarians and NGOs to increase the investment in cycling infrastructure, improving implementation of bicycling framework policy, and generally improving the environment for cycling whether for recreation, commuting and other aspects. He also runs his own consultancy firm Day and Hodge Associates and is a member of the Urban Policy Dialogue, which is a group that brings together national bodies in transport, property, local government, health research and promotion and the social community sector to advise the urban minister in policies relating to urban issues.   In this episode, we cover: The background of Stephen’s cycling journey How he sees cycling as a solution to create better communities The benefits of better public transport systems so people can be more active in their trips by walking and cycling and becoming healthier in the process Bicycling in Copenhagen where it is a way of life and an accepted and mainstream way to get around Difference in priority between government parties with their emphasis to support and allocate budgets for cycling infrastructure How large corporate developers are ahead of government in making provisions for cycling How close relationships with other industry groups helped to integrate cycling in national discussions in different sectors Reasons for the rebranding of the Cycling Promotion Foundation’s statement to “We Ride” Cycling Without Age (CWA) Initiative   Links Cycling Promotion Fund We Ride website

Grace Norman is the Government Relations Manager for Texas Hunger Initiative (THI) of Baylor University where she helps teach and help communities think and act strategically when addressing local hunger concerns. Grace previously worked as THI’s Regional Director and Child Hunger Outreach Specialist at the office in Lubbock. She graduated from Texas A&M University with a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Leadership and Development and from the Bush School of Government & Public Service with a master’s degree in Public Service Administration. Grace joins me today to share what it’s like to hold a management position in a nonprofit organization. She also shares how she landed her job in the nonprofit sector, the truth about the food insecurity issue, and shares advice for those who are considering a career working for nonprofit organizations. “As long as you approach your professional life with a learning mentality and posture of humility then you’ll go pretty far.” - Grace Norman Today on AgGrad Live: How she discovered the nonprofit space she wants to be involved in Things that helped her find her interest The aspects she considers when studying the presidential budget Where this study and analysis leads her and her team Why she wants to equip the staff in the field How the Snapshots of Hunger Project changed her perspective about the value of what she does How she got attracted to nonprofit work Grace Norman’s Advice for AgGrads: Keep at it -- even if it takes longer than you think it’s going to take, keep at it. Go where you want to work and search there. Use tools such as the Idealist and specific websites where industry people are involved. Find your space and the thing that you’re interested in. Use your networking skills. Resources Mentioned: Idealist (https://www.idealist.org/) Foundation Center (https://foundationcenter.org/) NonProfit Times (http://www.thenonprofittimes.com/) Monster.com (https://www.monster.com/) AgGrad Jobs (https://jobs.aggrad.com/) Connect with Grace Norman: Texas Hunger Initiative Website (http://texashunger.org) Texas Hunger Initiative on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/TexasHungerInitiative/) Email: grace_norman@baylor.edu Connect, Share & ADVANCE Your Career in Agriculture Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of AgGrad Live - the podcast helping aspiring, new, and veteran professionals advance their careers in the agriculture industry. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the show on iTunes, visit our website, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Don’t forget to share each episode on your favorite social media platforms to help other professionals advance their careers in the agriculture industry!

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker is joined by editorial cartoonist and columnist Ted Rall.Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation hearings are underway as Gorsuch himself is scheduled to testify today. What would it mean if this hard-right conservative takes a seat on the Supreme Court?International controversy rages as a high-ranking UN official is forced to resign after releasing a report labeling Israel an apartheid state. Lara Kiswani, Executive Director of the Arab Resource & Organizing Center, and Mike Prysner, a journalist with TeleSur, join the show.Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi met with President Trump in the White House yesterday. Trump is now the fifth consecutive president to bomb the country -- is there any hope of the U.S. government getting its hands off of Iraq? Raed Jarrar, Government Relations Manager at the American Friends Service Committee, discuses this with Brian.

Welcome to the PromoKitchen Podcast. I am Bill Petrie, founder/CEO of brandivate and PromoKitchen chef. Many in the promotional products industry not only worry about working with the “younger generation,” – also known as Millennials – but have cast a very negative light on the entire group. As readers of my blog likely know, I have been a very strong advocate of Millennials and the overall need to have their voice heard in industry conversations. However, in October 2016, I wrote a blog titled “Hey Millennials…enough!” where I took the generation to task for casting older generations for being comfortable with the status quo, backward-thinking, and having the inability to adapt. I went on to write that “being part of the Millennial generation doesn’t automatically make you a disruptor, more adaptive, or quicker to embrace technology any more than being part of Generation X unquestionably makes me resistant to changing the status quo.” This leads me to our guest today, Seth Barnett. Seth Barnett is the Diversity Development Manager for Promotional Products Association International (PPAI). As an advocate for the industry's marketplace success, he develops new ways for business to meet the growing demand of a diverse workforce and a changing consumer market. Barnett spent his first three years in the industry as the association’s Government Relations Manager where he coordinated legislative and regulatory obligations for the industry. When it comes to advocating on behalf of Millennials, Seth is a key player. Seth wrote a very thorough and thoughtful response to my blog post titled, “Hey Other Generations…ENOUGH!” In that response, Seth expressed his concerns that the industry not be so quick to dismiss Millennials and, rather, should seek to embrace them and their ideas. In Seth’s words, “I believe that we are in a great place to have these sometimes difficult generational conversations. However, we are not the only ones. What we need to be mindful of is that we as an industry are unique. From the way we go to market to our very specific supply chain, we must adapt according to our methods. I want to ensure that we are having the right conversations for our industry and our changing times.” Seth is a featured speaker at many industry events, a champion of Millennials in the promotional products industry, and all around good guy. Seth, welcome to the PromoKitchen podcast.

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker is joined by Raed Jarrar, Government Relations Manager at the American Friends Service Committee. Protests continue to rage nationwide as tens of thousands descend on airports to rally against Donald Trump’s executive order establishing a moratorium on entrances into the United States by citizens of 7 majority-Muslim countries. But Trump is sticking by his deeply unpopular order despite global outrage. Donald Trump spoke with King Salman of Saudi Arabia and pledged his support for so-called “safe zones” in Syria and Yemen. Trump criticized Hillary Clinton’s interventionist position on the Middle East during the campaign, but not it appears he is getting ready to implement her program. Daniel Lazare, journalist and author, discusses Trump's policy toward the Middle East.Donald Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time over the weekend in a phone call lasting an hour. Is a thaw in relations between the U.S. and Russia in the making, and what are the big issues? Mark Sleboda, international security and affairs analyst, joins the show.

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker discusses Secretary of State John Kerry's two-day trip to Russia with the host of RT’s Crosstalk Peter Lavelle and Mark Sleboda, an international affairs and security analyst.As John Kerry arrives in Moscow to talk about the Syrian War, the Turkish Prime Minister has a new policy and is prepared to normalize relations with Syria. Is there really a prospect for peace or is this old wine in new bottles?As NATO met in Warsaw, thousands of activists gathered at counter-summits to protest the alliance’s aggressive posture. Phil Wilayto of the United National Anti-War Coalition joins the show to give an eyewitness report.Today is Republic Day in Iraq - the anniversary of the 1958 revolution. Raed Jarrar, Government Relations Manager at the American Friends Service Committee, and Richard Becker, author of the book "Palestine, Israel and the U.S. Empire", join Brian to take a look at Iraqi history to debunk the bogus mainstream media presentation that the country has always been in a state of sectarian war.

Franca Marine, policy and government relations manager at Arthritis Australia on the report, Counting the cost: the current and future burden of arthritis

Franca Marine, policy and government relations manager at Arthritis Australia, on the report, Counting the cost: the current and future burden of arthritis

The first part of this episode features Ron Painter, CEO of NAWB and host of Workforce Central reflecting on key takeaways from the recent SOTU address and lessons for workforce. The second part of the episode features an interview with Steve Voytek, Government Relations Manager for the National Association of State Directors of Career and Technical Education as he shares his tips and trends about career readiness, the future of Perkins funding, and more.