Tuesday, 29 June 2010 08:24
For many trade associations, grassroots advocacy is an afterthought. They believe that their influence on Capitol Hill is sourced primarily from their D.C. offices and pricey K Street lobbyists.
Fortunately, that has never been the case with AIADA.
We have always recognized that our greatest advocates work on Main Street, not K Street. As a dealer association, we are blessed with and have worked to cultivate an active and engaged membership. Our dealers are small business owners who have fought for everything they've achieved. Men and women who would never dream of sitting back and letting someone else manage a crucial aspect of their business. Including federal legislation.
That is why I was so confident this spring when the battle over financial regulation began heating up in Congress. I knew immediately that AIADA could rely on its members to storm Washington (in person and by phone and e-mail) to get our simple message across: Dealers aren't banks, and treating them as such will slow America's retail recovery.
I also knew that having dealers reach out directly to their legislators would have substantially more impact on the financial reform legislation than relying on paid lobbyists. Legislators listen to dealers. They rely on our common sense, our business aptitude, our community involvement, and our taxes that fund local, state, and federal programs. Dealers have been, and always will be, our own best advocates.
When dealers from all over the country arrived in D.C. for AIADA's 4th Annual International Automobile Industry Summit in May, they came loaded for bear. First, we held a press conference with Senator Sam Brownback and Representative John Campbell, the authors of the dealer exemption language in the financial reform legislation. The next day, more than 125 of you followed up with visits to your respective legislative offices, asking for a dealer-exemption from onerous new federal oversight. Those visits, followed by intense phone and letter-writing campaigns, shifted momentum in our favor. Finally, late last week, a Congressional conference committee agreed to remove most dealers from the final bill and instead focus on actual lenders and financial institutions.
It was a good decision, based on facts and driven by the grassroots efforts of our dealers.
Dealers have won this battle, but the financial reform war wages on. Questions remain over language in the bill that allows expedited rule making by the Federal Trade Commission and could impact dealers. AIADA will monitor this and other aspects of the legislation as they continue to evolve.
One thing is certain: without the constant and persistent efforts of our membership dealers would have faced burdensome new regulations and oversight and our customers would have been strapped with additional costs. And it would have come at a time when many of us our just starting to recover from the economic downturn. To learn more about how you can keep AIADA's grassroots momentum going, including how to set up a dealer visit during Congress' August recess, click here. Remember - just one phone call, one e-mail, one hour of your time can substantially impact votes on Capitol Hill.
Rick DeSilva
AIADA Chairman
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