The Politics of Property Rights Education: Partnering or Going Alone?

Success Story

 Speakers:
Gary Taylor and Alan Vandehaar 515/294-2973
gtaylor@iastate.edu
Iowa State University
When the United States Supreme Court decided Kelo v. City of New London, the issues of eminent domain and private property rights garnered widespread media attention. Citizens (and soon after, state legislators) began a dialogue about the law and politics of property rights, and the intersection of government and private interests. Seeing an opportunity for timely, relevant public issues education, Iowa State University Extension educators began to plan for a series of forums on eminent domain. The issue offered natural programming partners such as the Iowa League of Cities, the State Association of Counties, the Farm Bureau, 1000 Friends of Iowa and others; however, knowing that legislative leaders were intent on introducing legislation addressing the issue in the next session, these partners also had an interest in influencing the form, audience and message of the forums. As of the writing of this session proposal, negotiations over how to proceed with these forums are still ongoing. How much influence should partnering organizations have over extension programming? Conversely, if we don't allow them to be part of the process, why would they ever wish to work with us? How will we know when we've lost the right to claim we are providing "unbiased public policy education?" In this session we will discuss the lessons learned from this effort, suggest tips on thinking strategically about dealing with politically-motivated partners, and offer guidelines to help extension educators answer the question: Should we partner or go alone in providing public issues education on politically-charged issues?

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For more information about the conference, contact the conference co-chairs: Cindy Bigger, cbigger@umn.edu, (888) 241-0843, or Rick Maurer, richard.maurer@uky.edu, (859) 257-7582.

For questions, comments or concerns about the 2006 NACDEP Conference website, contact emilye@srdc.msstate.edu.