Volume 52, Issue 1 September 2008

chapter, if you want to write an editorial on the election, or even if you want to give a shout out to your excellent advisors, please email TPNEditor0809@gmail.com to contribute. It is strongly recommended that chapters Press Corps delegates submit articles before State Assembly.

From all of the Presiding Officers, we look forward to what is sure to be an exciting

year of growth and tradition.

During the 2004-2005 Program Year, the Presiding Officers wanted to find a way to reach every member of Youth In Government. This led the group to establish The Page Note, a new publication that connected every entity involved in the Youth in Government experience. The 2008-2009 Officers decided that communication between everyone in the program was essential to a successful program year. This lead to the reissue of The Page Note, which will hopefully help this connectivity.

The publication will appear monthly at the local chapter level, and will include State

Assembly Preparations, current event coverage, and interactive features to help Youth in Government chapters state wide be involved.

Another announcement is the creation of an online edition of the paper found at www.thepagenote.blogspot.com. Here you can view additional content and post comments, as well as keep you up to date on all upcoming YiG events.

This new “experiment” cannot happen without your help. If your doing something different in your

Old Publication Receives Makeover

The Page Note

Inside this issue:

Legislative Program 2

Working with the YMCA 3

Spotlight 3

Bulletin Board 4

Press Corps 5

POs in DC 5

The Back Page 6

Lobbyists 2

Nothing can really compare to the view from the porch of Lee Hall on Black Mountain in North Carolina, unless, of course, you count the view from the top of the mountain itself. CONA, or the Conference on National Affairs, brings together the nation’s most dedicated and talented Youth in Government members to deliberate on proposals of national and international importance. The strong friendships Florida Delegates have with each other last a lifetime. This years group’s theme was Captain Placard, based on past Florida Delegate and CONA PO Derek Summerville, along with other superheroes. They truly were super when it came time to the closing ceremonies, which awarded: Gabe Neustadt, Outstanding Statesman, Lindsay Smith, Outstanding Proposal, Jessica Ayers, Outstanding Press Print Delegate, and Bradley Pough, Alternate PO for the CONA 2009. For further reflection please visit www.thepagenote.blogspot.com.

Another Magical Year on the Mountain: CONA 2008

First

Issue

Florida YMCA Youth In Government presents...

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Although often referred to as the “back bone” of legislation, many lobbyists in the Youth in Government go unnoticed. However, with a high demand for a variety of statistics within debates, the popularity of lobbyist is growing.

Most delegates view lobbyists as “the human Google,” sending a page to a lobby firm requesting statistics on a various subjects, a page quickly returns with a plethora of statistics. However, lobbyists do much more than provide basic research to delegates while at State Assembly. A high percentage of bills passed in both the House and Senate are sponsored by lobby firms. When bill authors are sponsored by lobby firms, lobbyists within that firm work hard collecting research regarding that bill, find a co-sponsor for the bill author, raising awareness for the bill, and furthermore help the bill author perfect his/her statistics and overall presentation of the bill. In the past, most lobbyists would create posters as means of getting word of their clients’ bill out. However, as the lobbying program grows, lobbyists are often using politics as

means of getting clients’ bills noticed by fellow delegates. Through flyers and word of mouth, bills are getting heard prior to being heard in Chambers, resulting in passage.

Starting a lobby firm and getting clients is not difficult. Find a group of no more than four delegates, meet weekly, and begin

compiling research on topics found on both the Deledex, and the legislative agenda. In order to find clients, start a Facebook group in an effort to raise awareness of your lobby firm so that more delegates are aware of you key issues. Since the Deledex shows bills prior to State Assembly, using the Deledex to secure clients is also strongly recommended. The most important thing

about starting a firm and securing clients is keeping an open mind and utilizing your tools.

With strongly established firms, such as Solidarity and the 863 Lobby Firm, last year’s top two, the competition amongst firms for “Outstanding Lobbyist Firm” is growing. Try something new and different this year, try Lobbying.

Over the summer, Malee Bringardner (Willams House Speaker), Lindsay Smith (Sullivan Senate President), Audrey Scagnelli (Sullivan House Speaker), and I discussed our vision and goals for the 2008-2009 Legislative Program. We are excited to share these goals with you and what you can expect from us this program year.

Our goals for the 2008-2009 Legislative Program are: to facilitate higher-quality legislation and debate within chambers, to create a more approachable PO image, and to get state politicians involved with Youth in Government.

One of the ways we agreed to make debate and legislation even better is to further integrate the Legislative and Executive program areas. For example, for the first time the legislative PO’s will draft our own “Legislative Priorities,” similar to the Governor and Lt. Governor’s Legislative Agenda. Just like Florida’s real government, we will have to negotiate with the Governor to develop shared ideas into workable legislation. The Legislative Priorities will be more specific than previous Agendas and will hopefully serve as a source of inspiration for House and Senate delegates.

Additionally, we are excited to announce the inclusion of caucus procedure in the RedBook. We all thought that caucuses worked well

last year by providing perfect conditions to build coalitions and strategize on the floor. We feel it is time to make the caucus a permanent component of YIG’s parliamentary procedure.

From our own experience with past Presiding Officers, we felt it was important to cultivate an approachable PO image. We’re going to try our hardest this year to get involved with individual chapters, by attending different chapter meetings, running more SLC workshops, and publishing articles like this one in The Page Note.

Our final goal for 2008-2009 is to reach out to and hopefully develop a relationship with the real state legislature. Currently, Youth in Government is largely unknown to most state politicians, but we’re hopefully going to set a new precedent. We will be sending letters explaining Youth in Government to every member of the Florida House and Senate and will hopefully be working in conjunction with several YIG alumni currently serving in the Legislature.

Again, please contact us if you have any comments, questions, or concerns. After all, we’re here to serve you and to make the Legislative Program even better.

Legislative activates By: Gabe neustadt, Williams Senate President, St. Petersburg

Meet the lobbyist program by: Maygan Rollins, lt. governor,

West central Florida delegation

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THE BULLETIN bOARD

Yig rules!!

Got Ideas? Visit www.thepagenote.blogspot.com, or email tpneditor0809@gmail.com

WANTED: DETERMINED YIG MEMBERS FOR SUPPORTING OFFICER POSITIONS

Applications are now online!!!! Visit the Deledex for more information.

DON’T FORGET!!

Fill out your program area applications!

Register on the Deledex

Join the florida yig facebook group!

Get ready for the great 52nd

year of florida youth in

government!

Have info or pictures to post on the Bulletin Board? Submit it to tpneditor0809@gmail.com, Subject: Bulletin Board

THE PAGE NOTE

What’s a few notes

between friends?

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September 2008

Presiding officers conquer dc By: Lindsay smith,

Sullivan Senate President, Gainesville yig

In late July, the Florida YiG Presiding Officers packed our bags and traveled to Washington D.C. Our goal was to attend a national conference sponsored by the California-based Arsalyn program, but our experience became so much more.

We had a special opportunity to meet with Congressman Adam Putnam, of the Lakeland area, who, as we found out, is also the chairman of the House Republican Conference. He gave us some insight on the media, opportunities for work in politics in DC, as well as what it’s like to live in Florida and raise a family there, but work in DC during the week. We were also inspired by recent Florida YiG alum, Christine, who is Congressman Putnam’s as-sistant. She facilitated our meeting, and it was incredible to see where our program has taken her after high school, into the real world of politics, where I’m sure quite a few of us have our sights set for the future.

As for the conference, the PO’s took it as an opportunity to see how other people run events, and take notice as to what we liked, and what would probably not succeed in our YiG setting. We all enjoyed the new experience of listening to a panel of four speakers from different political backgrounds, including CNN’s Amy Holmes, and then opening the floor up for questions from the conference partici-pants. We also used what came to be known as “clickers.” The little devices collected data responses from everyone at the con-ference on different questions as they were presented and then

organized the results by different demographic information. In the end, however, we decided that using placards and speaker identification was much more effective than random speakers sounding off into a microphone, or worse, everyone shouting their opinions at once.

At our alumni dinner, the PO’s met up with some recent alumni and old friends, but also met participants from several

years past. Everyone had a story to tell and some sound advice from their days in the program. Seeing how the program has affected their lives and what legacies they have left for us to follow really put everything in perspective. It is our job to do our best for the participants in this program year, and also to determine how we will leave our mark on the pro-gram over the long term.

Our group got an excellent chance to visit the monuments and follow a guided tour around the Capitol building. We also followed a tour led by one of our own recent YIG alumni, Mark Petersen. He is a current National Archives building intern, and was

the 2006 Commissioner of Agriculture. Sam informed us that he was also the first PO to ever hold Yiggy, our aardvark mascot. He showed us some of the nation’s most treasured documents, which several of us had never seen before. And while we admired the beauty and rich history of everything we visited, we realize how important it is not to become complacent. We remember that there is still so much more to be done and debated, and we are the next generation to carry it on and make it happen.

POs on the steps of the capitol.

Introduction to the press corps By: Jessica Ayers, Editor, Ft. myers With program integration being a common goal for the 2008-2009 Presiding Officers, many program areas rely on the Press Corps, a universal integrator, to reach this goal. They receive this label by the coverage on various program areas, and its press con-ferences held.

Before State Assembly, the Press Corps learns skills such as writing press releases, layout and format, and submitting articles. The press is also a great outlet for members of YiG with an interest in politics, but a disinterest in speaking publicly in front of other delegates. Possibly the best aspect of the Press Corps is the freedom to report on what interests you at states. Delegates have been known to report on everything from Judicial Firms to best dressed delegates.

This relatively new program is growing quickly. The Editor-in-Chief is now an established member of the PO group, and last year the Assistant Editor-in-Chief served as the first Press Corps Supporting Officer at States.

In general, however, the tone and mission of the Press Corps can greatly be seen in publications like this one. The Page Note provides Youth in Government entities to be informed of recent events, entertained by humorous articles and games, and gain new knowledge of the program, which is the YiG Press Corps’ goals overall.

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Name: Yiggy D. Aardvark

Occupation: Florida YIG Mascot

Favorite Movie: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington… He’s a sucker for the old black and white movies…

Coming In October….

Michael Pittman, Commissioner of Agriculture

September 2008

Spotlight on… THE THINK

TANK...

It’s never to early to think about…

...starting a Jr. YiG Chapter

...applying to CONA

...running for office at the state or chap-

ter level

...attending a service rally

...brainstorming about bill topics, fund-

raising ideas, club/delegation t-shits, ar-

ticle ideas, chapter activities...

...communicating with a PO about all

your great ideas

Never be bored in Youth in

Government!!!! Summer Leadership Conference: August 22-24, coverage in October

Working with your local ymca By: toni harris, Ft. Myers Chapter

Local YMCA’s play an important part in the finan-cial aspect of Phi Delta Y, a District III Youth in Govern-ment Chapter. Being a pre-dominantly student run club,

we do not posses large quantities of money, and neither do most of our mem-bers. In the Fort Myers Chapter, we work with the Fort Myers YMCA. With-out their help, we would undoubtedly be paying twice as much for everything.

Right now, in our delegation, we are working with them to lower the individ-ual costs for State Assembly.

Every Friday night from 5:30-9:00 and Saturday morning from 8:00-2:00, our delegation makes over $100. This is due to the concession stand that was organized for us at the YMCA. At appointed times, one or two Phi Delta Y members go to the YMCA to set up. After setting up the goodies, they wait

for the excited little children, the hungry athletes, and the tired parents to wander by. It is a simple way to make a lot of money. There are many people who will do anything to support us because they know we are good cause. Others support us because they are just glad to see some young people being productive. Every chapter can raise money by working with their local YMCA, being innova-tive, and working hard.

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Florida YMCA Youth In Government

Phone: 863.644.3528 Email: sam@floridayig.net

THE PAGE NOTE Articles Submitted By:

• Maygan Rollins

• Gabe Neustadt

• Lindsay Smith

• Toni Harris

Edited By:

Jessica Ayers

In the October Issue:

Election Issue (we’re looking for editorials from all view points)

Judicial and Executive Program Areas

SLC Coverage

...and much more

Have ideas, articles, editorials,

pictures, etc. for the next issue? Submit them by September

20th to tpneditor0809@gmail.com.

Visit Us Online: www.floridayig.net

More content at...

www.blogspot.thepagenote.com

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