For some reason, I'm not getting my Weekly Bulletin from ASAE. Here's the web version from last week which contains some communication to members about why they are opposing a ban on privately funded congressional travel. It seems they are only opposed to an outright ban, and offered this alternative:
A more amenable policy on congressional travel might include a pre-approval screening process for trips, whereby an ethics committee or advisory office would scrutinize incoming requests for privately funded travel and either approve or reject the travel request, ASAE said. That scrutiny should primarily be based on the content or agenda of the meeting or conference...Okay, that sounds reasonable.
I still don't understand why this is ASAE's fight. Let's see what the legislators come back with. If it's still an outright ban, I hope ASAE won't press the issue, publicly anyway.
I'm waiting for my copy of Policies and Procedures to come in. Can't wait to see the average of how much associations spend on congressional travel.
Full text of ASAE's letter to congress.
Tagged: Certified Association Executive CAE Association Management ASAE lobbying congressional travel
2 comments:
Well, Jeff, in everything I've read about the subject, while serious campaign finance reform would get most lawmakers' attention, limiting or cutting privately funded congressional travel wouldn't be that big a deal to members of Congress. It also wouldn't affect the overwhelming majority of associations represented by ASAE. That's why I can't figure out why ASAE is fighting this issue. Without evidence showing that banning privately funded congressional travel would harm at least a significant minority of associations represented by ASAE, I can only assume that this is a case of the tail wagging the dog.
Yeah, I follow you. It's only a big deal to the lobbyists. This is not a core issue for ASAE.
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