Big Sandy says: Life lessons hold true in state government

For years, coop­er­a­tives have been held in high esteem in the halls of gov­ern­ment. Mak­ing up the largest util­i­ty net­work in our coun­try, elec­tric coop­er­a­tive mem­bers have a voice—a loud one. As con­stituents, coop­er­a­tive mem­bers’ votes can be a cat­a­lyst for change, which is just one rea­son why your co-op cares what you think. My dad, Sandy Howie, always told me, “One of the great­est strengths of any orga­ni­za­tion is the abil­i­ty to change and evolve.” Work­ing in gov­ern­ment rela­tions for more than 20 years has proven this to be true.

Adapt­ing in response to our mem­bers is our goal at YEC because you mat­ter most. I am proud to work for an orga­ni­za­tion that rec­og­nizes the need to lis­ten and make deserv­ing changes to improve. I’m also pleased to say that our local del­e­ga­tion feels the same. Par­ty lines no longer mat­ter when it comes to the well­be­ing and pros­per­i­ty of our com­mu­ni­ties because you mat­ter to them, too. As a con­stituent, I appre­ci­ate the voice our area has in Colum­bia with the Speak­er Pro Tem­pore of the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives and the House Major­i­ty Leader, both com­ing from our area. In my gov­ern­ment rela­tions job, I can attest that all 13 mem­bers of our del­e­ga­tion are respon­sive, engaged and work as team play­ers for our local mem­bers. Although the titles we bring to the table are impres­sive, their expe­ri­ence, humil­i­ty, will­ing­ness to serve and trust­wor­thi­ness is what makes our mem­bers’ needs heard. They are all nor­mal peo­ple, like you and me, and are ded­i­cat­ed to serv­ing you. At YEC, we are thank­ful for their com­mit­ment, hard work and authen­tic­i­ty.

My dad also encour­aged me to trust some­one until I am giv­en a rea­son to rescind that trust. Most peo­ple approach that con­fi­dence in the oppo­site way, espe­cial­ly with politi­cians. In my expe­ri­ence, Big Sandy was right. I trust our mem­bers who have vot­ed on these capa­ble indi­vid­u­als to write the laws that will car­ry our state into the future. I trust those rep­re­sen­ta­tives and sen­a­tors to do what is best for our mem­bers. I trust our lead­er­ship and board of direc­tors to bring forth the voice of our mem­bers to direct change.

It’s sim­ple, real­ly, because we’re all in this togeth­er and rec­og­nize help­ing oth­ers mat­ters most. We main­tain an open line of com­mu­ni­ca­tion, form­ing gen­uine, trust­wor­thy rela­tion­ships. They know they can count on us and we can count on them when we need it most. Trust us. We’re work­ing for you, we’re look­ing out for you and when your co-op talks, your elect­ed offi­cials lis­ten.