AWMA Members Arrive in Washington for Day on the Hill

AWMA members arrived in Washington yesterday for the annual AWMA Day on the Hill. (Left: Sherwin Herring, Southco Distributing Co., and Butch DiChiara, City Wholesale Grocery Co.)

Casper Speaks to the Importance of One-On-Ones with Lawmakers

AWMA Government Relations Committee Chairman Charlie Casper, Jr., Mydad, Inc., dba Hardec’s, reminded attendees about the importance of making contact and having face-to-face meetings with lawmakers. “It’s all about building relationships,” he said.

Anne Holloway Talks Key Points at Day on the Hill

Anne Holloway, AWMA vice president of government affairs, urged attendees to thank lawmakers for their near unanimous support of the PACT Act.

Burklund Discusses the Pact Act

“Last year one of our goals was to convince Congress to pass the PACT Act because of the unfair competition caused by the sale of untaxed cigarettes over the Internet. We succeeded, and now the U.S. Postal Service is prohibited from accepting or delivering tobacco products through the mail. It was a major victory for AWMA.”said AWMA Chairman Jon Burklund, Burklund Distributors, Inc., East Peoria, IL.

Fresh off a major legislative victory important to their businesses, an enthusiastic group of convenience distributors were ready today to meet with lawmakers on Capitol Hill to urge repeal of the federal estate tax and oppose enactment of the so-called “card check bill,” now pending in Congress.

With some 90 individual meetings with lawmakers scheduled for today, some 25 AWMA members arrived in Washington yesterday for the annual AWMA Day on the Hill. They attended a kickoff reception and dinner last night at the Grand Hyatt, headquarters hotel for the event, where they applauded passage of the AWMA-backed Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act (PACT Act) by Congress.

“Last year when we came to Washington, one of our goals was to convince Congress to pass the PACT Act because of the unfair competition caused by the sale of untaxed cigarettes over the Internet,” said AWMA Chairman Jon Burklund, Burklund Distributors, Inc., East Peoria, IL. “We succeeded, and now the U.S. Postal Service is prohibited from accepting or delivering tobacco products through the mail. It was a major victory for AWMA.”

AWMA was a leading force in the Coalition to Stop Contraband Tobacco, more than 180 groups, individuals and other stakeholders who worked to pass the PACT Act, closing gaps in current federal laws regulating Internet and other remote sales of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products.

Anne Holloway, AWMA vice president of government affairs, urged attendees to thank lawmakers for their near unanimous support of the PACT Act. “Our message is thanks for getting it right, and thanks for listening to us,” she said. “Every one of you played a role in getting the PACT Act through Congress. It was due, in part, to your persistence. I can’t tell you what it means for you to have my back when I go to Capitol Hill as AWMA’s lobbyist.”

In addition to thanking lawmakers for passing the PACT Act, AWMA members will urge lawmakers, in their face-to-face meetings, to:

• Defeat the Employee Free Choice Act, or “card check” bill, which takes away a worker’s right to a federally supervised, private ballot when deciding whether or not to join a union.
• Permanently repeal the estate tax, or “death tax.”

“If Congress passes the card check bill, they will be stripping away federally protected private ballots from the hands of American workers and will expose them to intimidation and threats of coercion,” said AWMA President & CEO Scott Ramminger. “Because the bill also would mandate compulsory, binding arbitration on employer and employees, a third party would make labor contract decisions and the business owner would have no real voice in his or her own business. This unfair approach could be costly and extremely difficult for many distributors and could cost jobs at the very time this country needs more jobs, not less.”

Ramminger said Congress must pass permanent estate tax reform legislation as soon as possible. “The uncertainty of the current law has left many family-owned businesses and farms guessing about their estate tax liabilities and unable to make prudent business decisions,” he explained.

“I understand that our representatives and senators are overworked and very busy,” said Paula Glidewell, Glidewell Distributing Co., Inc. “But it is very important for them to hear from their constituents about the real-world implications of their actions. I have found that they will listen, if you just take the time. I think it is exciting to be here. One person can make a difference.”
Added Chad Owen, Chambers & Owen, Inc., “We need to tell the politicians how their decisions affect our businesses. They don’t always understand how their decisions affect the everyday workings of the companies that employ their constituents and contribute to the economy of their states.”

“I’m here to make a difference,” said Sherwin Herring, Southco Distributing Co. “You can complain all you want, but if you don’t show up at events like this, you shouldn’t complain.”

“We have to let our representatives know what we do,” added Peter “Butch” DiChiara, City Wholesale Co., “and that we’re still alive and we don’t need them picking on us.”

AWMA Government Relations Committee Chairman Charlie Casper, Jr., Mydad, Inc., dba Hardec’s, reminded attendees about the importance of making contact and having face-to-face meetings with lawmakers. “It’s all about building relationships,” he said.

Taking their concerns to members of the House and Senate is the primary purpose of AWMA’s Day on the Hill, and Ramminger was pleased with this year’s turnout of committed members.

“This proves that AWMA members are willing to act in their own behalf,” he said. “All the fancy lobbyists in the world can’t hold a candle to a hardworking plain speaking local business owner when it comes to convincing Congressmen and Senators what’s right and what’s wrong. Our members provide jobs for their constituents. We need their help, and that’s the bottom line.”