From high atop the State Capitol Dome, “The Guardian” keeps watch over the citizens of Oklahoma. In the colorful rotunda below, Jami Longacre maintains a watchful eye on Oklahoma agriculture.

A former Kellyville FFA member, Longacre serves as a lobbyist with McSpadden & Associates. Her clients, primarily from agricultural organizations and rural agencies, depend on her to help protect their interests.

“I love what I’m doing,” Longacre said. “People need advocates, and I’m working for the industry I love and the people who are out there trying to make it better.”

 The Oklahoma legislative session begins in February and is scheduled to end by May 31; however, Longacre said lobbying is a business of relationships that are maintained throughout the year.

“My job is to help the group stay organized and to articulate a concise key message,” Longacre said. “In Oklahoma, we’re fortunate to have a rural legislature that is cognizant of the wants and needs of production agriculture and vitality of rural communities.”

Longacre understands rural communities, having grown up on small ranch near Kellyville. Her family’s operation included hay, commercial cow/calf production and show pigs. At age 9, she started giving speeches and showing pigs through the Kellyville 4-H in Creek County. Her 4-H agent was Phyllis Holcomb, wife of Longacre’s agricultural education teacher Tom Holcomb. Together, the Holcombs hauled her “all over the state showing.”

“Jami has always been extremely hardworking,” Tom Holcomb said.

Once in high school, there was no doubt Longacre, at that time Jami McAnulty, would be in FFA, where she continued speaking and showing, but what she said she remembers and values most are the times she and her fellow FFA members served the community.

“When someone in the community passed away, we would go in FFA official dress to the family’s home to take food,” Longacre said. “We went to visit the elderly at the nursing home with fruit and candy, and we would sit and listen to them. They have phenomenal wisdom to share.“You don’t get that in math, English or athletics,” she said. “Agricultural education and FFA are so much more than a class. They teach you the life skills you need to be a good community person.”

 Longacre said Holcomb helped his students, including her, become exceptional leaders. As part of that emphasis, they attended officer training and the Oklahoma FFA Convention. During her four years in Kellyville FFA, Longacre was Star Greenhand and a Star Chapter Farmer; she also earned the State Farmer Degree in 1988.

“She was one of the most responsible young people we had in class, showing a lot of leadership at a young age,” Tom Holcomb said. “She worked hard to make the chapter interesting for other members.”

After high school, Longacre enrolled at Oklahoma State University, where she majored in agricultural economics.

“I majored in ag econ because of my 4-H and FFA background,” she said.“I wanted to make a difference in the industry I loved.”

As far as her career is concerned, probably the most important thing Longacre did at OSU was to serve as the 1992 legislative intern for the OSU College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.

“For me, the light went on with the ag legislative internship,” Longacre said. “It showed me how all my years of 4-H, FFA and OSU came together. I knew my role, my niche was the Ag policy arena and that you or an industry could make a difference at the state legislature.”

After working with farm groups and observing what lobbyists did, Longacre returned to OSU and used her elective credit hours in writing and speaking courses, “courses that put you in front of a group and focused on communication.” In 1993, she worked as an intern at the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture. After her internship was over, she wrote speeches and tracked legislation as an executive assistant for Gary Sherrer, who was commissioner of agriculture at the time.

“She was eager to do anything,” Sherrer said. “She always tries to do the right thing for the right reason.”

Longacre wanted the opportunity to gain experience, but, as she put it, “You don’t just go to the Capitol and say ‘I’m a lobbyist.”

She received the experience she sought through the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association and the Oklahoma Beef Council.

“Jarold Callahan [former OCA executive vice president] created a lobbyist position, and I was fortunate to be selected,” Longacre said. “I learned the basics of “Lobbying 101” from him and former Congressman Clem McSpadden.”

After two years with OCA, Longacre took the next step in her career. In 1997, the OBC was searching for a new executive director.

“I felt like I needed to apply,” she said. “I love beef cattle, and people in the cattle industry are the salt of the earth.

 “I was conscientious of producers paying the checkoff and communicating how their money was spent and what a difference it was making. But rather than work at the capitol, I worked on communicating information to all Oklahoma consumers.”

Longacre said her role as the first female OBC executive director taught her how to manage issues with the media and with health care professionals. After 2½ years at OBC, Longacre decided to move home to her Kellyville ranch, where she lives now with her husband, John Longacre, and her 2-year-old son John Turner Longacre V, and she joined Clem and Bart McSpadden with McSpadden & Associates as a lobbyist.

“I went back to what I truly enjoyed: the policy arena and the relationships,” Longacre said. In rural Oklahoma, we still feed the world, and it’s hard to find a legislator who doesn’t have roots and rural ties. They have empathy and know we need a strong rural Oklahoma and safe, wholesome, healthy food products.”

During the interim between sessions, Longacre and her colleagues develop legislative goals, preparing for a four-month “sprint” and building support for key issues.

“I have been so blessed to work with Clem and Bart McSpadden over the past six years,” Longacre said. “They have impeccable reputations at the capitol and have been hugely instrumental in making me a better lobbyist for the groups we are fortunate to represent.”

She and her family also make time to help in their community, including with the FFA.

“I’m glad the FFA was there to help me become the person I am,” she said. “Without a passion for agriculture, I don’t know what I’d be doing today.”

Sherrer said he knows Longacre will be successful in whatever she does.

“I’d like to see her run for a political office because she’d do such a good job,” he said. “I’d like to buy stock in her future.”