Kevin Goodno: Lobbying for Better Future - Fredrikson & Byron PA

VOL.123, NO. 92
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BY ANNA PRATT
Special to Finance & Commerce
When he was young, lobbyist Kevin
Goodno worked alongside his dad at a
family-owned paint and flooring store
in Moorhead. Back then he never envisioned
that one day he would spend
most of his time at the state capitol.
“I did, literally, watch paint dry,” he
commented, only half-jokingly, from
the cafeteria of a state administrative
building.
Though Goodno has been a politician,
a bureaucrat, a business owner
and an attorney, his early experience
in the carpeting business (which he
said made law school seem easy),
taught him how to give customers the
information they need to make the
right decision. Observing his dad at
the store, he learned, “The customer
is not always right.”
That motto, along with his diverse
experiences in the commercial, legal
and political spheres are all relevant
in his current role heading up the government
relations practice at the
Minneapolis law firm, Fredrikson &
Byron, P.A., where he’s built up its
expertise especially in healthcare and
tax policy.
“I went out and looked
for talented people
who were committed
to developing their
practice.”
– Kevin Goodno, government relations practice,
Fredrikson & Byron
FINANCE-COMMERCE.COM
For instance, people may not truly
understand the ramifications of a certain
proposal. That’s where Goodno
steps in: “I help translate it into something
that’s meaningful.”
For instance, the Minnesota Home
Care Association, which is a client,
might hire him to explain to lawmakers
the impact of certain policies on
the quality and cost of home-care
services. Another day he may be
called on to talk about Medicaid or
health care services for the elderly. As
someone who has a child with epilepsy,
health-care issues are near and
TUESDAY | MAY 25, 2010
Kevin Goodno: Lobbying for better future
Though Kevin Goodno has been a
politician, a bureaucrat, a business owner
and an attorney, his early experience in
the carpeting business taught him how to
give customers the information they
need. (Staff photo: Bill Klotz)
dear to him. However, he also regularly
delves into education, tax, environment
and affordable housing, depending
on a client’s needs.
Before joining the firm in 2006,
Goodno was the former commissioner
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Tuesday | May 25, 2010 finance-commerce. com Finance & Commerce 2
Goodno
Continued from page 1A
of the state’s largest agency, the
Department of Human Services, which
had an annual budget of $8.5 billion
and 6,900 employees. By then, he’d
already put in a dozen years of service
in the House of Representatives for the
Moorhead area, all the while juggling
the carpet business, law school and
family. Notably, at the age of 23,
Goodno became Moorhead’s youngestever
city council member.
At Fredrikson & Byron, he has
formed a team from scratch that handles
legislative drafting and tracking,
policy development and government
lobbying and strategizing, on behalf of
businesses, nonprofits and trade and
advocacy groups in a wide variety of
industries.
The five full-time professionals he
has brought on to the government-rela-
tions practice, all of them registered
lobbyists, serve more than 30 clients.
In setting it up, “I went out and looked
for talented people who were committed
to developing their practice.”
Goodno, who acts as a teacher to the
group, underscores the importance of
community involvement. In his professional
and extracurricular activities,
he said, “I look for opportunities to
help with pro bono work.”
Lobbying is valuable behind-thescenes
legwork, which he came to realize
when he was on the other end, as a
state representative.
Lobbyists “are important to provide
information and help lawmakers stay
in touch with constituents and navigate
the process,” he said.
It’s his job to stay on top of a bunch
of issues that are subject to change on
a daily basis. He soaks it up like a
sponge, he said, adding that he particularly
enjoys cutting his teeth on new
issues and strategic planning.
Reprinted with permission of the publisher.
© 2010 Finance and Commerce, all rights reserved.
Strategizing may take 20 minutes or a
couple days, depending on what’s at
stake.
“It’s a dynamic process. You have to
be flexible,” he said, adding that with
every legislative session, there are
many late nights, including at least one
all-nighter at the capitol. “You never
know what the big issues are going to
be. You have to be ready to respond.”
Clients approach him to help them
“develop a position based on what the
system will look like in the future,” he
said. “I get to be a part of the process
of change.”
In light of coming budget cuts and
demographic changes, his role as a lobbyist
or a go-between may become
even more important to help break
down complex issues. When it comes to
publicly funded services, he remarked,
as a state, “We have to come to grips
with what we want and how much
we’re willing to pay” – for which he’ll be
around to help find the way.