ILMA Compoundings - January 2021 - 30

COUNSEL COMPOUND

'Be a Friend' in 2021
By Jeff Leiter

W

ritten over 150 years
before the internet and its
social web, Ralph Waldo
Emerson's sentiment, " The only way
to have a friend is to be one, " remains
poignant today in so many ways. My
column this month is not about Emerson and how he celebrated friendships
as expanding and enriching one's
intellectual outlook. Instead, I want to
explore Emerson's quote in the context
of ILMA's government affairs program,
particularly the Association's advocacy
on Capitol Hill.
Given the polarization and rampant
hypocrisy in much of our current
political discourse, there are some
cynics in Washington, D.C., who will
tell you that, if you want a friend on
Capitol Hill, get a dog. Then there
are others here who equate friendship
with campaign contributions, suggesting some sort of quid pro quo exists
for the " friendship " or that it is a
fungible commodity with lawmakers.
I have a different take on being a
" friend " in Washington, D.C. Article
I of the Constitution lists the enumerated powers of the Congress to
enact laws to carry out those powers.
However, members of Congress
cannot legislate in a vacuum. They
need " friends " to provide them with
information to carry out properly their
constitutional duties.
This is where ILMA fits in. ILMA
and its members are " friends " to lawmakers by delivering them timely and
credible information on which to base
their policy decisions. If independent
lubricant manufacturers want laws
and regulations that benefit both their
businesses and the public good, then

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JANUARY 2021

| COMPOUNDINGS | ILMA.ORG

it is incumbent on them to gather and
communicate the information to their
legislators. I like to call this " advocacy "
rather than " lobbying. " Moreover,
ILMA has prided itself on helping
both sides of the aisle with the necessary information to solve problems in
a bipartisan fashion.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic
has changed dramatically the methods
of advocacy in Washington, D.C.,
as well as in state capitals across the
country. The in-person " shoe leather "
meetings with lawmakers and their
staffs rapidly dwindled to nearly
none since the pandemic hit the U.S.
last March. The office buildings on
Capitol Hill are effectively closed to
the public, and many members of
Congress largely work remotely from

home. There have been no " fly in " or
" day on the Hill " events that many
ILMA members have joined. Instead,
virtual online meetings, conference
calls and emails have skyrocketed as
the most effective means to communicate and maintain relationships with
lawmakers and their staffs. While
many of you have told me about your
overload with Zoom, Teams, Skype
or other virtual meeting platforms,
it is important to understand that
members of Congress and their staffs
similarly feel overwhelmed by the
volume of their online interactions.
With the change in control of
the White House later this month,
and possibly the Senate after two
runoff elections in Georgia, there are
numerous issues, such as infrastructure
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ILMA Compoundings - January 2021

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