NFU Convention in Wichita, KS

Did you have to take U.S. Government when you were in high school? I distinctly remember struggling to sit through that class my senior year, interjecting the occasional eyeroll into my teacher's boring spiel about different branches of government or whatever the topic of the day may have been. I was probably thinking ahead to my next track meet, or what I would be doing with friends over the weekend. Anything but considering how our government operated. I didn't enjoy that class and I struggled to see how I fit in to the success of the American political system as a seventeen year old in Iowa. 

Now, I wish I could go back to high school government class and re-learn everything I've forgotten! Now, I'm witnessing how government and political process works first-hand. 

For about four days earlier this week, I was in Wichita, KS at the National Farmers Union Convention. I was representing Montana Farmers Union as a Delegate, elected at our own state convention last fall. If you want to read the speech I delivered at our State convention, you can read it HERE.   I gave the speech as sort of a wrap up to the experience Jeff and I had with the FUE program we participated in, but it had the unintended result of working as somewhat of a campaign speech that got me elected as a Delegate to the National convention. 

In fact, our chief lobbyist for Montana Farmers Union had approached my husband to ask if he would consider being a delegate. He declined, as the trip is always in the middle of calving, and said that I would probably be interested, which I was. So that's how I got my name in the ring. There were five of us who ran and we each stood up and told a bit about ourselves and why we thought we would be a good Delegate. Out of the five of us who ran, three of us were elected to attend National along with two of our MFU Board members, our State President, and a Youth Delegate. Our State Membership Director was also present for the trip. It was an awesome group! 

Group photo of the Montana Delegation, taken at the Evening for Education Gala.
Pretty good looking bunch!

I had attended the previous year's NFU Convention in Santa Fe as part of the FUE Leadership Training agenda, but it was completely different to attend as a Delegate. The main responsibility I held as a Delegate was to participate in the adoption of National Farmers Union Policy. The Montana Delegation as a whole, held the task of ensuring our state policies were concurrent with national policy and recommend changes if need be. We were able to stand up to the microphone and voice our own opinions as we saw fit, and also voted on key issues throughout the proceedings. 

Laura Ginsburg was a member of the Rules and Credentials Committee in addition to serving as a Delegate.

Several of our Montana Delegation approached the mike and stated a few words here and there, whether in favor or opposition of a particular change or section of policy. It was really cool to be part of democracy happening, and truly from a grassroots level. I also found that I really enjoyed utilizing Parliamentary Procedure, and observing how that works. 

My dear friend, Bryan Klabunde of Minnesota, takes to the mic to discuss issues pertaining to raw and unpasteurized milk.
Way to go, Bryan!

Another Montanan, Jake Fagan, and I also met with the Next Generation Advisory Council for the first time while in Whichita. We were both selected to be on this national committee that will advise the NFU board on how to attract new, young, and beginning farmers to Farmers Union, train them for leadership, and keep them involved, etc. It was the very first meeting of a brand new committee, so the first meeting was spent largely going over logistics. We are still refining exactly what we as a committee will do and we're even planning on changing the name of the group. Nevertheless, it was so exciting to be in a room of creative, passionate people who really have a thing for farming and working together! Totally inspiring. I can't wait for this group to continue moving forward. 

The biggest takeaway I had from this past week was simply that when focusing on what we all have in common, we can do great things. Bringing people together who are passionate about agriculture and Rural America is a good thing.  It was also simply wonderful to see some of the people who I have gotten to know through FUE and Farmers Union, who have become very dear friends, and also to get to know some new friends even better- Laura and Jake, for example. I literally have not laughed so much in a long, long time as I did while in Wichita, and that's due to spending quality time with some funny, amazing, intelligent people. I returned home feeling charged up and empowered to continue moving forward within this organization, and knowing that I have a strong network of friends throughout the country who feel the same way. 

NFU President Roger Johnson addresses the Delegation before proceedings began.
The other people are members of the National Policy Committee.
The Montana Delegation was seated in the front row, so this was my view for the entirety of policy debate! Awesome to be right in the action!!

When I got back to school on Wednesday afternoon, just in time for track practice, I was feeling excited about how the previous four days had gone but also very tired from travel. It also turned out that I would be the only coach available to coach about 20 high school kids at practice that day. I began practice by apologizing for having missed so many days of practice and explained where I had been. One kid asked me, incredulously, "You mean you were, like, doing government stuff?" And I replied by explaining that at the time, Government was not a class I enjoyed, but now I was sure glad I had that background because it gave me the framework to make this convention the success that it was. 

What can I say-- I'm kind of a big deal. ;)

D.C. Fly-In, Part One: The Legislative Experience

I have a lot of photos and a lot to process and write about our Washington D.C. trip. I'm going to have to break it down into several posts. After going through my photos, I think the best way to organize the trip into blog posts is into three segments: Legislative Experience, Tourist Experience, and Art and Design Experience.

I'll start with the Legislative Experience.

But first, let me back up a bit and remind everyone why we came to be in D.C. in the first place!

The D.C. Fly-In was the culmination of our Farmers Union Enterprises (FUE) Leadership Couples training experience that has lasted for about the past 18 months. If you can't remember what FUE or the program we were participating in was all about, check out THIS POST. Basically, we spent the past year or so attending Farmers Union conferences and events and participating in leadership training seminars along with three other couples-- one each from Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin.

Walking in front of the Department of Agriculture building with some of our FUE friends.

The Department of Agriculture is a HUGE building.
I liked that they had corn planted out front! 

The Fly-In itself was National Farmers Union's annual lobbying event in Washington D.C. Farmers Union members and representatives from all 28 states where Farmers Union has a presence were in Washington for the Fly-In. Our group arrived a few days early for about a day and a half of more leadership training and informational meetings. Then, the last two and a half days were dedicated to the legislative process and how it pertains to agriculture and Farmers Union issues. The last day and a half specifically were spent actually meeting with representatives of Congress and the Senate (or their staff!) to advocate directly for issues affecting family farms across the country.

On the in-between-day on the Hill, as I'll call it, we as an entire National Farmers Union group, were addressed by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Gina McCarthy, and a woman named Ann Alonzo, who is the head of the Agriculture Marketing Service, as well as by National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson.  President Johnson and his staff outlined the four main issues we'd be discussing in our lobbying efforts the next day before we heard from the other three. I found Secretary Vilsack's remarks to be appropriate and well-thought-out, and I enjoyed hearing him speak most of all. He's great. Administrator McCarthy was an engaging speaker as well.

NFU President Roger Johnson

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack

Administrator McCarthy of the EPA

Ann Alonzo of the USDA

Moving on to the actual lobbying experience. Everyone with Farmers Union who was present for the Fly-In was divided into teams of 5 or so people, with each team assigned to several Senate/Congressional offices. We were to visit the offices and speak to the government official (or their staff) about our key issues, or drop off an informational hand-out if no one was available to meet with us.

We became very familiar with the Congress and Senate office buildings.

Jeff and I were in a small group with three other people from Montana including the Montana Farmers Union President, another Montana Farmers Union member from Great Falls, and a member of the Montana press (who was not a member of Farmers Union, just there to cover the story of our time in Washington.) We ended up visiting the offices of five different individuals-- a mix of Representatives and Senators. Of those five offices, the only time we met with an actual government official was when we visited the office of Senator Walsh of Montana. The rest of the time we spoke with office staff, usually the staffer responsible for Agriculture issues.

Jeff and I in the rotunda of the Longworth office building.

The issues we spoke about were identified and decided upon by the National Farmers Union board and included:

• COOL (Country of Origin Labeling)-- NFU is for keeping COOL laws as-is.
• RFS (Renewable Fuel Standard)-- NFU Is for maintaining status quo with RFS.
• TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership)-- NFU is skeptical of TPP in its current form.
• Rail Issues-- NFU is advocating on behalf of farmers for increased rail traffic for grain and for increased oversight from the STB (Surface Transportation Board) on the railroad. 

Throughout the process of meeting with the various offices and staff, and the Senator, it became apparent that Jeff has a real gift for leadership in these types of situations. He was very well-spoken and seemed really comfortable discussing the issues with anyone. As for myself, I was a little out of my comfort level, but with practice got better. I think my future with Farmers Union probably will not involve extensive lobbying in that form. Jeff rocked it though. 

Senate Hart Office Building.
Montana Senators Tester and Walsh both have their offices here.

Since we had a member of the local Montana Ag media in our group, Jeff and I did give a brief interview that was included in a few radio spots. Jeff was also interviewed by another person of the media and that story was released right after we got back. Hopefully everyone is happy with how we both answered our questions! I was a little nervous for the interview I did, even though it was brief! Did anyone catch any of our radio spots or the print interview anywhere?

One of the highlights for the business-side of the trip for me was attending the Golden Triangle Awards Ceremony on Tuesday evening of our trip. The Golden Triangle Awards are given by National Farmers Union to government officials who have done well to serve the Ag community in the past year. Many of the awards were handed out in person at the event. This meant we had a very front row view of many members of Congress and the Senate as they stopped by the party to receive their awards. I was most impressed with Nancy Pelosi (California), Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Heidi Heitkamp (North Dakota), and of course, John Tester (Montana), our friend and neighbor. Jeff and I were also impressed with John Walsh (Montana) for the fact that he stayed at the party after giving his short acceptance speech and actually took some time to visit with people in the audience-- no one else had done that. Politics aside, he seemed like a nice and genuine man in-person.

Nancy Pelosi receives her Golden Triangle service award from NFU President Roger Johnson.

Sherrod Brown of Ohio about to receive his award.

Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota addresses the group.

There's so much more detail I could write about this trip and specifically about the legislative experience we had. I truly learned A LOT in-person about how government works. It was cool to be actively participating in democracy, advocating for family farms, and attempting to let our voices be heard. Even if I don't have a future in lobbying in this form, it was definitely worth the experience on many, many levels. I think Jeff and I both realized the potential for leadership that we have within this organization, which is overall, the ultimate goal of the entire experience.

Will either of us have a future in politics?!

Post Office Update

You may remember THIS POST from back in October about the likely imminent closing of the Inverness  Post Office, as well as many other post offices throughout the nation.

Today, a bill passed through the senate that would keep our post office in Inverness, and others, open for at least another year.  Here's the link to the article I found in the Great Falls Tribune: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201204250500/NEWS01/204250303.  The bill places a moratorium on closing rural post offices, for now.  According to the bill's proposal, several criteria are suggested when deciding what post offices should be recommended for closure after the one-year time period.  These factors include dependence of small-town businesses upon the U.S. Postal Service, quality of local internet connection, and proximity to other nearby post offices.  The specific distance cited is ten miles.

Of the four post offices in our stretch of the Hi-Line (between Havre and Chester), those in Kremlin, Hingham, Inverness, and Joplin are each on the list of recommended closures.  Of those, based purely on what I am going to call the "Ten Mile Rule," I would say that Hingham and Inverness would both probably remain on the recommended closures list. Joplin probably would be safe, and I think Kremlin would be, too.

One can't know what other factors went unmentioned in the news article that may be taken into account when the final decision is made about each individual post office.  Furthermore, I don't think the bill has made it through the House of Representatives yet, either, so there still could be revisions.  I don't understand the politics behind why closing post offices is a partisan issue, falling strictly along party lines.

Image Credit: Gary Splittberger, via www.postmarks.org

I guess for now we have at least one more year to enjoy the services provided by the Inverness Post Office, and I intend to make the most of it.  Buy your stamps at a post office location, not at a bank or grocery store. Ship via USPS.  Write letters, send postcards!  Do a little research and find out what post offices may close near your home.  If your local post office were to close, how would it affect you?

Home Again, Home Again

Here we are, back from vacation. Back on the HiLine. Back Home.

We had a good trip. We patronized a few of my favorite restaurants from back home, including The Cafe and Black Market Pizza.  We attended an Iowa State basketball game, in which the Cyclones (narrowly) beat Mississippi Valley State.  We enjoyed some craft beers at a small town brew pub, Peace Tree Brewing Co. We learned how to play pinochle.  We played Spot-the-Politician and dodged media vans as Republicans and Ron Paul prepared for Caucus.  Most importantly, we spent some quality time with friends and family.

In my previous post, I stated that one of my resolutions was to maintain regular posting on this blog.  I have lots of ideas for good posts right now, so it should not be too difficult for the time being.  It's always good to go to Iowa and see my family and friends, but it's also always good to come home, too. There's lots to write about and catch up on as I reflect back on the holidays, and time spent both at home and away.  Stay tuned!