TheChamberLife Goes to Washington

The Chamber staff's passion will not be ignored!

@chambergates, @chamberbrad, @chambertj and @chamberkathy recently had the pleasure of jetting up to Washington DC to advocate for a handful of projects important to Conway.  Sticking to our strength in numbers philosophy, we took with us Mayor Tab Townsell, County Judge Preston Scroggin, Chamber Board Chair Lori Ross, CDC Board Chair Bill Adkisson, Chamber Board member Andy Miller and current Speaker of the House @robbiewills. 

We try to go to DC every other year just to make the case in person for federal investment in our city and county.  This year the focus was on three projects: increased funding for the new southern interchange, the relocation of Highway 25 and the relocation of the airport.  Here are the highlights of our visit:

Monday – We hosted a reception for the staff of our two senators (Pryor, Lincoln) and our representative (Snyder).  We had approximately 40 staffers show up.  These are those 20somethings running the country you always hear about.  It was a great turnout and a good opportunity to meet in person a lot of the folks we work on the phone with during the year.

Tuesday - We met with our two Senators and appropriations staff.  Most of these folks are very familiar with Conway and these projects.  This year we were definitely in the right place at the right time.  Its the beginning of the budget process. Now is the time to carve out a place for our projects.  Tuesday night we had a dinner with our Senate Chiefs of Staff and had some real quality time talking about Conway in general.  This dinner was extra special because we got to recognize Sen. Pryor’s brand new Chief of Staff, Conway native, Andy York.  We had a number of other DC folks with Arkansas connections join us and it was really just a great event.  That quality time can save you a lot of work as we negotitate the budget/appropriations process.

Wednesday – We added a stop to our trip this year and met with Congressman Mike Ross and his staff.  Congressman Ross represents the AR-4 (south Arkansas).  In a year with so much turnover politically, we thought it was important to build relationships wherever we can.  Historically, Arkansas’ delegation has worked across district lines and having another set of eyes and ears in DC is a good thing.  Congressman Ross wanted to see all of our projects and hear our sales pitch.  He will be a resource for us in the future.  Our final stop before flying home was with Congressman Vic Snyder.  As you may know, Vic is calling it quits.  We joked that he has one year left to see some of these projects really bear fruit.  He and his staff have worked on several of them (western loop, airport) with us for years. 

This really was an effective trip to DC.  Most of this work is done over the phone, but DC has a ton of turnover so sometimes its necessary to go up there and re-introduce yourself in person.  Just like everything else we do, our secret weapon is our cooperation.  The Chamber, CDC, city and county make a very convincing case when we are all in the room together saying the same things.  That does not happen everywhere.  When it does, it stands out.