Who’s in Charge?
Mapping Federal and State Hierarchies
One of the fastest ways to burn out in advocacy is talking to the wrong person with complete confidence.
It happens constantly. People direct anger at officials who lack authority, demand action from offices with no jurisdiction, and escalate issues to leaders who cannot legally intervene. The result is frustration on both sides and zero movement.
Advocacy becomes effective when you understand who actually has the power to act.
Authority Is Not the Same as Visibility
Public-facing officials are not always decision-makers.
Governors, members of Congress, and agency heads are visible. That does not mean they control every outcome tied to their name. Authority in government is layered, delegated, and constrained by law.
Understanding this distinction is Advocacy101.
If you want change, you must aim your effort at the level where the decision is actually made.
Federal vs. State: Start With Jurisdiction
The first question in any advocacy effort should be simple:
Is this a federal issue or a state issue?
Federal issues generally involve:
National programs and benefits
Federal agencies and regulations
Interstate policy
Federal funding streams
State issues generally involve:
Licensing and professional standards
State-level benefits and services
Education and local infrastructure
State implementation of federal programs
If you misidentify jurisdiction, even perfect advocacy will miss its target.
Federal Hierarchies: Who Does What
At the federal level, authority flows through multiple, overlapping structures.
Congress writes the law. Committees shape it. Leadership schedules it. Individual members influence it based on priorities and constituent pressure.
Federal agencies implement the law. Career staff execute policy. Political appointees set direction within legal boundaries.
Oversight comes from committees, inspectors general, and, ultimately, the courts.
No single person controls the entire system.
Effective federal advocacy often involves:
Engaging committee members, not just sponsors
Working with staff who draft and negotiate language
Understanding agency rulemaking timelines
Tracking oversight authority
State Hierarchies: Similar, But Not the Same
States mirror the federal structure but operate with different powers and fewer layers.
State legislatures pass laws. Governors sign or veto them. Agencies implement them.
However, states often have:
Independently elected officials
Appointed boards and commissions
County-level administrators with real authority
Local implementation can vary widely, even within the same state. This is why a policy that looks solid at the Capitol may fail in practice.
State advocacy must account for this fragmentation.
Agencies Are Not Monoliths
Agencies are often treated as single entities. They are not.
Within any agency, authority is divided among:
Policy offices
Operations divisions
Legal counsel
Regional or district offices
An answer from one division may not bind another. A promise from leadership may stall at implementation(and often does when it comes to agencies like the VA and DoW/DoD).
Advocacy that ignores internal structure often gets stuck.
Staff Are Power Multipliers
Staff are not obstacles. They are the operating system.
They advise elected officials, draft legislation, manage portfolios, and coordinate across offices. In many cases, they understand the issue more deeply than the official whose name is on the door.
Knowing which staffer handles your issue is often more important than securing a photo with the official.
Why Mapping Matters
When advocates map authority correctly, several things happen:
Messages become more targeted
Effort becomes more efficient
Responses become more substantive
Burnout decreases
When mapping is ignored, advocates waste time yelling uphill or knocking on closed doors.
The Bottom Line
Government power is not intuitive. It is layered, constrained, and often intentionally opaque.
Advocacy is not about finding the loudest office. It is about finding the right one.
When you understand who is in charge, you stop shouting into the void and start applying pressure where it actually works.
And that is when things begin to move.
