I’m not going to lie to you. I don’t like politics. I have never gone to legislative visit day and I haven’t participated in any fundraisers for candidates. Heck, I don’t even like going to Nevada City’s City Council Meetings! Don’t get me wrong, I voraciously exercise my right to vote during every election. I do my best to make informed decisions before voting (even though I never know which politician or political action group is actually telling the truth about the issues). My dislike for politics is always in the back of my mind, but this time of year, when the political mud-slinging ads start bombarding us on TV and the radio, I am reminded of why I shy away from the political arena. I cringe watching politicians talk out of both sides of their mouth almost as much as I do watching attorneys drag out simple court cases for months and months to their client’s detriment. Yes, I am aware that many politicians, too, are attorneys. Double whammy.
But, I digress. Why should I bother sharing this information with you in a President’s Message? Because, if you’re at all like me, you love being a member of ACEC because they know how to deal with the politics! ACEC does a lot of the heavy lifting for us, while providing many opportunities for member firms to be engaged. Our state organization ACEC California (ACEC-CA) has three committees in the Legislative Program Area including Grassroots, Legislative Action and Legislative Review. Each of these committees has served us well in their respective arena. But an elected group of 15 members also serve on our CA-ACEC-PAC Board of Governors, which is our organization’s Political Action Committee. Our PAC helps determine which candidates and issues to support. For those who volunteer to put in time in the PAC, we should all be grateful. We also need to be appreciative of the ACEC-CA staff because they play a critical role in identifying and bringing to our attention issues that directly affect the Engineering and Surveying companies represented by our members. As a business owner, I am greatly interested in those 2 or 3 sentences hidden in some Assembly Bill on page 47 which could have an impact on how we do business. As I intimated above…..I am not a great lover of politics, so no one would ever find me going through Assembly Bills during my free time. As luck would have it, ACEC has a very fine in-house legislative advocate, Kelly Garman, plus two contract legislative advocates who actually enjoy (really?) going through a myriad of Bills to ferret out what is good and what is bad for the Engineering and Surveying firms of ACEC-CA. Our new Executive Director, Brad Diede, is well connected on the political front. He along with our many dedicated and engaged members are also key in making things happen in Sacramento. So, I apologize in advance for not getting involved directly on the political front. But, I will always appreciate and laud the efforts of ACEC and its members, especially those who are mindful of our political allies and friends in both Sacramento and Washington, DC.
You may or may not be aware that ACEC also has a Federal PAC, to which ACEC members may contribute. “ACEC/PAC is the nation’s only political organization looking out for engineering firms and their legislative interests. It plays an essential role in the success of ACEC’s advocacy program, supporting federal candidates on a bipartisan basis who support the engineering industry’s agenda in Congress.” I recently contributed to ACEC/PAC, and hope to encourage all ACEC members to follow suit. Please go to the ACEC national web site at www.acec.org, click on the Advocacy tab, select ACEC/PAC from the pull down menu, followed by Member Access, and finally, contribute today to make an ACEC/PAC contribution. Currently, you have three ways to contribute: a general contribution, the 2014 ACEC/PAC Golf Tournament, and the 2014 ACEC/PAC Fall Conference Raffle. Enjoy the pre-Election Season!
Cheers,
Tom
