Critical Funding for TRSA Agenda
TRSA Political Action Committee
TRSA operates a PAC to protect your company’s bottom line and the jobs of everyone in our industry. TRSA PAC is the legal vehicle we use to give campaign contributions to the politicians who help our industry by voting for pro-business measures and helping intervene with regulatory agencies that want to dictate aspects of our business. During the 2009-10 election, the TRSA PAC raised nearly $125,000, more than six times any previous cycle in TRSA history, from 89 contributors, or four times the number of previous participants. In the 2010 mid-term elections 10 Republican members of Congress who received TRSA PAC support were re-elected. These representatives actively supported TRSA’s legislative and regulatory agenda in Congress and federal agencies.
Members’ contributions to TRSA PAC are critical in obtaining such support. PAC donations produce a substantial return on investment as insurance against the implementation of onerous federal rules that would cost the industry more than its contributions.
The political system functions on such giving. A typical race for the House of Representatives costs $2 million to run; Senate campaigns are $10-million-plus. This is the cost to American industry of good government: helping candidates who understand business communicate with voters to get elected, an increasingly expensive proposition. As legislative and regulatory challenges to doing business multiply and show no sign of receding, PAC donations are the cost of ensuring fair, balanced government decisions at a time when bad such decisions put companies out of business and people out of work.
Threats of such outcomes continue to loom. Executives of TRSA member companies are encouraged to contribute on a monthly basis at MVP, Super Champion, Champion or Advocate levels.
TRSA Legislative Defense Fund
Contending with suddenly proposed regulatory threats specific to the industry requires TRSA to pay unanticipated legal fees and conduct immediate research. This hurried advocacy is an economical alternative to what would be a major corporate undertaking for each member company. Members are well served with this approach because they share management of the entire industry’s strategy on such matters and each company is seen as unselfish because the industry responds to these threats as a group rather than an individual interest.
The TRSA Legislative Defense Fund (LDF) is the mechanism that springs into action in these matters. It is only deployed when an unexpectedly strong threat arises. This approach replaces the former practice of delaying our response to such regulatory emergencies until the largest member companies could be asked to cover unforeseen expenses. The LDF is used judiciously and the protocol for dispersing the funds is rigorous.
