Lobbying in DC

[Apex Motorsports]

This week I spent a few days in DC meeting with members of Congress about issues that directly impact small and mid sized businesses with an online presence. Specifically the Marketplace Fairness Act, cross border trade, and mobile payment. It was a very interesting experience and I thought I would share some of it with you guys.

Tuesday evening we had dinner and the national headquarters of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The keynote speaker was Stuart Rothenberg, editor and publisher of The Rothenberg Political Report. He gave a very detailed presentation about the upcoming mid-term elections as well and the 2016 presidential election.




Wednesday morning I started the day with a breakfast meeting with Congressman Thomas Massie. Following that we had several other morning meetings with staff members of other representatives but did not bother taking pictures with any of them.




Just down the hall from his office I spotted this.




All of the buildings on Capitol Hill (and probably the entire city) are connected by a network of underground tunnels. They were very handy for avoiding the monsoon outside.




A few of the meeting rooms on the Senate side of the Capitol.






Not a shabby place.




Had a lunch time meeting with Senate Minority Leader Senator Mitch McConnell. Following that meeting there were several more meeting with staff. I got to meet with Senator Rand Paul but he had to bail to go vote on the senate floor so I didn't get a chance to take a picture with him.




And, of course, you have to get the iconic shot.

[Russo]

im sure it was overwhelming to be in the den of thieves..

[Number 3]

So did you make a giant campaign contribution to anyone to sway them to your side?

Looks like a great experience to have been able to participate in the process.

Very cool.

[Spartan01]

Wish I had known you were in town,
Myself and a few other C5ers would have loved to have met you in person and bought you a brew.

[2012-1822]

My god we've got a celebrity amongst us.

That's all pretty cool to get to see so much of what goes on up there. I've been attempting to plan a family wide trip up there. But very difficult now that everyone has kids. Been there a couple of times, not deep in the belly of the beast like you, but it's been so long I'd like to grab an adult view of everything now.

[ChrisBlair]

Originally Posted by Russo

im sure it was overwhelming to be in the den of thieves..

As long as he had his hand on his wallet and he wasn't wearing any rings or a nice watch, he was OK among them.

[Apex Motorsports]

Originally Posted by Number 3

So did you make a giant campaign contribution to anyone to sway them to your side?

Looks like a great experience to have been able to participate in the process.

Very cool.

According to ethics rules you are actually not allowed to bring that up to them during meetings. It was an amazing experience and I am very thankful the opportunity was given to me.

Originally Posted by Spartan01

Wish I had known you were in town,
Myself and a few other C5ers would have loved to have met you in person and bought you a brew.

I usually try to link up with the local Camaro community when I am traveling but this trip the schedule was packed wall-to-wall. There is a good chance I will be making more trips in the future so I will make sure to book a couple extra days in there. I did find The Dubliner Pub down the block from my hotel.

Originally Posted by 2012-1822

My god we've got a celebrity amongst us.

That's all pretty cool to get to see so much of what goes on up there. I've been attempting to plan a family wide trip up there. But very difficult now that everyone has kids. Been there a couple of times, not deep in the belly of the beast like you, but it's been so long I'd like to grab an adult view of everything now.

It was definitely a much closer look than the typical tourist gets but at the same time I did miss out on all the typical tourist stuff. Besides just driving by many of the sites I didn't get to see much except the inside of offices and conference rooms. That kind of sucked because it was my first time in DC.

Originally Posted by Russo

im sure it was overwhelming to be in the den of thieves..

Originally Posted by ChrisBlair

As long as he had his hand on his wallet and he wasn't wearing any rings or a nice watch, he was OK among them.

I left the valuables at home. You have to take all that stuff off every time you go through security.

[f5journal]

Very cool

[The_Blur]

I want to thank you for what you've done during that trip. It might have felt like meetings and conferences, but you made an important contribution to our republic. Lobbying Congress informs them of your needs as a business, but it also helps ensure that citizens have a say in government. That is the nature of the democratic society I have sworn to defend.

Before anyone gets into politics, bashes someone based on political perspective, or becomes offended, this is a general warning to be nice. We're all here for Camaros, not arguments over public policy.

[bwk1971]

I usually try to link up with the local Camaro community when I am traveling but this trip the schedule was packed wall-to-wall. There is a good chance I will be making more trips in the future so I will make sure to book a couple extra days in there. I did find The Dubliner Pub down the block from my hotel.

Keep us posted on your future trips...I am sure there are many of us who'd like to link up.