In this episode of The Idealists. (formerly Grit & Grace), host and entrepreneur Melissa Kiguwa interviews Marilyn Rodriguez, the go-to policy and politics advisor in Arizona. One of the foremost government relations professionals in the state, Marilyn founded and runs the lobbying firm Creosote Partners which represents progressive organizations in front of local, legislative, statewide, and federal lawmakers. In this episode, she describes the hard collective work involved in turning Arizona blue and the ways her firm is fighting to keep the state blue.

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In the episode:

- Marilyn begins the conversation describing her radical beliefs about compensation where junior employees are on a track to being paid the same as the partners within a few years.

- She then goes on to explain how she quit her corporate lobbying job to start her progressive lobbying firm in 2017.  She describes how the conservative politics of legislators does not necessarily reflect the actual values of everyday Arizonans. She also describes the ways legislators create difficult processes so everyday people are intimidated from engaging in the political process.

- Marilyn breaks down how incentives and political inequality converge to create chasms between progressive legislators and the conservative majority. She also describes how she primes her clients to deal with respectability politics and being taken seriously.

- Marilyn ends the episode describing the legislative victories her firm has won and her hope for the future.