Explaining the Reason Behind My Basic Questions
7/23/2024
Occasionally I post the following questions to test
everyone’s thought process and yet no one has thought far enough outside of the
box to answer them. Even the simplest 
ones of who your state senator and state representative
are missed when people name their federal counterparts. [1]
The questions and the thought process come from a conversation that I had will a primary sponsor of a bill in 2011 (SB112) and some of the best advice that I ever got from the Statehouse. For those who doubt this method, it has worked with every legislator that I have talked to, including ones in states other than Ohio.
We were working on a very complicated argument in support of our equal custody bill (equal legal and physical custody, not a presumption that Ohio already has). He understood the pitch completely but suggested that we come up with something simpler to get legislators to understand and took less time to deliver. What he said was “Lawmakers are extremely busy and you have 15 seconds to make your pitch and capture their attention.”
Can you answer some basic questions?
1.
What
do you say to a legislator to get them to realize that Ohio’s custody laws have
problems in a 15-second sound bite?
In music or a sales pitch, it is called the hook. The one thing you say
that draws someone deep into the conversation, in this, a conversation about
something they were not thinking about. This is what draws them to discuss
something that is going on with the law that they have not thought about.
“Why does Ohio remove fit parents from the
lines of fit parents every day?”
That doesn’t appear to be a strong statement until you ask it and see the
reactions it gets.
I usually get the headshake double-take reaction or “What did you ask me?” I
have had others say they will look into it or what do you mean, please explain.
I asked a candidate one time and her smug comment was “I have no doubt we do
and I am alright with it.” She did not get elected.
There is your 15-second sound bite that
smashes the door open.
2.
What
changes do you think need to be made to current law and why?
Now you have their interest you can get into the fine details of what is
wrong with current law. There will be some things that can be changed and some
that cannot. That is a reality of the entire revised code that there are things
that can and cannot be changed.
There are things that some have said need to be done that would affect every
person in the state and affect their liberty interests that have no business in
a bill like this.
3.
Who
will oppose the changes and why?
You need to be able to answer that question when asked and you will be
asked. The representative will need to be able to prepare to combat the
opposition’s claims.
The best start is to make sure that you are not lying to the legislator about
what current laws say and if you are pointing at bills in other states that
have passed as to what they have done, don’t BS about what they did or are
doing. This also applies when testifying about the bill.
It is well known that judges will testify against any kind of equal custody
bill and claim that it takes away their discretion and creates cookie-cutter
orders. Funny, aren’t standard orders cookie-cutter orders?
I looked at other areas of Ohio’s Revised Code and found that there are limits
to the comments they can make. [2]
Unfortunately, legislators allow the judiciary too much say in some areas and
not enough in others. One needs to ask one why they feel they are more fit to
make decisions about the children of fit parents than those fit parents.
Attorneys will fight against changes because of the money they make from
causing the conflict yet if you ask them to give you the legal definition of
“best interest of the child” they fail and point at the factors for determining
custody.
Domestic violence groups have opposed equal custody in the past claiming that
it increases contact between parents who do not get along yet when you point
out that a week-on-week off schedule is used contact at exchanges is reduced.
4. Can you name your state representative?
5.
Can
you name your state senator?
#4 & 5 go together; I am specific when I ask for the names of state
legislators because they are the only ones who can address this type of
legislation.
The US Constitution earmarks this issue for the individual states, not the
federal government.
6.
Do
you know how to find your state’s custody law online?
Every state has the entire state codes or statutes online. You can
usually find them by going to your state statehouse website.
Ohio’s Custody laws are in Chapter 31: https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code
Each also has a way to find who your State Representative and Senator is.
For Ohio, if you need to find your representative or senator: https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/
7.
Can
you write a proposed bill that can be introduced in the state legislature? 
There is a simple answer to that but the process is not as simple as you
think. Yes, you can but it takes a lot more than some are misleading to
believe it takes.
Too often people go into a state’s custody section, change the existing
presumption by adding one word, “rebuttable” and think that makes the state an
equal custody state. So, those states that have done that recently have fallen
far short of their mission and have yet to even begin on the job of fixing the
problems that exist.
You can explain it to the legislative committee that writes for the
representatives but then they won’t know how to fix the problems or may cause
more problems, or they have tried to jam their thoughts down your throat
because of their biases. All the time you are going back and forth with them
you are losing time in committee or with the reps.
You will help yourself if you write it yourself. [3]
Who is going to write the proposed bill and have they ever done so? Or are you letting the legislator write the bill?
Ray R. Lautenschlager
Legislative Director
440-281-5478
president@ohiofamilyrights.com
