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Inland Empire Chamber Legislative Alliance.
The Montclair
Chamber of Commerce, in its commitment to serving the business
community, will actively engage in the legislative process on a local,
state, and federal level, as it relates to issues that affect business.
Further, this Chamber will openly support those issues and bills that
further the interests of business and oppose legislation that is felt to
be detrimental to the business climate. In this endeavor, we will
actively participate in the Inland Empire Chamber Alliance and follow
its lead.
CALIFORNIA - SICK OR SICK & TIRED?
VOTE NO ON PROPOSITIONS 1A-1F
Yvonne DeLeon Chamber President
I recently enjoyed representing the Montclair Chamber of Commerce at the Cal
Chamber Business Summit in Sacramento where I ran into several other chamber
IECLA members. We all listened intently to the guest speakers including
Allan Zaremberg, President of the Cal Chamber.
Mr. Zaremberg discussed many issues including the union election card check
bill and the ballot propositions. Although he tried to garner support for
the ballot propositions, judging from the reactions at my table, he wasn’t
very successful.
Two gubernatorial candidates spoke next: insurance commissioner Steve
Poizner and advisor to the governor, Tom Campbell. Steve touched on the
subject of education and how he would focus on that issue throughout his
campaign for governor. I found him the more impressive of the two, which
seemed to be the consensus at my table.
Other speakers included Chuck Todd, NBC political correspondent, who
discussed the current issues in Washington, such as President Obama, health
care and Pakistan. In regards to the card check, Chuck Todd said that this
was not a priority for Obama, but that Vice President Biden is pushing for
it.
We also heard from two political writers and some professors. I found it
very interesting to hear a wide spectrum of opinions on the economy and
other issues of importance to the state of California and the country.
Following these speakers, I joined some of my colleagues for the bootleg
breakout session where we listened to strategies for advocacy that we can
use at our Chambers. I took notes and picked up a few ideas that might be
useful, especially in the area of technology.
We cut out early from the workshop to head out to the capitol and meet a few
of our legislators. We were fortunate to meet Norma Torres and her chief of
staff, Chris. Both women were very pleasant to us and Norma said she was
happy to meet us. She asked us if we had any issues or questions. we
wanted to address with her. She said that she would welcome any in the
future and asked us to email her with any concerns. I gave her my business
card and the position pamphlet from the IECLA.
On our way out we bumped into Assemblyman Bill Emerson in the hall and David
Pulido and Suzie Colon of the Fontana Chamber had a chat with him. He was
also pleasant and assured David he was going to try to make it to an IECLA
meeting soon.
Finally, although Gloria Negrete McLeod was not in, one of her reps was kind
enough to talk to us and he even showed us through the window where we could
see the governor outside in the garden.
The experience of going to the legislators’ offices for a one-on-one was
just the best experience. David Pulido was great at showing me the ropes and
giving me a tour of the assembly and senate galleries and showing me how to
address our legislators personally. It was great and I would encourage all
of my fellow business members to get more involved in the political process.
Direct
link to the Inland Empire Chamber Legislative Alliance
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