Gentlemen and Lady With all due respect, that would be a MAJOR MISTAKE. James Croce wrote a song that contains some wisdom on which wise men should reflect. It suggested: (1) You don't tug on Superman's cape; (2) You don't spit into the wind; (3) You don't pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger; (4) And you don't mess around with Jim. Nelson's is "Jim" — his power is not on the wane and unless aliens arrive and carry him off, it is reasonable to expect he will win reelection. Picking on a favorite son Astronaut is a fool's move. Sharing with Sen. Bill Nelson "constituent concern" is part of politics; unleashing "wrath" is not. Nelson is bought and paid for and unlike many politicians, he obviously stays "bought". If you are aghast that I am suggesting Sen. Nelson is corrupt, I am not, because he has — except for being a Democrat — an unblemished reputation. However, it is obvious that when he says he will support certain constituencies, he means it and will stick to his promises. That is in the political world an admirable trait. You may not agree with such a man, but you can respect him for his integrity. Advising his "other constituents" to stand outside the castle and throw vegetables will only make the "other constituents" look petty and weak. If we wish to succeed legislatively in Congress, we do not need an enemy; a dedicated opponent is OK, because there always is a way to get around a dedicated opponent. But, we don't need to look petty or weak and we should not make Nelson an enemy — he has a vote, we don't. Any communication with the Members should not target Nelson. We should be Big Boys; we played in the Big Boys sandbox and we got whipped (actually, it was worst than that, but that is a topic for another discussion). We should take that whipping with grace; it is not a sin to lose. It is a sin to be a whiny, "point the finger", "I was cheated", "it is HIS fault" loser. 73 *-----------------------------------------------------* ** John Robert Stratton N5AUS Office telephone: 512-445-6262 Cell: 512-426-2028 PO Box 2232 Austin, Texas 78768-2232 *-----------------------------------------------------* On 12/8/16 12:20 PM, Mike Raisbeck wrote:
Mike, I would suggest that your report below be "leaked" to the ham community in some form. A little bit of grassroots wrath directed at Senator Nelson can't hurt at this point, and might help in the longer term. Mike K1TWF On 12/08/16, Mike Lisenco N2YBB<n2ybb@arrl.org> wrote:
Hello ODV
Chris Imlay, Frank McCarthy and I met on Tuesday morning with Senator Nelson's Chief of Staff along with two Commerce Committee senior attorneys who work for Nelson as he is the ranking minority member of the Committee) We have met with both of the two staff attorneys repeatedly before). We were attempting to persuade Nelson to release the hold he (and apparently he alone) has placed on H.R. 1301 or the composite Senate Bill that includes a number of minor telecom bills that passed the House.
I am sorry to have to report that the Amateur Radio Parity Act will not pass this Session. Nelson's Chief of Staff claims in effect that Nelson has heard from an unspecified number of HOAs in Florida who are opposed to the Bill. They can't tell us why there is this alleged opposition to the modified Bill; whether the opposition is based on a reasonable argument; and we have never been told before Tuesday that this alleged opposition exists. Nelson's Chief of Staff could articulate no reason why the current Bill does not accommodate HOAs, protect "contracts" or requires further modification.
Quite frankly, it is apparent to both Chris and myself that Senator Nelson had no intention whatsoever of changing his position. We believe that we were sandbagged from the start of the meeting. This despite the fact that Nelson has sent responses to the hams who have contacted him that he appreciates the value of ham radio and the services we provide and that he is open to a reasonable compromise that takes into account the concerns of hams and HOAs.
Instead of coming out and saying to our face at the get-go that they wouldn’t let the bill move forward, they first implied that since we’ve only had this bill moving through one Congressional term, that we essentially haven’t been around long enough -- we haven’t paid our dues so to speak.
They broached the subject of The Villages, the largest HOA in Florida. We were ready for that. When we informed them that The Villages has a large and very active Amateur Radio club that provides much service to the community, they changed tactics and instead asked if we had contacted any local Florida HOAs, as they were receiving some letters from local Homeowners' Associations. We asked if they had also received the thousands of emails, letters, and phone calls from our members. They said yes and then they quickly changed tactics. They asked if we had contacted all the Florida HOAs and the "Association of Florida Homeowners' Associations" Of course we hadn't; we negotiated a compromise with the only national organization representing HOAs nationwide. We also noted that we had never heard of a Florida Assocation of HOAs. As it turns out, there is no such organization. We asked for contacts for all of the opponents of the current bill. That evening, one of the Commerce Committee attorneys referred us to a lobbyist for the local Florida CAI chapter. This is ludicrous, since we already have an agreement with CAI and a letter from the organization supporting the modified Bill.
The bottom line is that they delayed agreeing to meet with us until a time in which we were boxed in with nowhere to go for this year. We are so very close. There are options for us for next year, which the Keelen Group will brief the Board about in January, and we need to continue on our pursuit of this bill, as well as maintain a presence on Capitol Hill as we have developed a brand in Congress.
I ask that the Board continue its support of our legislative advocacy for the upcoming year.
73 de Mike
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mike Lisenco, N2YBB Director, Hudson Division Chairman, ad hoc Legislative Advocacy Committee ARRL - The national association for Amateur Radio™ 917-865-3538 n2ybb@arrl.org <mailto:n2ybb@arrl.org>
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