Chris Jones, president and CEO of 340,000-member Middle Tennessee Electric, testified before a congressional committee in February for the first time ever and says it was a true collaboration between the co-op and the NRECA Government Relations team.

Jones got a call on Jan. 27 from Mike Knotts, CEO of the Tennessee Electric Cooperative Association, to ask him if he'd be willing to testify before the House Homeland Security Committee on what co-ops are doing to attract cyber experts to work in rural areas. NRECA staff had called Knotts to ask him who he thought would make a good witness.

Just eight days later, Jones was sitting at a table in the committee meeting room, reading his opening statement into a microphone and answering questions from Republicans and Democrats on the panel.

“You do feel the weight of the moment," Jones says. “Growing up in rural Tennessee, I never thought I'd have the chance to do something like that. It was an honor and a privilege."

Although he couldn't help but feel a bit nervous, Jones says he was confident that he was ready because of all the work he'd done beforehand with NRECA's government relations team.

Preparing co-op leaders to testify before Congress is one of the most important things that NRECA lobbyists do, says Hill Thomas, vice president of legislative affairs.

Jones was one of six co-op witnesses, including NRECA CEO Jim Matheson, to testify before congressional committees in the first seven months of this year on topics ranging from grid security to coal ash recycling.

Jones says he had several online meetings with NRECA lobbyists to talk about what key points he should make in his written and oral testimony and what kind of questions he should expect from the lawmakers.

“The team was great," he says. “I came up to Washington the day before the hearing, and we went through various scenarios. Every step of the way, the NRECA team helped me get more and more comfortable."

His experience was typical of co-op leaders coming to the nation's capital to tell their stories to Congress, NRECA lobbyists say.

Jason Cooke, a legislative affairs director at NRECA, says the process usually begins with an email from a congressional office asking if NRECA can supply a witness from an electric co-op to testify, often within just a week or two.

A good co-op advocate “needs to be someone from our membership who might have a congressmember or senator on the committee," Cooke says. “They also need to be dynamic. They need to be someone who can stay on message. And they need to be able to carry some water on issues that are important to our membership that may not be front and center for that individual's cooperative."

Once a co-op leader agrees to testify, NRECA lobbyists work closely with them on testimony and answers to potential questions, says Mary Katherine “MK" Kirlin, a legislative affairs manager.

“Writing the testimony is a very collaborative process between NRECA staff, primarily the lobbying and regulatory teams, and the staff of the testifying member," she says.

Once the testimony has been written, NRECA shares it with members of the congressional committee so they'll be informed before the hearing about the positions and polices of the co-op witness, says Montee Wynn, legislative affairs director and counsel for legislative advocacy at NRECA.

“We also draft questions with answers and distribute them to each committee member to encourage them to ask those questions of our witness," Wynn says. “The idea is to inject certainty and predictability through rigorous preparation."

On the day of the hearing, NRECA staff sit down with the witness beforehand and go through what to expect one last time, says Katie Culleton, NRECA legislative affairs director for broadband issues.

“We'll meet up with the witness, take them to Capitol Hill, and make sure they're all situated with their materials and their answers to the questions," she says. “And then the hearing happens."

Afterward, lobbyists work with the co-op leader to answer any follow-up questions.

“It's a very long process," Culleton says. “But ultimately it will help develop the record on these different topics that we're discussing."

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