Oklahoma Pork's Ashton Mese Johnston sits with Allison Slagell and two summer interns Kate Jackson and Braden Burns as they learn about federal policy in Congressman Lucas’s office.
Story by Kate Jackson
Some of the Oklahoma Pork staff had the opportunity to travel to Washington, DC, to learn about the federal policy side of the pork industry. We met with some outstanding leaders from the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC), Senator Lankford’s office, and Congressman Lucas’s office in addition to visiting several historic sites and museums.
Our trip was filled with learning and networking with many Washington contacts who are influential to the state of Oklahoma. We were able to tour the NPPC DC office and meet with their public policy team, including a round-table discussion about what NPPC does for the pork producers of Oklahoma and what each person’s role includes. The staff we met were Holly Cook, Kelly Cushman, Andrew Bailey, Chase Adams, Dr. Trachelle Carr, Annemarie Pender, Cristina Banoub, Annemarie Pender and their intern Morgan Hinz. Personally, I really enjoyed listening to Annemarie speak about her communications role in a policy focused office. It has never occurred to me that there are communications roles everywhere. One of the things Annemarie spoke about was that she did not come from an agricultural background. She can tell our story in a way that those who know nothing about agriculture can understand and appreciate what we do.
After spending time at NPPC, our group moved to Capitol Hill for Congressional meetings. One of Senator Lankford’s interns, Ellie Huff took us on a Capitol tour. She was a pleasure to meet, and we also got to teach her about the pork industry and what we do. We also got to meet a couple of Senator Lankford’s staff members Ashley Higgins and Susan Occhipinti. Ashley is a Legislative Assistant for Senator Lankford, and her policy portfolio is focused on agriculture and environmental issues. Susan is also one of Senator Lankford’s Legislative Assistants, but her portfolio is focused on social and family services. They discussed how policy issues are handled on the Senate side which is a slower process than on the House of Representative side. I liked how both of them talked about what they majored in and how that has impacted their careers today. Susan studied Strategic Communications at Oklahoma State University (OSU) and Ashley studied Agricultural Economics an Agricultural Education at Colorado State University (CSU). Neither one is strictly policy-based majors which I thought was interesting.
The next office we visited was Congressman Frank Lucas’s office. We met with Allison Slagell who serves as Deputy Chief of Staff for Mr. Lucas. Allison studied Agricultural Communications and Agricultural Economics at OSU. Much like the Senate side she told us how her office operates and how the House of Representatives functions differently than the Senate. The House moves quicker when it comes to approving bills and getting them passed. One of the things Allison said that stuck out to me was how her communications degree has helped her in the bill writing process, drafting speeches, and other parts of her daily work.
The last day of our trip we had the opportunity to attend a bill markup in the House Agriculture Committee. Before the meeting we got to meet the House Agriculture Committee Chair Glenn Thompson and a few other staff members.
I had an awesome time getting more hands-on experience with federal policy and learning how the whole government system works for the pork and agriculture. On this trip, I was able to meet some amazing people that represent our state well. Check out Oklahoma Pork's Facebook page to see a little more about our team's educational trip to Washington, DC, this week!