“We wanted to let our voices be heard, and we accomplished that – and more.”

That’s how AWMA Chairman Dick Dunham, Stephenson Wholesale Company, Inc., Durant, Oklahoma, summed up the AWMA “Day on the Hill” program last Thursday, May 8, during which distributors from across America held more than 50 meetings with members and staff of the House and Senate to let them know just how their actions in Congress affect local businesses and employees in their districts and states.

AWMA Chairman Dick Dunham, Stephenson Wholesale, formally welcomes distributor members from across the U.S.	AWMA Vice President of Government Relations Anne Holloway speaks to Day on the Hill participants about the importance of grassroots citizen advocacy.

“It was a tremendous opportunity,” Dunham said, “and our members came through with flying colors. Every report I had indicated we were able to get our message across: no FDA regulation of tobacco, no increases in tobacco taxes, and no fees on distribution facilities to pay for FDA food safety enforcement.”

Thursday’s events began with breakfast with Rep. John “Judge” Carter (R-TX) on Capitol Hill, when he gave members an insider’s look at some of the “guerrilla warfare” tactics used by the Republican minority to prevent Democrats from ramming through housing legislation opposed by the White House.

“There is a sin tax feeding frenzy in Washington and at the state level,” Rep. John “Judge” Carter (R-TX) said, noting that prohibition did not work in the past and will not work where tobacco is concerned.

Beyond that, however, he called for expansion of oil drilling and refining in the U.S. to help deal with skyrocketing energy prices. “If you are in the business of moving goods from one place to another, I don’t see any way in the foreseeable future other than with diesel. So we’ve got to look at energy as a big picture, and it will take time,” he said.

Carter said he opposed further regulations and taxes on tobacco products. “There is a sin tax feeding frenzy in Washington and at the state level,” he said, noting that prohibition did not work in the past and will not work where tobacco is concerned.

Following the breakfast meeting with Rep. Carter, AWMA members fanned out over Capitol Hill for individual meetings with their Congressmen and Senators. While it was a busy day in Congress with committee hearings underway and several key votes held in both chambers, lawmakers and top staff took time to meet with distributors, sometimes briefly leaving committee meetings to keep their appointments.

For example, Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-OK), the ranking minority member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, stepped out of a committee meeting on energy issues to meet with Dunham and AWMA President & CEO Scott Ramminger. Dunham explained AWMA’s opposition to the tobacco and food safety issues, and Inhofe replied: “I have never in 23 years up here voted to expand FDA’s authority over anything.”

“It’s an honor to have this time with you,” Dunham told the Senator.

“No,” Inhofe replied. “It’s an honor for me to meet with you.”

AWMA President Scott Ramminger (left) with Rep. John Carter (R-TX) and McLane Company’s Nef Garcia. McLane’s Temple, Texas headquarters is in Rep. Carter’s district.

Jon Burklund, Burklund Distributors, Inc., East Peoria, Illinois, reported a positive meeting in the office of Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-IL) during which Legislative Assistant Brad McConnell acknowledged that it is important to understand that the impact of tobacco legislation on distributors should be considered separate from the impact on tobacco manufacturers. All too often, Burklund stressed, distributors are “lumped in with big tobacco” when such issues are considered. “We are small businesses with hundreds of employees whose livelihood depends on our ability to stay in business,” he said.

McConnell invited AWMA to provide statistical information to support its contention that higher tobacco taxes would make it more difficult for individual convenience stores, gas stations, and small businesses to remain in operation.

In another meeting, Burklund expressed concern to Alison Myers, legislative assistant to Rep. Ray LaHood (R-IL) about the congressman’s recent vote for legislation that would have funded expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) with a 61-cent increase in the federal excise tax on cigarettes and significant increases in the federal excise tax on all other tobacco products. LaHood was tied up on the House floor for a vote and was unable to make the appointment.

“He was concerned about the big picture for the children’s health insurance program, and he wanted to see that move forward without further delay,” Myers explained. “The cigarette tax was one thing that we weren’t going to be able to override.”

The effort was defeated with the help of a veto by President Bush, and a more modest extension of SCHIP was enacted without the tobacco tax increase.

Chad Gummer (left), Gummer Wholesale, meets with Rep. Zach Space (D-OH), a first term congressman.	Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) greets AWMA Government Relations Committee Chairman Charlie Casper, Mydad, Inc.

Meanwhile, in a discussion with Zelda Ferguson, legislative correspondent, and Stacy Ettinger, trade counsel, for Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), Mark Finkle of Finkle Distributors, Johnstown, New York, emphasized the impact that increased excise taxes and FDA regulation of tobacco would have on small businesses.  “Most small distributors would be driven out of business if the excise tax increases,” Finkle.  “What people don’t realize is that every time there is a tax increase, three or four companies shut their doors.”  In regard to FDA regulation, he said, “We can’t handle any more paperwork, and FDA doesn’t want the oversight anyway.”

Finkle also brought up the issue of a potential $2,000 food safety fee that would be charged to each food manufacturing and distribution facility.  Ferguson agreed with Finkle that all food facilities – large or small – should not have to pay the same flat fee. She also concurred that distributors have a much lower level of involvement with food preparation than manufacturers, and it doesn’t make sense that they pay the same amount as manufacturing facilities, where the potential for contamination is higher.

Charlie Casper of Mydad, Inc., Elizabethtown, Kentucky, said his meetings with representatives of Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) went extremely well.  “They are basically 110 percent behind us on the three big issues we talked about – FDA regulation, excise taxes, and the food safety fee.”

In a meeting with Jason Tuber of Sen. Robert Menendez’s (D-NJ) office, Steve Stomel of Tax-Right LLC found that the Senator and AWMA are basically moving in the same direction. Tuber told Stomel that Sen. Menendez is currently co-sponsor of a Senate bill designed to stop illegal sales of cigarettes. He was not aware of the food safety fee being considered right now, but said he would discuss it with Sen. Menendez. 

While Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) voted on the House floor, legislative aide Danielle Grote met with David Han (center), Triple C Wholesalers, and Frank Falter, Jr., The George J. Falter Company.	Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) and Sherwin Herring, Southco Distributing, discuss the impact higher tobacco excise taxes will have on the convenience industry.

Tuber also noted that the Senator recently supported Sen. Baucus’ amendment to alleviate some of the Death Tax burden felt by small businesses and middle-class families, which passed in the Senate about a month ago.  Tuber emphasized Sen. Menendez’s focus on small business and the middle-class. “He thinks small businesses are very important and wants to make it easier for you to thrive,” Tuber said.

David Han, Triple C Wholesalers, and Frank Falter, Jr., The George J. Falter Company, met with four Maryland representatives’ offices in back-to-back afternoon appointments.  In a meeting with Rep. Ruppersberger’s (D-MD) aide Deborah Casteel, Han explained, “I would like you to look at our issues as ‘pro-business’ issues, and not see us as Big Tobacco.” 

Casteel expressed interest in the experience of Canadian convenience stores in the wake of confiscatory taxes and heavy regulation.  In addition to the AWMA leave behind packets presented to each office, AWMA will be sending recent research reports on to interested congressional contacts.

Similar meetings were held Thursday all across Capitol Hill in the offices of Congressmen and Senators representing districts and states in which AWMA member operations are located. These offices included:

Rep. Zack Space (D-OH), Rep. Joe Donnelly (D-IN), Rep. Michael McNulty (D-NY), Rep. Ron Lewis (R-KY), Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), Rep. Joseph Pitts (R-PA), Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ), Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL), Rep. Dan Boren (D-OK), Rep. C.A. Ruppersberger (D-MD), Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC), Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL), Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-NC), Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), Sen. Robert Casey (D-PA), Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN), Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Rep. John Sarbanes (D-MD), Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH), Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC), Rep. Jim Saxton (R-NJ), Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN), Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY), and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD).