Thread: The Washington DC Experience from Oliver

ALIPAC friends,

I got back from D.C. last night and I wanted to tell you about my experiences and thoughts on my visit.

First of all, one thing stands out above all others. We were not welcome in many congressional offices. We were condescended to and patronized and pushed against!!! Simple taxpaying citizens, doing the job Congress won’t do: exposing amnesty proposals for what they are!

We pay the salaries of Congress and their staffers and we were treated, on many occasions like second-class citizens with no rights to ask questions and voice concerns.

We left our message on the impact of all amnesty proposals and passionately voiced our concerns. We told them we as taxpayers were tired of subsidizing business welfare to the tune of $22,449 per year per illegal household, how the country would rapidly reach 3rd world status with the additional costs of amnesty and guest worker. We discussed environmental concerns and pushed for securing the border and enforcing laws. We talked of illegals suppressing wages and replacing American workers who cannot afford a life on what business wants to pay illegals.

However, it was clear to me that many Congressmen and staff were not concerned with the American people. One staffer even slipped and said, “You wouldn’t believe how many employers…” Employers!!! And, “businesses will move their support if the Congressman….” We told them we represented the voters!!! We told them the American people were left out of this decision and laws should be passed that benefit Americans not the Chamber of Commerce and Hispanic lobbyists.

So, I’ll write more later but I want to leave you with the idea that we were there as patriots, on our own dime, and we were not deterred in the least by the many smug, rude receptions we got!!!

And, I was proud to be associated with all of the ALIPAC members, leaders and bloggers I met. Our fearless, and I do mean fearless, leader, William Gheen, is and the right man at the right place in history to be leading us in this fight for the very soul of our country.

All of us involved in this battle, and now it feels more like a battle than ever, have come together for a purpose and whether you do battle from home or in D.C. your voices are being heard!!! It is critical that we keep the heat on Congress and never, never let up!!! Remember, they wish we’d go away and let them have their imperial existence, being wined and dined and becoming rich off their lobbying buddies…but we are out here and we are not going away, are we???

Oliver

Keep calling and write letters to the editors. Congress is not informing Americans of what is lurking down the road so it is up to every single one of us!!!!!!!!!

Hey Oliver,

Thanks for the update on DC.

If you'll give us names of congressmen whose staff was rude to ya'll, we can start at the top and work our way down the list.

Thanks for the update Olivermyboy!

I'm glad you and rest of our group that went to DC can give us a birds eye view of what the mood is in the halls of Congress.

Where the majority of the rude Congressmen Democrats or Republicans?

Thanks Oliver for the update, I think it is a real shame the way they treated you guys. You should write a couple articles about it and between the two of us we can get a couple printed in the papers here , maybe everyone else can help get them printed in papers in their towns. We need to let people know how the taxpayers are treated.

I think it really is time for a third party in our government, we really need to work at getting some of these people out of office!!

Thanks for all you did up there! BTW, did you see Craig or Crapo?

Originally Posted by had_enuf

Hey Oliver,

Thanks for the update on DC.

If you'll give us names of congressmen whose staff was rude to ya'll, we can start at the top and work our way down the list.

Thanks Oliver and I agree with had_enuf. I hope you all that were able to go to DC can give us a heads up on the members of Congress/Senate that blew you off. These are the ones we really need to put pressure on!

Thanks Oliver! I am passing this on to everyone I know. I want them to know that the men/women in Washington think they are above the citizens of America... and that if we don't do something ...the arrogance, greed and betrayal of these people will be the end of America and the middle class!

You rock, Oliver..along with everyone else that took time out from their daily lives on their dime and went to DC on the working American's behalf to protest against the treason that rots in the halls of Congress and the White House. Kudos to you, my boy! Everyone of you are Patriots!

Oliver, I, Sis and Anniealone spent the majority of 2 days together lobbying. As Oliver said, there are those who are doing their best to shut out the American public on immigration. This is not to say that we did not have some good long meetings, because we did. But, the vast majority of Democrats, with the exception of certain new or fiscally conservative Dems, were unwilling to have an aid take 5 minutes to talk with us.

They have an interesting little shell game they like to play. In quite a few instances, we had called a day ahead or even tried to schedule meetings with Reps from home, but could not get staff to call us back. Then, when we showed up in their offices, we were told that the immigration aid was unavailable and that we needed to make an appointment. We figured out the game early on and left questions with the office with instructions to get answers to the questions, and said we would call back in a few days for the answers. We walked into Flake's office and asked the aid to find out if they have requested a CBO budget analysis of the projected costs for the STRIVE act. This single question immediately put the aid in a bad mood!

But clearly, the Dems especially do not want to have to answer legitimate and reasonable questions about the costs or future impact of amnesty or a massive guest worker/legalization program. They are hoping to push this through without allowing the devastating effects to be revealed ahead of time. Some of the Republican offices were also this way - especially Kyl and Cornyn's offices. I'm sure there has been a directive that no one in their offices is to talk about any details of immigration plans being discussed.

One thing you need to be aware of is that Congressional offices get all sorts of lobbying groups passing through their offices - every special interest has its own lobbyists(s) except for the American people. There is no one visiting these offices, being a physical presence there, and advocating for the 300 million Americans except for the handful of lobbyists from certain organizations llike NumbersUSA or FAIR.

It really is essential that everyone make an appointment to meet with your rep or their staff in your district and to bring your family and friends. According to Roy Beck, the district offices do much of the immigration paperwork processing for foreigners residing in their district, so there is the frequent presence of non-citizens in these offices. You must go there personally and to make sure that your voice is not overlooked!

CCUSA wrote:

Thanks for the update Olivermyboy!

I'm glad you and rest of our group that went to DC can give us a birds eye view of what the mood is in the halls of Congress.

Where the majority of the rude Congressmen Democrats or Republicans?

Sorry it took me so long, I've got jet lag and I had to do some thinking because I think we need to hit where we can be most effective! They are already not happy...

It was a general overall rudeness except for the "friendlies" like Schuler, Steve King, Tanredo, Bilbray, Hunter...but they really need encouragement--I think they were very down before we all descended on DC and are energized now.

I heard about a lot of negative reactions from other groups we ran into and I can't specifically say who they saw.

Let me answer you all this way:

Keep the heat on Kyl and Cornyn. They are locked down tight! In fact, in Cornyn's offices they had a sheduler posted to handle walk-ins. I think he'd been there about a month! He wouldn't even give us the card of the immigration point man--not allowed to!

Boehner and Blunt need pounded! (Republican minority leaders) Absolutely did not like us being there!

Joe Donnelly needs called and called again. He's being heavily lobbied by religious leaders.

Let me put it this way---from just dropping in to various offices--I think the following Dem Reps need an education in what they are voting for. (which is in my post) because Flake has circulated his summary of STRIVE as the congressional summary and this is what staffers are seeing!!!

They need to be politely told this is a budget busting, taxpayer revolting, environment destroying, overpopulating, monster of a bill!!!!

(I'm trying here to say from being in DC these are the ones I feel need hammered--they are very vulnerable and undereducated first termers, being lobbied heavily by the Chamber of Commerce and religious leaders to vote for amnesty.)

Arizona: Harry Mitchell+++ (JD Hayworth's old seat) and Gabrielle Giffords+++ (beat Randy Graf)

CA: Jerry Mcnerny

Colorado: Ed Perlmutter

Connecticut: Joe Courtney and Chris Murphy

Florida--Mark Foley's old seat: Tim Mahoney +++ vulnerable

Indiana: Brad Ellsworth+++ and Bernie Hill

Ohio: Zack Space

New Hampshire: Carol Shea Porter and Paul Hodes

PA: Jason Altmire, Joe Sestak, and Chris Cannon+++ pound him

Iowa: Bruce Braley and David Loebsack+++

Kentucky: John Yarmouth

Texas: Nick Lampson+++ (Delay's old seat--he'll be lucky to survive here)

Kate wrote:

It really is essential that everyone make an appointment to meet with your rep or their staff in your district and to bring your family and friends. According to Roy Beck, the district offices do much of the immigration paperwork processing for foreigners residing in their district, so there is the frequent presence of non-citizens in these offices. You must go there personally and to make sure that your voice is not overlooked!

AMEN!!!

And, write educational letters to the editor. There is a total information vacuum among the American people and Congress, and Congress likes it that way. They'd like to vote on this amnesty in the dead of night by secret ballot!!!

Here are ones for use or to get ideas and I'll be doing more:
http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... ic&t=47730

Local papers may be more amenable to printing them.

Show up at townhall meetings and be heard. The crowds will join in!!!