Media Room

May 2016

Good evening,

For those of you who don’t know me I am Jerry Peterson, Chairman Emeritus of APMAPAC and now your new liaison from the Legislative Committee of APMA.  I have the distinct  pleasure of working alongside all of you to achieve success in implementing the legislative agenda for APMA in 2016/2017.  As you all know the process began in DC when you lobbied on the Hill for APMA.

HOWEVER, this is no longer where it ends with respect to your responsibilities.  We are trying very hard now and into the foreseeable future to be more successful in achieving co-sponsorship’s for all of our legislative efforts.  Currently as you also all know we are working very hard on the Senate to obtain co-sponsorship for our VA legislation S 2175.

I am writing you to find out if you have contacted your Senators since you have returned from Washington Re: Their cosponsorship of S 2175.  It was the intent of this year’s Legislative Conference to make sure that everyone continue the APMA efforts by contacting their Senators until they have achieved cosponsorship of S 2175.  THIS MUST BE ACHIEVED IN THE NEAR FUTURE!

IF YOU HAVE NOT DONE SO I WOULD ASK THAT YOU DO SO IMMEDIATELY.  I.E. CALL YOUR SENATORS!!

I will be calling you in the next 2 weeks regarding your response to this request and what your Senators response was to your request.  As a personal note we have been very successful in Oregon using a flow sheet format regarding these calls and also follow-up calls and follow-up calls and follow-up calls until we achieved success.  A flow sheet will be sent to you shortly outlining this technique for you to use in your phone calls.  No longer will we rely on emails.  These are too easily overlooked, filed or just plain not responded to in a timely fashion.

It is my hope that next year’s legislative conference will be even more focused on using this flow sheet approach for consistent follow-up with achievement of 100% of every legislator visited during the legislative conference.  I strongly feel this is achievable with your efforts.  Yes it is a commitment to frequent phone calls and consistent follow-up however the phone calls only take 10-15 minutes to go through the process and speak with the appropriate representative that you spoke to in DC or the Congressional Representatives/Senator themselves if you were lucky enough to meet with them personally.  Don’t take no for an answer.  If they say no ask them why, and then ask them that if you can provide information that shows them that it is in the best interest of their constituents, would they then change their position and cosponsor the legislation.  Then call Ben Wallner or Peter Stein to find out the answers to their no response and then call them back with that information and ask them again to cosponsor the legislation.

The flow sheet I will be forwarding to you looks a little complex but actually is quite easy to follow once you have had time to look at it in detail.  If you have any questions regarding how it works please feel free to call me at my office: 503-657-1900 West Coast time.

For right now however I just ask that you contact your Senators and ask them for their cosponsorship.  As I said I will contact you in the next 2 weeks so please accept my call to save both you and I time as it will not take long to communicate this information.

I look forward to working with all of you as your liaison to the legislative committee and being a member of your team.  We are all in this together for the success of our profession.

Jerry Peterson, DPM