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IASCOE |
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2007 Legislative Conference Report |
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On March 4, 2007, six delegates from Illinois ventured to Washington, D.C. to attend the NASCOE Legislative Conference. Those that attended were Tony Augustine, Randy Tillman, Kim Taylor, Sara Bateson, Patty Rigg, and myself. We all stayed at the Sheraton Hotel in Crystal City.
The next day on the 5th, we all attended the main meeting called to order by NASCOE President, Dan Root of Minnesota. Dan informed everyone that NASCOE decided on 3 position papers:
1) Employee Benefit 2) FSA and the Next Farm Bill 3) FSA and Efficient Conservation Title Implementation
The position papers may be viewed on the NASCOE website at www.nascoe.org/legislative.htm.
The conference started out with meeting with FSA Administrator, Teresa Lasseter. Ms. Lasseter welcomed NASCOE to WDC and thanked all that attended and emphasized the importance of the Legislative Conference. She shared with us that she is meeting with us earlier than initially planned but she has a very large meeting to attend that includes the Secretary of Agriculture, IT, OCIO office, and a few others to address the current "computer problem". There will be about 65 people present and they are planning to have a 'proposed' solution in 3 weeks. Because the problem is quite complex and large, Ms. Lasseter cautioned the group not to be surprised if we end up conducting the farm program sign up, manually the first year the Farm Bill is implemented. Groans could be audibly heard throughout the crowd as the more 'seasoned' crowd experienced flashbacks to the days of using the Address-O-Graph and manually writing in base & yield information on the program contracts in the 80's! However, she did state that she will do whatever it takes to prevent this from happening, starting with this special meeting, that day.
Ms. Lasseter then touched on office structuring and stressed it should be "state driven". Currently, they have 27 plans in WDC that indicated 125 county offices to be consolidated. She then listed some statistics:
Ms. Lasseter, again stressed the number one priority is providing service to "Customers".
The next topic on Ms. Lasseter's agenda was the Improper Payment Act. She stressed that management does a good job and encouraged everyone to not hesitate to offer ideas. Review teams will see what they can do to make your jobs easier. Yet, we still have to be accountable in everything that we do.
And finally, Ms. Lasseter touched on jobs and morale. FSA County Office employees are appreciated and valued and their jobs are extremely important. She then had to leave to make it to the special meeting with the Secretary and IT people.
Dan Root, NASCOE President immediately got up and spoke on the fact that Teresa Lasseter really went to bat for us and thanked her for her efforts. Dan also recognized all the new attendees to the Legislative Conference, which was less than half of the total attendance. We were surprised how many new attendees there was. It was good.
Dan spoke about a meeting that he, Mike Mayfield, and Bonnie attended a week earlier. Although he did not speak, they heard a lot of amazing things discussed and suggested by the National Association of Conservation Districts. Dan then introduced Krysta Harden, CEO of the National Association of Conservation Districts. Their message was simple: we need to focus on improving the service with our customers in delivering the conservation programs to the customer. Duplication of paperwork and the administration of that paperwork that NRCS needs to complete with their conservation programs are creating problems in the effective delivery of those programs and we must find common ground. Another individual within NACD agreed with the roles of FSA & NRCS. NRCS is very good at the technical stuff and FSA is good with the administration of programs. NACD recently passed a resolution to support language in the next Farm Bill to support technicians more time in the field (please see the position paper on Conservation Title Implementation). An interesting development, indeed.
Trice Smith & Mike Mayfield, Co-Legislative Chairs provided a good discussion on what challenges lie ahead. Mike asked, "How do we effect change?" He then went over some of the Position Papers, including a new one entitled, "FSA and Efficient Conservation Title Implementation". 54% of the conservation budget is for CRP so FSA's role is very significant. Also, to help us with our discussions with our congressmen, a special paper was handed out summarizing FSA Background and Purpose. Trice pointed out the Ag Committees have a full plate covering issues like the Farm Bill, budget, appropriations, ag terrorism, and food safety. So we need to keep our discussions brief and to the point.
Dan Root got up and listed several key points when developing relations with congressional contacts such as: 1) Keep the congressional contacts informed 2) Be flexible and 'nimble' 3) Keep lines of communications open 4) Keep the terminology simple 5) Stay focused and on important topics 6) Don't act in a partisan manner 7) Be humble--be yourself
The group then heard from several states promoting their state conventions and Nebraska pitching for their fundraisers to host the national convention. MWA Rally will be in Michigan and of course, Illinois & Missouri will host a joint state convention on March 23rd & 24th.
Mike Mayfield spoke on PAC's and how NASCOE members can help make it work. He went over the green colored sheets consisting of the direct deposit forms and the PAC Donor Informational Sheet. Mike pointed out there is a website that will keep the PAC process very transparent and accountable to members. The website is www.fec.gov. This is NASCOE's first big "kick-off" and will serve as an important promotional idea. Although this idea is breaking new ground, it is extremely important and we need to seriously look into this opportunity. It allows NASCOE an edge when gaining access to our congressmen in WDC.
Dan went over key aspects of each Position Paper and the supplemental "Talking Points". He also spoke more specifically on the Farm Bill segments. NASCOE is pursuing 9,800 for PFT employees. Workload numbers crunch out 11,000, but NASCOE multiplied that by 85% and then they added 450 PFT to accommodate separation of duty needs and a few other needs. WE currently have 8,740 on board, now. Dan also made special mention on a new effort by WDC outlined in Circular A-123, which essentially removes SCIMS and direct deposit from FSA County Offices. It's very radical and can be viewed at www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars/A123.
CAPWIZ was also discussed as well as some numbers. There are currently 2,254 subscribers, 34% from the MWA. Our contract ends this September and NASCOE is planning on extending this contract because it has proven very effective. However, we need more people participating. There were 1,700 e-letters issued concerning IT problems and it got the Secretary's attention when members of congress began making inquiries on the problems county office were experiencing last January. FSA Tomorrow generated 3,000 letters (nationwide) from CAPWIZ. As you can see, it does make an impact!
We listened to several others throughout the day, but I just highlighted key presentations. I’m sure I’m leaving a lot more information out. When we met in our area groups, the main message was to share key information contained in the position papers, create dialogue, and try to get a commitment from out congressional contact to either co-sign a letter or co-sponsor legislation that would benefit FSA County Office employees.
The next day, Tuesday March 6th, our Illinois delegation went out to the following appointments:
We squeezed in “drop-offs” between the appointments and split into 3-two person teams to maximize our efforts. Some of our “drop-offs” ended up being very productive. We also met personally with Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. He was very enthusiastic about meeting with us as he doesn’t posses much knowledge about agriculture but he wanted to get “plugged-in” with us since we are at the ‘grass roots’ level. Our meeting with him was about 45 minutes long and he was very supportive on most everything we discussed. He also agreed to co-sign and co-sponsor legislation that involves the Conservation Title Implementation, several key Farm Bill provisions, and the employee benefits, especially the whistleblower provisions. Since our return, I’ve had a couple of correspondences with his Legislative Assistant, Megan Moore and she indicated that Mr. Jackson was quite sincere in his support for NASCOE. Time will tell.
We also had a very good discussion with Senator Obama’s aid, Todd Atkinson. They basically rolled out the red carpet and had one of his interns, Yvonda give our group a guided tour of the Capital Building. We got access to sit in the Senate Gallery and watch the Senators register their verbal vote on an amendment to Sen. Reid’s 9/11 Bill. The room was more spectacular than what you see on C-Span!
All in all, all of our visits went very well and most indicated that they would either co-sign a letter or co-sign legislation for most of the issues outlined in all three position papers. Usually, there is some opposition or questions regarding our requests, but they appeared hungry for ideas and suggestions. We tried to keep our approach simple, based on common sense. We finally got back to the hotel around 8:00 pm. We had a brief discussion and went out to celebrate by eating at Ruth’s Chris Steak House…kind of pricey, but the food was excellent!
In summary, I think one of the main reasons for our success was a combination of several things: use of a common sense approach, developing a good relationship with the congressional aides before the trip to WDC, having well developed position papers, and the influence of using CAPWIZ . There are probably a few other intangible factors, but I feel the development of a sound relationship with the congressional aides had a big impact.
We have to make it a personal commitment to get to know our congressional contacts and establish that relationship of trust and respect. Networking is key to our success for our employees and farmers. This is important since we do not have access to the money that large lobbying firms have. It’s our own dime and time. And, we have to be persistent.
We want to thank all the members of IASCOE for allowing us to go to Washington, D.C. on their behalf and represent Illinois Association of County Office Employees. Without your membership & support, we would not have been able to represent you and voice your needs.
Jerry Quinton IASCOE Legislative Chair
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