Mapes and Mapes is the Lobbyist for the LLSSA. A lobbyist is a professional like a plumber, or a lawyer, but lobbyists provide specialized services in regard to the legislature, politics and government. Politics is not everybody’s cup of tea, but that’s the whole point. You wouldn’t want to fix your own leaky pipes and you definitely don’t want to try and take care of your industry’s politics at the Capitol by yourself.
Professional lobbyists work year-round with the legislature and governmental agencies, so when our industry is in a political mess, Mapes and Mapes is ready to take our issues, to the legislature just like a lawyer would take you, and your issue, to court.
A person doesn’t have to go to a special school or get a permit or certificate to work as a lobbyist. They just have to register with the department of ethics as a lobbyist. It’s been said that lobbying is 85% personality and 15% technical knowledge, but without that technical knowledge you’ve just got a really fun person to hang around. To have mastery of the technical knowledge of the legislative process is critical.
Joseph Mapes has worked, in some capacity, in every special, regular, and fiscal session since 1974 — that’s more than 100 legislative sessions in which Mapes has drafted legislation, lobbied legislators and administrators, and worked in alliance with other governmental relations firms, Governors and their staff. He has been representing the LLSSA for many years in the Louisiana Capital.