Well, I've had quite an exciting week. First of all, the team here at the Advocacy Associates empire organized hundreds of Congressional meetings for two different Washington, DC fly-ins, both of which occurred on March 11th. That wouldn't be notable in and of itself except that one of them took place at the Mayflower Hotel here in Washington, DC.

Yes, THAT Mayflower hotel - the very one where Governor Spitzer, ummm, "stayed" in February. So yours truly had the joy of being at the Mayflower the day the news broke. We were so swamped with phone calls and meeting changes during the day that I didn't even hear the news until I called my husband at 6:00pm to say, without understanding the humor at all, "well, I just finished my day at the Mayflower and now I'm going home."

Really. That's what I said. The silence on the other end of the line was deafening (although perhaps he was laughing so hard he couldn't speak).

More important though is the fact that March 11th was perhaps one of the busiest days I have ever witnessed on Capitol Hill. There were literally tens of thousands of advocates in town all seeking meetings with their elected officials. Unfortunately, many offices simply couldn't accommodate all the requests, and some advocates were turned away.

From the advocate perspective, I can certainly sympathize. It's frustrating to come all the way to Washington, DC only to be told that one of your Representatives simply can't meet with you. At the same time, as a former staff person, I empathize with the Congressional offices. Imagine, if you will, hundreds of your clients, patrons, patients, supporters, employees -- whoever it is that comes to you on a daily basis - calling you and saying "Hi, I'll be in town from 10 to 2 on Thursday. I'd like to meet with you and I won't take no for an answer." Many of the staff we talked to this week were in that situation, and no matter how much they wanted to do so, there was no way to fit hundreds of individuals into one four-hour period.

Frankly, the combination of increasing numbers of advocates attending fly-ins with decreasing or stagnant Congressional staff levels spells disaster. I think we're heading toward a show down in the not too distant future. How can you avoid being part of the problem? Following are some ideas, using the "March" theme (just to keep things interesting):

"Beware the Ides of March" (Shakespeare's Julius Caesar): Take the soothsayer's advice and stay away from DC in early to mid-March. Don't believe me? Type the phrase "lobby day March 2008 DC" into the search engine of your choice - you'll be surprised at what you find. From the AMA to the National Recreation and Park Association to the American Wind Energy Association, everyone under the sun shows up in DC in early March. In fact, while at the Mayflower on Monday and Tuesday, I saw both the National Funeral Directors Association and the Americans for Tax Reform conducting their lobby days - I guess it's true that nothing's certain but death and taxes.

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