 Update March 20th NATCA in Washington (Lobby Week) NATCA in Washington (NIW) this year is May 16-19. For those of you who haven’t been, NIW is a great way to see how the inside workings of government affect you and your job. It starts with a day and a half of training, briefings and guest speakers from Congress. After you are trained and prepped on the issues, two half days of hill visits allow you to meet your Congressman and Senators and/or their staff, express your viewpoints and generally participate in that representative form of government we like to call a Democracy. Oh yeah, you can also expect some fun after hours with receptions, regional dinners and lots of socializing. I promise you’ll travel back home tired but satisfied and with a new strength of knowledge about your country and your job in the FAA. If you’d like to go, talk to your facility legislative Rep. If you can’t find one talk to your FacRep. If that doesn’t pan out call me and I’ll make sure you get squared away. Don’t delay too long though; rooms for this event (paid for at double occupancy by NATCA) tend to fill up fast. The applications for this can be found at the natca.org homepage. Click the link on the lower left which will send you to a page with info on the hotel, the event and a downloadable form. Fax that form to me at 417-877-8957. Power to the smaller facilities One of the coolest things about NIW is that your zip-code matters more than your facility. While it seems that at a lot of NATCA functions the bigger facilities have the big pull, what we want are constituents of many congressional districts. So if you are in ALO or SUX or CID or LNK or wherever, you are incredibly valuable in the process as constituents while visiting your Congressman. And by the way, don’t worry about being sent off on your own on Capital Hill if this is your first year. You’ll be hooked up with NIW veterans to help you through it. If you’d like to go, follow the above instructions and BLOCK YOUR LEAVE NOW! The final say on who goes is up to me but generally speaking I try and make it a first-come first-served operation so don’t procrastinate. You’ll be expected to travel in on Sunday night and travel out Wednesday afternoon (after 2PM or so). You’ll be expected to bring a suit or two and business casual clothes. You’ll be expected to come ready to rock and have a good time. You’ll be expected to help from time to time in your home district with legislative issues the rest of the year. And I expect you to be a NATCA PAC member. Call me if you have questions or need any other info. Grant Anderson |
