After the fiasco of the 2000 presidential election, when Florida's voting process threw the nation into an electoral crisis, Congress proposed standards for voting equipment that federal legislators thought would guarantee fair elections. But, when local officials realized the effects the strict legislation would have on their communities, they mobilized to fight the law. “We buy the best equipment available that works, but what the federal government was trying to do would be devastating to the counties and the people responsible. The reform was impossible to put in,” says Donald Stapley, supervisor for Maricopa County, Ariz., and incoming president for the National Association of Counties (NACo).

NACo lobbied lawmakers against the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2007 (H.R.811), and it essentially has stalled in committee. “If they had come to us first and listened to NACo and elected leaders, they would have understood that what they were proposing were bad ideas,” Stapley says. “We are interested in some reform, but the kind of machine they were mandating would have been disastrous. We were able to defeat the bill.”

The experience proved to local officials that the relationship between them and the federal government had become badly frayed and that they had lost their seat at the table in the Washington policy debates. At that point, they feared that local government was seen at the White House and on Capitol Hill as just another special interest group looking for favors.

As part of an effort to change that perception, NACo has launched its “Restoring the Partnership” initiative to make the point in this election year that local governments need to be involved early in the legislative and regulatory process to produce the best results. The organization has heavily promoted its program at presidential candidate forums throughout the year and has enlisted the support of other groups, like the National Governors Association, National Conference of State Legislatures, National League of Cities and the International City/County Management Association. “Instead of defeating bad bills, we want to work together early on,” says Larry Naake, NACo's executive director. “We want to say to Congress, ‘We can help you. You can get better legislation from the ground up if you give us the concept, and we can help implement it.’”

There are some indications on the legislative side that the interests of local governments and the federal legislators can be brought together for better results, at least on specific concerns. Although Naake understands that rebuilding the relationship will not be easy, he has heard some positive response from legislators and the presidential candidates from both parties. “I'm very encouraged,” he says.

One issue where the interests of the federal and local governments align is in providing medical care for those incarcerated before trial. Currently, prisoners lose their Medicaid benefits in jail and for a period after they are released, even though they have not been convicted of a crime. That places the burden of their medical care on local governments.

Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., has been working with NACo to help counties by continuing Medicaid funding for suspects until they are convicted, when they would be treated in the state or local prison medical system. “I'm working on this issue with a number of levels of government,” Holt says. “It's hard to believe that it could happen in this country that a person is penalized without any proceeding.”

The federal government was cutting Medicaid costs by shirking its responsibilities, and counties should be receiving more assistance, Holt says. “We're passing the buck to the counties,” he says. “That's not the right thing for the counties. This is a public health problem.”

Other legislators are interested in building bridges on public safety. “When it comes to protecting our communities against violent crime, drugs and terrorism, the local, state and federal partnership is critical,” says Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs. “We need to renew the federal commitment for state and local law enforcement, and we can start by hiring more FBI agents dedicated to fighting crime and restoring full funding to the COPS program to help hire, train, and equip state and local cops.”

An advisory commission

In the 1970s and 1980s, the interests between local governments and the federal government were closely intertwined, with consultations that produced a number of innovations that remain today, Naake says. “In its heyday, there was tremendous work on inter-governmental affairs,” he says, noting that Vice Presidents Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mondale were both big local government supporters.