The Voice for Trees, a political action committee formed in early 2004, takes direct action on legislative and regulatory issues that affect the Tree Care Industry. Specifically, VFT-PAC makes political contributions to U.S. Senators and Representatives who support our profession with their votes. Because of election laws and ethical considerations, PACs are funded apart from their parent organizations, so that membership dues and political donations are not mixed.
Ron Keith takes TCIA's concerns to the top
 Political interaction on the part of TCIA members puts the Association on the map as the representative of an important business segment in our nation. TCIA's goal is to have enhanced access to those whom we count on, or will count on, to support our industry and the various and vital roles it plays in our communities. To that end, we encourage members to take every opportunity to interact with politicians, regardless of party affiliation, to get our message out. And, when these instances occur, we like to share them with our membership.
Ron Keith, CEO of Arbor Masters Tree & Landscape in Shawnee, Kansas, and a member of TCIA's Board of Directors, says meeting President George Bush was a motivating experience and that the president is much more articulate and personable than he comes across as on television.
The president attended a fund-raiser for congressional candidate Nick Jordan at a private home May 29. Keith received a special invite through a friend, Dalton Hermes, owner of Hermes Landscaping in Lenexa, Kansas, who hosted the event at his house.
Some donors, including Keith, first had a luncheon and Q & A session with the president. "We were all eating while he spoke, and we asked questions. Then he walked into this room and we all got in line, and you walked through and had your picture taken with him."
The president addressed that group and another larger group in a tent set up on the property. "He gave a 25 to 30 minute speech," says Keith. "And we had front row seating in the tent."
About 60 to 80 people were at the initial luncheon; then another roughly 150 in the larger gathering. The media was not invited to the event in the tent.
"And when he got up, his first thing he said was that he could actually speak and say what he wanted," Keith says. "He told everybody to shut their cell phones off, 'so you can't record anything. You are going to get 20 to 30 minutes of me with no media. I can just tell you a lot of things that go on with being the president and what my life was like in the years I've been (president),'" Keith paraphrased.
"It was probably the most motivational speech that I've ever heard. This didn't sound like President Bush. This sounded like a businessman who encouraged us as businessmen to keep pressing on and to continue to fight and run our businesses - just a great motivational type speech. There was very little about politics. He talked about his experience as president."
Keith says he had the chance to ask a question but that he hadn't prepared one because he really never imagined it was going to be that intimate of an encounter.
"I had the opportunity. He looked me right in the eye. He asked me what I do for a living… I told him what I did, that I'm in the tree care business, that I'm in the green industry. I said the reason I'm here is because of the immigration bill that we're fighting so hard for. And he never said anything pro or con, he just said OK, yeah, that's fine. He kept it light, he didn't get really political. But he wanted to hear what we were there for."
Though not active politically, Keith is a longtime Republican who says he questioned the direction the party was taking in the last year or so, but that this experience brought him back into the fold. He says he doubts anyone at the reception, mainly business people, would deny that Bush spoke from the heart.
"I enjoyed it. I paid big money but I believe it was the best money I've spent."
Keith says that if he had heard this presentation eight years ago, it would have changed the way he supported, or did not support, the president and his party during that time.
"I left there totally different. What he believes and what he's done and how he's going to leave...And that was the message. I guess, to put that back in our terms as businessmen, we need the same perspective, meaning there's going to be a lot of things that are going to hit us - bad decisions, good decisions, there are going to be all these fires that come at us through our careers, and when it is all said and done, we need to walk out happy and realize that we gave it our all, and hopefully there was a small part that we changed, whether it was people's lives, whether it was the industry itself, safety that we're trying to promote in the tree care industry. There's a mark in our career that we stood for from the beginning to the end.
"That's kind of the message I walked away with. I've been at this all my life, for 26 years as the owner, third generation," Keith says. "My ideas were a little different than my dad's, and I look back after 26 years and say, did I leave a mark? Do the people who work for me know what I stand for? Did they believe in it, and did I put the people around me who can make those decisions and carry the torch? And I believe I've done that."
Keith has grown his company from eight or 10 full-time employees to 160, and from one location to six.
"Those kind of things and that kind of speech coming from that kind of person; it's not just the president and the Republican party, it's about what he stood for. I related to it as a businessman...It wasn't Republican or Democrat, it was all about a leader - that guy was a leader; and he was giving us a message about what a leader looks like and what they do. And they wrap themselves around people who are qualified."
First Fundraiser Held in Washington, DC
On Thursday, June 15, the Voice for Trees PAC held its first fundraiser in Washington for Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC). He has consistently been willing to listen to TCIA's concerns on ways to improve worker safety in the industry. TCIA members Gary Mullane and Erich Schneider met with him earlier this year in his Hilton Head district.
The breakfast was a great success, raising more than $10,000 for Wilson's campaign.
As ranking member of the House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections, Wilson personally called Secretary Foulke of OSHA in early March to discuss our petition for a separate standard, and his staff led the way on the initial letter from House members to OSHA and a recent follow up that requested immediate action. In addition, he has been a strong supporter of our position on the ongoing issue of an exemption for returning H-2B visa workers.
After the failure of comprehensive immigration reform last year, we began working for an H-2B exemption extension with our lobbyist in Washington, Josh Ulman, and the Essential Worker Immigration Coalition (EWIC), a coalition formed by the US Chamber of Commerce. We have been pushing for a renewed exemption from the visa quota for returning workers. H-2B has become a vital source of labor for those small numbers of our members who use the program.
Last year, many of our most consistent supporters of small business turned their backs on us during the debate on comprehensive immigration. This year, scared off by those who oppose "amnesty," many of our supporters walked away on H-2B visas as well, even though legal, temporary work visas have nothing to do with immigration. Wilson has remained a steadfast supporter of TCIA's efforts to advance safety and secure a legal workforce for our members.
CAPTION: The short-haired one is TCIA's lobbyist, Josh Ulman, also VFT-PAC Committee Member, David Fleischner, president of Trees, Inc., in Houston, Texas, and the tall one is TCIA member Andy Ross, president of RTECH Tree Care in Falls Church, Va.
Volunteers Needed
As the fall election approaches, there are increasing signs that the Democrats will expand their majorities in the House and Senate - even as the presidential race becomes more competitive. Democrats won the last three special elections for the House, and the numbers do not look good for Republicans in the Senate. Of the 35 Senate seats up for election this fall, 23 are currently in Republican hands, while the Democrats only need to defend 12. Pollsters project the Democrats will pick up a net gain of 3-6 seats in the Senate, increasing their ability to move key legislation, but still leaving them shy of the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster (they currently have 51). The Democrats in the House are projected to pick up an additional 5 - 10 seats.
TCIA will continue to work productively with both parties in the best interests of the tree care industry. Moving forward from today until the election, VFT-PAC time, efforts and fundraising work will be directed in three ways:
- Direct contact with Democratic and Republican members by TCIA staff and lobbyists
- Campaign contributions to key members under established criteria
- Organizing a successful fundraiser at TCI EXPO in 2008 and at WMC 2009
A separate standard for arboriculture
First, we have great news to report. It is official: federal OSHA will pursue a separate OSHA standard for arboriculture. Our efforts during the past two years have succeeded!
We strongly encourage you to look for TCIA's calls to action that will give you specific guidance on how to take an active role as we move forward. Nothing will happen overnight. As Peter Gerstenberger keeps reminding us, the last time we were involved with OSHA on the standard that today covers line-clearance operations, it took 12 years to get from the point we are at right now to a final rule. Nevertheless, our first step has been successful, and we have much more to do.
Immigration and non-immigrant visas
In the absence of comprehensive immigration reform, throughout the fall, winter and spring we worked with allies in Washington to renew the exemption for returning H-2B workers. Various allies, from Representative Joe Wilson to Senator Barbara Mikulski, have pushed to restore the exemption. All efforts have failed. The majority of Democrats want to change the program in ways that would make it unworkable for our members, from increasing wages to prevailing union rates to adding additional costly mandates on domestic recruitment before visas can be issued. In short, "The Save Our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act" is unlikely to pass in time to save our summer. We are not optimistic that anything substantive will pass before the election.
2008 TCIA PAC Donations
Based on the considerations above, the VFT-PAC Advisory Committee voted during its spring conference call to make the following contributions to representatives for 2008. Volunteers are needed to join the TCIA delegations, so if you would like to help deliver the contributions below in your state, please contact Mark Garvin at 1-800-733-2622 or garvin@tcia.org
Representatives
Buck McKeon (R-CA)
As ranking member of the House Education and Workforce Committee, McKeon has direct oversight over all matters dealing with relationships between employers and employees. He and his staff have been among our staunchest allies in pushing OSHA for a separate standard for arboriculture
Bill Delahunt (D-MA)
A strong supporter of H-2B, which is not surprising given the seasonal workforce needs of Cape Cod and the islands. As a Democrat, he will be a key negotiator in the shape and requirements of the final legislation.
Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)
DeLauro is not a supporter on many TCIA member issues - with one exception. As a member of the Appropriations Committee - and more importantly as chair of the Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies - she will have a great deal of control over appropriations for invasive insects such as emerald ash borer.
Tom Price (R-GA)
A respected member of the House Education and Workforce Committee, Price was one of several Representatives who met with us personally last year and pressed for a separate standard. He remains accessible to TCIA staff on this and other OSHA issues.
Senators
Johnny Isakson(R-GA)
He led the effort on Senate side to get us the bipartisan letter asking for a separate standard for arboriculture. The VFT-PAC Advisory Committee voted him TCIA's Legislator of the Year in 2007.
Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
A consensus broker on immigration and H-2B reform among Republicans, Graham has been an adamant supporter of comprehensive immigration reform, which has led to a more conservative primary challenger. His defeat could scare off many other Republicans who might support us on this issue.
John Sununu (R-NH)
A supporter of our position on H-2B, TCIA's Senator is in a tight race this fall with the former governor of New Hampshire.
Norm Coleman (R-MN)
In a tight race for re-election this fall, Coleman sits on two committees of interest to TCIA members - Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship and Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
Mark Pryor (D-AR)
Also up for re-election this fall, Pryor sits in the majority on the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. This committee deals primarily with matters related to the Small Business Administration, and also is generally responsible for studying problems of and recommending solutions to the challenges of running a small business.
Tim Johnson (D-SD)
Up for re-election this fall, Johnson sits on the Senate Agricultural Appropriations Subcommittee on public land and forests, which has jurisdiction over wildfire suppression and invasive insects.
Volunteers are needed to join the TCIA delegations, so if you would like to help deliver these contributions, please contact Mark Garvin at 1-800-733-2622 or garvin@tcia.org
|
