1. MONDAY, AUGUST 8
Conference Registration
7:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. | First Floor Foyer
General Breakfast
7:30-8:30 a.m. | Porte Kent, First Floor
Concurrent Committee
Breakfast Meetings
Agriculture & Rural Development
7:30-9:30 a.m. | Dufferin, Lobby Level
Canada | U.S. Relations
7:30-9:30 a.m. | Porte St. Louis, First Floor
Energy & Environment
7:30-9:30 a.m. | De Tourny, Lobby Level
Military & Veterans Affairs Task Force
7:30-9:30 a.m. | Beauport, Second Floor
Transportation
7:30-9:30 a.m. | Beaumont, Belair, Second Floor
Opening Ceremony
9:45-10:00 a.m. | Porte du Palais, First Floor
Welcome from Jacques Chagnon, President
of the National Assembly of Quebec, & ERC
Co-Chair, MNA Guy Ouellette
10:00-10:15 a.m. | Porte du Palais, First Floor
Opening Keynote Address
10:15-11:45 a.m. | Porte du Palais, First Floor
Luncheon Plenary: Political Outlook 2016
12:00-1:15 p.m. | Porte Kent & Porte St. Louis,
First Floor
Crumbling Communities
1:30-3:30 p.m. | Porte du Palais, First Floor
Comparison of U.S. & Canadian Dairy
Industries
1:30-3:30 p.m. | Beauport, Beaumont, Belair,
Second Floor
Professional Development Workshop
1:30-3:30 p.m. | De Tourny, Lobby Level
Engaging Underrepresented Citizens
3:30-5:30 p.m. | Dufferin, Lobby Level
ELA & Toll Fellows Reception
4:00-5:00 p.m. | Plaines, 23rd Floor
DAILY MEETING
NEWS
The Council of State Governments
Eastern Regional Conference
The Audience is Listening
… and Watching
Westen: Wording, Visual Cues Play Role
in Political Communications
They’re simple, almost clichéd, truths:
• It’s not what you say, but how you say it
• Work to connect with your audience at a basic level
• Mind your body language
• Acknowledge challenges, but offer positive solutions
But more and more, politicians are missing those simple truths and,
Emory University psychology professor Drew Westen said, political
dialogue is suffering because of it.
Westen, who also operates a consulting business, offered his thoughts on
messaging techniques and faux pas on the part of U.S. presidential candidates
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton during Sunday’s luncheon plenary session.
While Trump’s acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention has been
widely panned as being a negative look at the U.S., Westen said the perception was
based partly on the first part of the speech and partly on the GOP’s poor staging of the
gathering leading up to Trump’s speech. In the second half of the speech, he noted, Trump
presented himself as a person who could take on and meet the challenges.
Westen said Democrats did a better
job of stage-managing their gathering
and lauded Clinton for delivering the
best speech of her political career.
But he said both candidates have a lot
of work to do when it comes to their
body language. Trump has a tendency
to look like he’s snarling—especially
in photos—an asymmetrical look that
Westen says science has shown
plays badly on the subconscious.
Clinton, he noted, tends to point at
audience members, which makes
people think she’s bringing some
people in and leaving others out. He
also noted the former secretary of
state’s smile—especially as it comes out in photos—seems unnatural, which also raises
suspicions.
By contrast, Westen pointed to the examples of Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan,
who used strong, relatable messages to win support for their programs, which went on to shape
U.S. policy during the middle part of the 20th century and the last quarter of the 20 century.
One of the secrets of their success, Westin said, was how they delivered their messages.
“They talked to the voters and understood their fear and anxiety,” Westin said, “but they
always left a message of hope.”
– Patrick Jackson
Emory University psychology professor Drew
Westen said political dialogue is suffering
because politicians aren’t following basic
rules of communicating with voters. Photo by
Sebastian Marquez

2. Clockwise from top left: Fireworks lit up the night sky Saturday as the ERC’s 56th Annual Meeeting and Regional Policy Forum
got underway. Flags from Canada, Québec and the United States fly near the Hilton Quebec. Maryland House Speaker Michael
Busch and House Majority WhipTalmadge Branch attended the opening night dinner for the ERC Executive Committee, Host
Committee and Select Corporate Contributors. During the dinner, ERC Executive Director Wendell Hannaford, left, presented
certficates to François Ouimet, first vice president of the Québec National Assembly, and Jacques Chagnon, president of the
Québec National Assembly, alongside ERC Co-Chairs MNA Guy Ouellette and MNA Guy Leclair of Québec. Photos by Sebastian
Marquez
GLOBAL CHALLENGES, REGIONAL SOLUTIONS

3. Clockwise from top left, MNA Guy Ouellette of Québec, CSG Co-Chair, and Rep. Carolyn Partridge of Vermont participated
in the Annual Meeting Committee meeting Sunday, as did Rep. Kenneth Marshall of Rhode Island, Assemblyman Robin
Schimminger of NewYork and Rep. Deborah Hudson of Delaware. Attendees at the ERC’s 56th Annual Meeting listened to the
opening plenary speaker, Drew Westen, as he discussed the psychology of political communication. Following the Executive
Committee meeting, MNA Ouelette and ERC Co-Chair MNA Guy Leclair posed with Rep. Helene Keeley of Delaware and Sen.
Lou D’Allesandro of New Hampshire. Photos by Sebastian Marquez
GLOBAL CHALLENGES, REGIONAL SOLUTIONS

4. Flint, Mich., Returns Lead, Environmental
Racism to the National Conversation
Lead and lead poisoning had largely been
dropped from the national conversation
until massive lead contamination in Flint,
Mich., brought it back.
That, said Pennsylvania State Sen. Vincent
Hughes, may have been the only good to
come from Flint’s tragedy. Hughes and
New York Sen. Kevin Parker talked about
issues of environmental racism in a
session of the ERC Quad Caucus Sunday.
Hughes said Philadelphia’s school system
is being sued because of lead
contamination.
While the issue of lingering lead
contamination in communities may have
fallen out of the national conversation,
Parker said it doesn’t mean people have
been ignoring it. During a visit to an urban
farm in his district, Parker said he saw
plants being grown in boxes instead of
being planted in the ground.
When he asked about boxes sitting atop
grass, Parker said he was told: “The grass
keeps the lead dust down.”
Although the federal government has
banned lead paint since the 1970s, lead
paint, paint chips and dust remains an
issue—especially in cities
in the Northeast that have a
lot of pre-World War II
buildings and housing
stock. In many large cities,
lead dust linked to the
demolition of buildings
contributes to the issue of
lead-contaminated soils, as
does legacy pollution, such
as lead from car exhausts.
While contamination
problems are an issue in
older communities, which
often are home to substantial minority
populations, Vermont Sen. Brian Campion
said rural areas have their own problems; he
noted that PFOA, a chemical used in making
Teflon, had contaminated wells in his state.
That was a problem because unlike lead,
which is so hazardous that no level of
exposure is deemed safe, the Environmental
Protection Agency has only recently listed
PFOA as a chemical of concern because of
cancer and other health risks.
In many states, Hughes said, there’s a lack
of funding for cleaning up contamination in
communities, and federal funding for lead
testing in buildings and people is eroding.
Parker said one strategy for dealing with the
issue may be linking lead mitigation with
home energy efficiency improvement
programs and general infrastructure
improvement programs, rather than making it
a stand-alone issue. He also said state and
local governments need to sell the work as
an investment that will pay dividends in
lower early childhood intervention, special
education and public health costs.
“When you think about lead,” Parker said,
“remember, it’s the one thing Superman
can’t see through.”
– Patrick Jackson
Puerto Rico Gets Help with Debt
Help from Washington Requires Oversight Board
Thanks to a new federal law, Puerto Rico
can start restructuring its $70 billion debt,
but Senate President Eduardo Bhatia said
the long-delayed change in federal policy
has a very big string attached.
Part of the new law giving the U.S. territory
the right to restructure its debt, in the same
manner as any other state or local
government, creates a seven-member
oversight board that must check off on new
laws and policies. That is similar to
oversight boards named by state
governments when cities or school districts
enter receivership. The board is to stay in
place until Puerto Rico has maintained a
balanced budget for five years.
“It’s way overboard,” Bhatia said Sunday
during the ERC Executive Committee
meeting. “We can’t pass a law without this
board’s approval.”
He said the board was created largely
because of political pressure
brought by hedge funds that
want to buy the island’s debt
at bargain prices.
“This was not created out
of nothing, for no reason,”
Bhatia said.
He said Puerto Rico will try to
work with Congress to
modify the board’s powers,
but added that because it’s
so new that it will take time to feel out how
intrusive the board will become. The full
board has not been named.
Puerto Rico got here because of a 1984
change in federal bankruptcy laws that left
the island unable to go the route of some
municipalities and schools in seeking Chapter
9 protection. That led the island to pass its
own bankruptcy law, which was challenged
and overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, the Puerto Rican government
has instituted austerity measures, raised
taxes and cut back on its workforce to try to
bring its finances into line. None of those
measures have played well, Bhatia said.
“I may be looking for a job in January,” he
said. “None of what we’ve done is popular—
laying off workers, people hate it; austerity,
people hate it; raising taxes, people hate it.”
– Patrick Jackson
Puerto Rico Senate President Eduardo Bhatia,
center, and Alex K.S. Fan, director of Public Affairs,
right, spoke during Sunday’s Executive Committee
meeting. At left is Stephen S.C. Hsu, executive
assistant director for the office. Photo by Sebastian
Marquez
Sen.Vincent Hughes of Pennsylvania, left, and
Sen. Kevin Parker of NewYork discussed lead
contamination in their states during the ERC Quad
Caucus meeting Sunday. Photo by Sebastien Marquez