Developing Strong Government Relations

122nd International Moose Convention Nashville Municipal Auditorium Nashville, Tennessee Tuesday, July 6, 2010

T. Michael Leuer General Counsel

Good Morning. The issue that brings me to the podium this morning is how do we develop a strong government relations program. As usual, there are two answers, the simple answer and the more complex answer. The simple answer is passion and perseverance. Passion and perseverance.

Let me share with you an example of the simple answer. There was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work. One day as he was walking along the shore, he looked a ways down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who had danced to the day, and so he walked faster to catch up. As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young girl, and that she was not dancing at all. The young girl was reaching down to the sand, picking up small objects and throwing them into the ocean. He came closer still and called out, “Good Morning, may I ask what you are doing?” The young girl looked up and replied, “throwing starfish into the ocean.” “I must ask, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?” asked the somewhat startled wise man. To this, the young girl replied, “the sun is up and the tide is going out, if I do not throw them back in, they will die.” Upon hearing this, the wise man commented “but young lady, do you not realize there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish along every mile, you can’t possibly make a difference!” At this, the young girl bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water she said, “I made a difference to that one.” Passion and Perseverance.

I know I am “preaching to the choir” today, or as our Moose International Director of Security aptly referred to you as the “water carriers”. We need to recruit members to our Lodges’ Government Relations Committee who have a passion and will persevere working with government officials on the issues of importance to our fraternity.

What a pleasure and treat to be spending the Fourth of July, Independence Day, in Nashville, Tennessee. I understand that Nashville’s fireworks display over the Cumberland River is one of the top ten Independence Day Celebrations in the country.

Let me take an interesting detour on why we come to celebrate Independence Day. This detour will furnish some background and insight on the more complex answer of how we develop a strong government relations program.

“Taxation without representation” was the battle cry of the thirteen little colonies in America that were forced to pay taxes to the King of England without representation in Parliament. The First Continental Congress met in 1774 to coordinate relations between England and the thirteen self‐governing colonies. The pleas of the First Continental Congress for some type of representation were ignored by England, and the British Army came to Boston as a show of force. In 1775, the colonies formed the Second Continental Congress, who then authorized a continental army. In 1776, the Second Continental Congress, who had been declared traitors by the English Parliament, formally declared their independence as one new nation, the United Stated of America, claiming their own sovereignty and rejecting any allegiances to the British monarchy.

The legal separation of the American colonies from England occurred on July 2nd, when the Second Continental Congress voted in a closed session to approve a resolution of independence that had been proposed in June by of Virginia. Also in June in Philadelphia, a committee was working with the express purpose of drafting a document that would explain their decision to sever ties with England. The , Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, , Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston, drafted the Declaration of Independence. The Second Continental Congress debated and revised the Declaration, and the final version was officially adopted on July 4, 1776.

A day earlier, John Adams had written to his wife Abigail the following:

“The second day of July, 1776 will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as a day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, balls, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.”

Adams prediction was off by two days. From the outset, Americans celebrated on July 4th, the date shown on the much‐publicized Declaration of Independence, rather than on July 2nd, the date the resolution of independence was approved in closed session of Congress.

We have all learned in our classrooms, the grade schools, high schools and universities across this country, the lessons that courageous men and women taught England two hundred thirty five years ago at Lexington Green and beyond. They were determined to take a stand and fight against the proposition that the English government could tax the colonies with giving them representation in the Parliament.

Soon thereafter, a Constitutional Convention was convened in Philadelphia to draft a constitution for the newly formed United States of America. The goal was to create a government with enough power to act on a national level, but without so much power that fundamental rights would be at risk. The Convention sought to accomplish this by separating the power of the government into three branches, and then included checks and balances on those powers to assure that no one branch gained supremacy.

With the details and the language decided, the document needed to be ratified by nine of the thirteen colonies, now states. The process allowed for much debate in the states. During the debates, two factions emerged; the Federalists, who supported adoption of the Constitution, and the Anti‐Federalists who opposed adoption of the Constitution. The principal point of contention between the two factions was a perceived failure to list basic civil rights in the constitution. The solution was known as the Compromise, in which four states ratified the constitution, but at the same time sent recommendations for amendments.

James Madison introduced twelve amendments to the first Congress. Ten of these amendments became what we now call the Bill of Rights. The citizens demanded a guarantee and listing of their basic freedoms.

The First Amendment, perhaps the best known of these basic civil rights and freedoms, reads; “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” This is one of the most important amendments, if not the most important, to our fraternity. It is the foundation on which we are built.

In the words of the U.S. Supreme Court, “this Court has recognized that because the Bill of Rights and the First Amendment is designed to secure individual liberty, it must afford the formation and preservation of certain kinds of highly personal relationships, a substantial measure of sanctuary from unjustified interference by the State. These highly personal relationships are distinguished by such attributes as relative smallness, a high degree of selectivity to begin and maintain the affiliation, and seclusion from others in critical aspects of the relationship. As a general matter, only relationships with these sorts of qualities are likely to reflect the considerations that have led to an understanding of freedom of association as an intrinsic element of personal liberty. Conversely, an association lacking these qualities, such as a large business enterprise, seems remote from these concerns giving rise to this constitutional protection.”

The courageous men and women of the War secured our freedom of association. The US Supreme Court has acknowledged and upheld this First Amendment right. How are we going to ensure this important right and the many other rights our fraternity now enjoys will survive our fraternity’s two hundredth birthday?

Today, we can appreciate that we, the Loyal Order of Moose, are protected by and enjoy the freedoms granted by the First Amendment:  we can assemble as a private association;  we can choose the individuals with whom we want to include in our fraternity;  we can share ideas and common beliefs; and  we can govern ourselves without interference from the Federal, State and Provincial Governments.

Tomorrow, we, the members and lodges of the Loyal Order of Moose, must go out and preserve and protect these freedoms. It is the Government Relations Committee that will be our eyes and ears, to see and hear, and understand and fight the inevitable assaults on our freedoms and rights.

The purpose of the Government Relations Committee is to inform, educate and partner with government to influence the decisions that impact us. Playing a role in the decision making process of government is key to our fraternity’s ability to achieve its mission and to effect change.

Section 35.5 of the General Laws states that at the first regular meeting after being installed, the Governor shall appoint a Chairman of the Government Relations Committee. The General Laws also requires that this committee is a functioning committee.

Moose International does not know the existing and proposed laws and legislation of every state, every province, every county, or every city town or municipality. The Lodge Government Relations Committee must:  attend government meetings  monitor legislation  establish relationships with elected and appointed officials  tell the Moose story  communicate with other lodges and the state or provincial association So that we call all work together to preserve and protect our freedoms.

The relationships and discussions must take place at the State, Province, County and Municipal level. Because our Government Relations Committee will only be as successful as the strength of the relationships and depth of the discussions we have with those who govern us, we need passionate and persevering members on the Committee.

I am asking you, the passionate and persevering members of the Loyal Order of Moose, to get involved. Do not stand for “taxation without representation”. Stand against “taxation without representation”! Build upon the works of those who came before you, whether it is James Madison’s work regarding the First Amendment or your Past Lodge Officers’ work on property tax issues.

To conclude the longer answer to the question as to how we develop a strong government relations program, let me share another story of passion and perseverance mobilized for change.

Like most days in Fair Oaks, California, May 3, 1980, was temperate and sunny – a perfect day for 13‐year‐old Cari Lightner to spend with her friends eating cotton candy, winning stuffed animals and giggling the afternoon away at a church carnival. And that is just what she was planning to do.

It was early afternoon when Cari and her friend started their short walk to the neighborhood church. Given Cari’s sense of humor, the two were no doubt in fits of laughter as they made their way to what was sure to be an afternoon of fun.

But Cari never made it to the carnival, and that forever changed a nation.

On the quiet suburban streets of their neighborhood, Cari and her friend were walking in the bicycle lane – Cari was on the outside within the lane. The girls had just crossed the street and could see the church carnival ahead.

Minutes earlier, a 47‐year‐old man who had been on a three day drinking binge left a bar, climbed into his car and drove off. It was not his first time to drive drunk – he had already racked up three drunk driving convictions and, days earlier, had been released on bail for a hit and run drunk driving crash.

Barreling down the residential street, the drunk driver swerved into the bicycle lane hitting Cari from behind throwing her 125 feet. Her friend stood watching in horror. The drunk driver passed out, came to and drove away leaving Cari lying on the road.

Cari’s injuries were too extensive for her to survive as Cari’s mother later learned when she tried to donate Cari’s organs. “I was told by the hospital that she was too badly mutilated to salvage any organs,” she says of the awful way she came to lean the extent of her daughter’s injuries.

Candy Lightner was overwhelmed with anger when, several days after the catastrophe, she learned that the driver who had caused her daughter’s death would likely serve little or no time in jail. “I was furious,” Lightner recalled. “I fled enraged and helpless.” After learning the details of the accident from a highway patrolman, Lightner sat in a restaurant with friends, and watched her fury light the spark of action. “I’m going to start an organization because people need to know about this”, Lightner angrily told her friends. One suggested a name for the group: MADD, Mothers Against Drunk Drivers.

One day she was a divorced mother of three selling real estate in California, not even registered to vote. Within months, Candy Lightner was testifying before Congress. “I had become a personality and a crusader with a cause,” she recounted. “The texture of my days changed enormously.”

By the time Clarence William Busch was sentenced to two years in prison, Candy Lightner had breathed her passion into MADD. Scraping together seed money from sources including Cari’s insurance policy and her own savings, Lightner quit her job and plunged into lobbying for tougher drunk driving laws. Her goal was to eliminate what she called “the only socially accepted form of homicide.” Alcohol abuse resulted in an estimated 240,000 traffic deaths in the 1980s. “I had in mind twenty women marching on the Capitol in California,” said Lightner. “But within two months we were about one hundred people marching on the White House in Washington.”

Fueled by her intense rage, Lightner turned over her life to MADD, “I was unstoppable,” she recalled. “I was so obsessed that, in many ways, I did not permit life to go on outside of MADD.” Lightner traveled the country giving speeches, rallying volunteers, and testifying in favor of tougher drunk driving legislation.

Lightner put her obsessive determination to work lobbying governor Jerry Brown of California to create a state commission for studying drunk driving. After several months of daily visits to the governor’s office, Brown formed the commission and made Lightner its first member. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan asked Lighter to serve on the National Commission on Drunk Driving. By the end of 1983, 129 new Anti‐Drunk Driving laws had passed. In July 1984, MADD had successfully lobbied the U.S. Congress to raise the national legal drinking age to 21, a change said to save approximately 800 lives annually. By 1988, all States and D.C. passed the federal 21 drinking age law. That same year, as part of the Omnibus Anti‐Drug Abuse Act, the act extended crime victim compensation rights to DUI/DWI victims. And, the impact and effective lobby of MADD continues today.

Candy Lightner is one person. One person with passion and perseverance can make a difference. Let that person be you.

Let me leave you with a great quote from Sir Edmund Burke, a famous British politician and philosopher, who is best known for his support of the . He said, “No one can make a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little”. Everything and anything you can do counts! The time to do something is now.