Here's how you know that a political outreach program is working at a town hall meeting: a lawmaker defers to a co-op representative to explain the details of legislation.
That happened not long ago in Iowa, when a state legislator turned over the floor to a co-op manager, who could better describe the nuances of a complex measure concerning stray voltage.
"I can't imagine a better position to be in than explaining a legislator's position to his constituents for him," said Ben Tiernan, grassroots coordinator for the Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives.
