Enjoying the Day on the Hill welcome reception are (from left) Joan Douglas; Bob Friedman, Dearborn Wholesale Grocers; and Mark Finkle, Finkle Distributors.
A group of AWMA distributors, determined to stand up for their businesses and their industry, head for Capitol Hill this morning to let members of the House and Senate know just how harmful Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation of tobacco and increased excise taxes on tobacco would be to their businesses and their employees.
“I just want somebody who has some power to listen to us,” said Charles R. Casper, Jr., President of Hardec’s Wholesale Distributors, Elizabethtown, Kentucky, “both on the excise tax issue and on FDA regulation. Both would really have a devastating impact on our businesses, all of which are important employers in local communities represented by these Congressmen and Senators.”
Casper’s comments came during a kickoff dinner Wednesday night for the AWMA annual “Day on the Hill” program, which will send distributors from across America into the offices of members of the House of Representatives and Senate for meetings about three key issues of concern:
Opposition to efforts to increase the federal excise tax on tobacco, including the most recent effort expanding the State Children’s Health Insurance Program through a 61-cent cigarette tax hike and significant increases in taxes on all other tobacco products.
Opposition to legislation giving FDA regulatory authority over tobacco products.
Opposition to food safety legislation that would slap a $2,000 tax on every food facility in the U.S. in order to provide increased funding for the FDA.
Comedian David Werner entertains the crowd with his merciless political commentary set to music!
According to Pat Carrico, Richmond Master Distributors, Inc., South Bend, Indiana, Congressmen and Senators need a better understanding of the distributor’s role in the local economy, and he hopes the Day on the Hill event will help lawmakers understand that distributors operate local businesses, employ local residents, and that they serve convenience stores that do the same.
“Somehow we’ve gotten caught up and categorized with big tobacco, and we’re not,” Carrico said. “We provide local jobs. Our company employs over 500 people in Indiana, and they are all concerned about their jobs if this happens. C-stores employ local people, too, and they’re also worried.”
AWMA Chairman Dick Dunham, Stephenson Wholesale Company, Inc., Durant, Oklahoma, said this year’s “Day on the Hill’ lobbying effort is especially important because of those issues “that really hit home, these seemingly relentless efforts to tax and put regulations on tobacco.”
“The FDA has publicly stated that tobacco should be banned, so having that agency in charge of regulating tobacco can not possibly be good,” he declared. “We need less, not more, bureaucracy when it comes to running our day to day businesses. We need to let our legislators know that what they do will have an impact on distributors, and we need to let them know the value that we bring to their local communities.”
Today’s events begin with breakfast with Rep. John Carter (R-TX) on Capitol Hill before AWMA members head for their Congressional appointments that are scheduled throughout the day.
“There is just no substitute for one-on-one, face-to-face meetings with legislators and their staffs,” said Anne Holloway, AWMA Vice President of Government Affairs. “This is a really important component of our overall effort to prevent Congress from taking action that would be harmful to all AWMA members.”
Day on the Hill participants (from left) Pat Carrico, Richmond Master Distributors; Sherwin Herring, Southco Distributing; Dick Dunham, Stephenson Wholesale; and AWMA President Scott Ramminger.
