Page 18 - i1052-5173-29-3-4

2017–2018 GSA-USGS Congressional Science Fellow Final Report

Hill Essentials for Relationships and Collaboration Make a Difference
The old adage, “It’s not what you know, but who you know,”
Science Policy: Data, especially runs true on the Hill. Effective legislative staffers
know the importance of building and maintaining relationships
Communication, with key staff, stakeholders, and constituents. These relation-
ships provide fertile ground for building strong congressional
partnerships and working across the aisle. Under the direction of
Relationships, and the member of Congress, it often comes down to congressional
staff working together to craft legislation with common-sense
Kindness solutions. I am a firm believer that a collaborative and coopera-
Melanie R. Thornton tive staff is fundamental to bipartisanship and getting legislation
and initiatives across the finish line.
After spending the past year working in the office of Senator
Tom Udall (D-NM), my fellowship has come to an end. I am Be Kind, Always
making the transition from Capitol Hill to the environmental To many, walking around the “Capitol Complex,” a group of
non-governmental organization community, taking a position at about a dozen buildings and facilities used primarily by the leg-
Defenders of Wildlife as a senior government relations represen- islative branch of the federal government, may seem daunting.
tative. I want to share my personal perspective of what I have You never know whose path you are going to cross. You could
learned during my time as a Congressional Science Fellow on be riding a subway car with a member of Congress or walking
Capitol Hill. Here are a few of my takeaways. the halls with cabinet-level officials. An intern may work his or
her way up to become a legislative director or political appoin-
Science, Facts, and Data Matter tee. These examples demonstrate the value of being kind. And it
In an era where “fake news” and “alternative facts” are com- is an important reminder that especially rings true on Capitol
mon, I was comforted by the fact that science and evidence are Hill. It is a small world after all.
used by congressional staff when developing policy, analyzing
legislation, and advising members of Congress. As a congressio- This manuscript is submitted for publication by Melanie R.
nal fellow, I have had direct experience working with scientists Thornton, 2017–2018 GSA-USGS Congressional Science Fellow,
to understand the impacts on the ground of the recently intro- with the understanding that the U.S. government is authorized
duced bill, the Wildlife Corridors Conservation Act (S. 3715). to reproduce and distribute reprints for governmental use.
During the process of drafting and analyzing the legislation, The one-year fellowship is supported by GSA and the U.S.
congressional staff made legislative recommendations that were Geological Survey, Department of the Interior, under Assistance
informed by data and other scientific information. It is important Award Number G16AP00179. The views and conclusions con-
to remember when providing research and scientific material to tained in this document are those of the author and should not
congressional staff to be clear and concise. I also learned that be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies,
while many congressional staff may not be trained scientists, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. government. Thornton
they certainly have a capacity for scientific tenacity. has concluded her fellowship in the office of Senator Tom Udall
(D-NM), and will be working at Defenders of Wildlife, as a
Get to the Point, and Quickly senior government relations representative, and can be
Time is an extremely valuable and very limited resource on contacted by e-mail at thorntonmelanie4@gmail.com or
the Hill. As a staffer, being an effective communicator is, mthornton@defenders.org.
I would argue, the most important part of the job. I quickly
learned and got a lot of practice distilling complex scientific
issues into one simple paragraph. And sometimes it would
require further refinement to just one sentence. This was also
applicable to verbal communication, and since time is limited,
conveying key takeaways in a short (30 seconds or fewer)
elevator speech is an essential skill. As a scientist, my trick was
using what I call the “grandparent check”—I often asked myself,
“Would my grandparents understand this information?” We live
in a communication age, and it is important that we spend the
time necessary to develop and refine these skills.

18 GSA Today | March-April 2019