Before you call or write your legislator, I thought some background on the nature of legislators might be helpful.

I spent my professional life working for, working with, and always closely observing legislators at the state and local levels. For most of those years and historically, every legislator's fundamental impulse was to say yes—as in getting something done for his or her district, some organization or business, or a constituent. Creating a new program or expanding one was a favorite pursuit. That could make winning support for the Stewardship Fund (SF) easier if you could show a legislator how the program would help her or his district—a city or village, for example, might need land or development funds for a new park. The biology for some legislators has changed in recent years. For a few, the fundamental impulse is to say no, often to long-lasting programs. New or expanded funding is usually a target, not a goal, for such legislators. These folks are almost always very conservative Republicans. They will be skeptical of a program such as SF that has been around for years and is financed with borrowing in the form of long term bonds.

Photo by David Musolf / Madison Audubon