3-24-05

Illinois Convention Report

Submitted by Deborah Esselman, Delegate

Wisconsin was represented well at the Illinois convention held on March 18-19, 2005, in Springfield, Il.  The Esselman bus picked up Jake B., Tom O., and Jon W. and headed south in the snow.  We drove out of it and into the more spring-like weather of Illinois.  There was field work starting and people from southern IL were claiming that corn had already been planted.  It seemed way too early to plant corn to this northern WI girl who still has several inches on snow on the ground at home, but a few hundred miles south makes a lot of difference in climate!

Friday’s agenda included the IL director’s meeting in the morning and then speakers in the afternoon. 

·                    Jim Mace spoke briefly about the Dental Insurance available and promised more information the next day on more policies available to NASCOE members.

·                    Brian Frieden, RMA, gave a presentation on his recent trip to India and China with an ag leadership program that he is involved in.   He had many fascinating pictures of the countries and described their different types of agriculture.  There are basically no tractors in China due to the large population and cheap labor.  India has tractors but they are used for everything and usually carry 3-4 people at a time.  I realized how very lucky we are in this country!

·                    Chris Miller, Warning Coordination Meteorologist with the National Weather Service gave a very  interesting presentation on weather forecasting and preparedness.  He had pictures of a manufacturing plant in Ronoake, IL, that was hit with a F-4 tornado in July, 2004, and how no one was hurt because the owner of the plant provided storm shelters for his employees. He did regular tornado and fire drills with his employees and the level of preparedness really paid off.  When the tornado hit, the employees had only minutes to get into the shelters and they were all safe.

·                    Chris Hollis, the NASCOE Midwest Area Exec, spoke about CAPWIZ. There are about 100 people in the Midwest signed up for it currently.  He encouraged all members to sign up for CAPWIZ and use it.  There is a lot of information available on the CAPWIZ site and it’s a very good way to get uniform information out to legislators quickly.  Action alerts are available and can be an very important tool to relay information quickly.  You can even register to vote on CAPWIZ.  There is also the Tell-A-Friend function that enables you to relay information in a quick, efficient manner.

·                    A Distinguished Service Award was presented to a well-deserving CED who has spent endless time setting up a farmers market in his home-town.

·                    Friday ended with the hospitality room and a dance.  The Wisconsin delegation participated admirably at the dance!

Saturday, March 19, 2005.

Yours truly lead the National Anthem and the convention convened with Les Maierhofer, the 1^st Vice President officiating.   The following speakers were included on the agenda:

·                    Brad McMillan, District Chief of Staff for Congressman LaHood, spoke on behalf of the congressman.  Mr. LaHood is currently considering running for IL governor.  Agriculture is Illinois #1 industry and FSA is the interface between ag and the government.  He discussed the proposed budget cuts presented by the House and Senate.  On the USDA side, the main cuts will come out of food stamp programs and conservation programs.  A 9.5% budget cut is proposed for USDA.  UDSA is also moving toward compliance with the E-File bill. LaHood will continue to be a “strong voice for agriculture” and will continue to fight for FSA. Mr. McMillan also discussed the Energy bill and said that is was an important piece of legislation that could affect IL.  The bill would enhance bio-energy, ethanol, and wind energy.  More jobs would be created and farmers would have more markets for their crops, which would increase their expendable incomes.  This country is at 55% reliance on Mid East now and an energy bill is overdue.  The Water Resource Development Act will also be an important piece of legislature for the IL and Mississippi Rivers.  Budgets are tight on all programs.  Mr. LaHood is not in favor of re-opening the farm bill.  Mr. McMillan encouraged everyone to contact their representatives on any issues.

·                    Mark Colonius, IACS, described Farm Loan duties and responsibilities.

·                    Dennis Keulengel, IAFEC, the IL COC Association, discussed the energy bill and the importance of getting it passed.  IAFEC was allowed to be present during the recent STC/COC meetings held in the state.  He encouraged everyone to contact congress regarding the energy bill.

·                    Tammy Morrison, IASCOE President, gave her president’s report and encouraged partnership with other organizations (Fish & Wildlife, etc). She said that NASCOE supports e-filing and the counties need to encourage farmers to participate.  She discussed the legislative conference and described the position papers that were presented to legislators regarding a base line of employees, animal ID and homeland security.

·                    Paul Clark, NAFEC Secretary/Treasurer, discussed the proposed COC guidelines presented by USDA.  He agreed that no Civil Rights violations would be tolerated.  He disagreed with several proposals in the REGS and NAFEC was instrumental in getting some of the guidelines removed. He discussed the Ag budget and said that FSA was the most efficient agency in Washington DC. Office closures are still being considered and it has been suggested that NASCOE and NAFEC have representatives on the Closure Committee.

·                    Jim Mace, JM Marketing, described the Heart/Stroke policy and reviewed the options in the policy.  It is an excellent program for a very low cost.  It’s alarming to find out how prevalent heart disease is in this country. He also talked about the Cancer policy that is available and how you will get paid $100 for the Wellness Program. COC members can also be eligible for any of these policies through associate membership.

·                    William Graff, the IL FSA SED, discussed programs and the affect they would have in IL.  He encouraged people to participate in round table ag discussion groups and suggested that our legislative conference should be held in conjunction with the week that ag groups are also there.  Then there would probably be a better chance of meeting with the representatives, rather than just the aides.  IL has the 3^rd largest workload in the county, next to Texas and Iowa. Then he said he was going to go home that day and plant some corn “to shake up the neighborhood”.  (Doesn’t that sound like some farmers you know?)

·                    Chris Hollis, the NASCOE Midwest Area Exec, spoke on communication within the organization and how different approaches to this are being implemented with NASCOE.  He briefly discussed the legislative conference and outlined the baseline of 9,500 employees that was requested and how the association was trying to get sick leave credited toward retirement for FERS employees.  He also discussed the Political Action Committee (PAC). Despite everyone’s concerns about paying our representatives to listen to our agency, the truth is that is how Washington DC works and if we want to keep our jobs, we need to think seriously about contributing toward the PAC and supporting it.  Payroll deductions should be available soon.  He also stated that NASCOE supports e-filing and e-gov.  Not as a way to replace employees, but as another service to offer to our farmers.  He also stated that we “must sell ourselves and what we do to the public”.  We need to be adaptable to change and our attitude has to be positive.  “Attitude always determines your altitude.”

·                    David Vadrine, NASCOE president, spoke on the following issues after he cleared up the fact that all of US really had an accent and since he was from Louisiana, he didn’t!

o       Benefits-Adverse employee actions: will probably not be processed separate from DAFO.  Suspensions will probably be more similar to the process for GS employees.   Sick Leave- hopefully soon CO and GS employees will be able to donate between the two.  Health Insurance: the 22 year old cap for children’s benefits is being looked at.

o       Communication- He stressed good communication between employees, the public, congress and consumer groups.

o       Budget and Staffing: We need a “one-handed economist”.  He asked the question: “How did we get here”. There are 3 answers to this: 1) our administration has asked for less than what we need, 2) Congress has not fully appropriated enough money for staffing, 3) the President’s agenda is to do more with less and they feel that e-gov and e-filing is supposedly our salvation to that problem.  80% of the budget is for S&E, 15% is for fixed expenses (which is not adjusted correctly for inflation) and that leaves 5% for discretionary spending.  Management is looking at taking a % of the S&E because the 5% is not enough to keep up with funding such things as IT equipment, etc.  We need to establish a “baseline” of employees and NASCOE is asking Congress to mandate that baseline to be secure jobs.  E-filing is a tool but there needs to be more education regarding e-gov and more training done on the computer, not to mention better computers.

David also discussed change and how we must be adaptable to change.  There are five stages to change: strong emotional feelings, denial, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.  “Change, you can embrace it or it will grab you by the throat.”-Winston Churchill. 

·                    Butch Lockley, TV Show “Survivor”, was a survivor on the Amazon adventure.

Butch did a presentation on how he got on the show and how important it is to have a positive attitude, listen to others and respect them.  It was a very interesting presentation.  At the end of it, Tom Oasen and I got our pictures taken with Mr. Lockley.  I didn’t have the nerve to tell him that I never watch the show.

The Wisconsin delegation boarded the Esselman bus and headed north before the Luncheon, but I did manage to get one of the items from the silent auction.

I must say that I feel it is important for WASCOE to be represented at other Mid-West conventions because we always get some good information and more importantly, we are building relationships in other states that can become invaluable when working on issues that affect us all.

Respectfully submitted,

Deborah Esselman