[CW] What it Means.

Tue, 5 Aug 2003 15:39:38 -0500

Not to mention the fact that, in one town, say, 25,000 voters.  This is for
one Congressman, that represents ~450,000 people (about 250,000 voters - the
rest are kids or otherwise ineligible to vote).  But while the ARRL
represents 500,000 hams nationwide, and more specifically 300,000 members,
in some districts (remember, we're talking one congressman here) there may
be only (on average) 690 Hams!  And only a few of them live in the example
town.

And there may be 50,000 "Buzz Jones"s, pushing BPL for 50,000 communities -
resulting in 100 or more individuals hitting each congresscritter.  And all
535 Senators and Reps are hearing it.  Meanwhile we've got a few ARRL
staffers going around trying to meet with all of them.  And each time they
have to say they really only speak for <700 people in your district, and
less than that in each individual community pushing for BPL.

And finally, the money is significant, too.  501(c)(3)'s can't "contribute".
Buzz Jones and his cohorts can each give $1000 (and $1000 for their spouse,
etc.) directly to the congressperson's campaign fund, plus make a possibly
sizable contribution to the political party of the congresscritter - soft
money to use as they see fit - that the ARRL is prohibited BY LAW from
matching - not that they could.

Jay
KD5WLX

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]On
Behalf Of W2AGN
Sent: Tuesday, August 05, 2003 2:43 PM
To: [email protected]; [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: [CW] What it Means.

Someone wondered, in simple terms, what that "lobbying" thing meant.

OK, Buzz Jones, of the Acme Power Company wants to put BPL in all through
his town. For this, he  needs FCC approval. Now, the FCC bureaucrats are
mostly POLITICALLY appointed types. (The Field Workers, etc, are civil
service, but the decisions are made by the bureaucrats.) So he goes to
Joe Fed of the FCC. Meanwhile, the Power company uses their lobby to
contact "Honest" John Smith, the Congressman from Podunk. They suggest
that he could get a lot of votes from all those happy web surfers using
BPL. All he needs to do is put a little pressure on the FCC. Honest John
calls Joe Fed. The suggestion is made that if he likes his little cushy
Federal job, he better push for BPL.

Meanwhile, the ARRL....... Poor Ed of the ARRL is doing tests and
demonstrations for Joe Fed. Joe Fed nods and looks interested. But poor
Ed and the ARRL can't say to Honest John that "hey, you pressure the FCC
to vote against BPL, and you'll have the vote of 300,000 League members."
That's because such POLITICAL lobbying is unlawful for the ARRL.

All they can do is have poor, tired, hard working Ed demonstrate that it
will wipe of HF over the whole area. Joe Fed knows this, but rather keep
his job, and keep Honest John happy.

Guess which way the vote goes?
---
+-++-++-++-++-+   John L. Sielke
|W||2||A||G||N|        http://www.w2agn.net [UPDATED]
+-++-++-++-++-+    Ex-K3HLU,TF2WKT,W7JEF,W4MPC,N4JS
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