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yesterday i met with the regional representative for my democratic senator (sherrod brown)
overall, the meeting went well! i could tell the guy made an effort to educate himself on the bill and what it would mean. he was very receptive and asked questions (including non-bill related ones, such as "how'd you get into snakes?")
here are a few things he mentioned, and some other things we discussed...
he has spoken with several people in senator brown's office, including the guy in DC who will be tracking this particular bill, and none of them think this bill has any chance of getting addressed until the middle of the year. currently they are too busy with healthcare, and banking issues are on their agenda next. when i told him that nelson was trying to get it attached to other bills (and already tried with an appropriations bill that passed), he said the appropriations bills are all done for a few months, and there won't be any bills related to the issue that it could be hidden in. any attempts at adding it to a current (or near future) bill would stick out like a sore thumb, and all additions to bills have to be voted on by the full senate.
he told me that because of all the other big issues in congress right now, brown hasn't had a chance to look into 373, and as a result hasn't developed a stance on it yet. he told me that they keep a log of ALL LETTERS, MEETINGS AND PHONE CALLS from constituents, and when the time comes for a vote, they print out a record of the number of ohioans and brown looks at it before he votes. so he told me the MORE people who write/call/meet, the better chance we'll have of getting brown to vote NO.
he mentioned that because 373 only has ONE sponsor and ONE cosponsor, it is not a popular bill.
he said that the impression they get is that "no interstate transport" ACTUALLY means no interstate TRAFFICKING, and so wouldn't affect people going to shows in other states, purchasing the snakes and bringing them home. he said that just means people selling them can't cross state lines to makes sales. he made contact with the EPW committee to find out for sure, but hadn't heard back yet. i told him that was NOT the case, and that NOBODY would be allowed to cross state lines with the animals in question, because "no interstate transport" means "NO INTERSTATE TRANSPORT."
i gave him some articles by dave and tracy barker - including a review of the recent USGS risk analysis paper and the "burmese pythons in the everglades" paper, as well as the CUNY report and the letter written to congress about 2811 by the group of scientists (specifying that they were companion bills).
we also discussed the issues of this being addressed at a national level and not on a state (florida) level.
i also made SURE to mention the current COLD-snap the south is experiencing, and how any established populations of these snakes will take a HUGE blow this week to their size
as a PERSON, he sounded genuinely interested in the issue, and even told me that he PERSONALLY didn't see a need to ban them, but specified that he couldn't speak for the senator in that regard.
so in summary, MAKE THOSE CALLS AND ARRANGE MEETINGS!!! GET EVERYONE YOU KNOW TO DO IT AS WELL!
overall, the meeting went well! i could tell the guy made an effort to educate himself on the bill and what it would mean. he was very receptive and asked questions (including non-bill related ones, such as "how'd you get into snakes?")
here are a few things he mentioned, and some other things we discussed...
he has spoken with several people in senator brown's office, including the guy in DC who will be tracking this particular bill, and none of them think this bill has any chance of getting addressed until the middle of the year. currently they are too busy with healthcare, and banking issues are on their agenda next. when i told him that nelson was trying to get it attached to other bills (and already tried with an appropriations bill that passed), he said the appropriations bills are all done for a few months, and there won't be any bills related to the issue that it could be hidden in. any attempts at adding it to a current (or near future) bill would stick out like a sore thumb, and all additions to bills have to be voted on by the full senate.
he told me that because of all the other big issues in congress right now, brown hasn't had a chance to look into 373, and as a result hasn't developed a stance on it yet. he told me that they keep a log of ALL LETTERS, MEETINGS AND PHONE CALLS from constituents, and when the time comes for a vote, they print out a record of the number of ohioans and brown looks at it before he votes. so he told me the MORE people who write/call/meet, the better chance we'll have of getting brown to vote NO.
he mentioned that because 373 only has ONE sponsor and ONE cosponsor, it is not a popular bill.
he said that the impression they get is that "no interstate transport" ACTUALLY means no interstate TRAFFICKING, and so wouldn't affect people going to shows in other states, purchasing the snakes and bringing them home. he said that just means people selling them can't cross state lines to makes sales. he made contact with the EPW committee to find out for sure, but hadn't heard back yet. i told him that was NOT the case, and that NOBODY would be allowed to cross state lines with the animals in question, because "no interstate transport" means "NO INTERSTATE TRANSPORT."
i gave him some articles by dave and tracy barker - including a review of the recent USGS risk analysis paper and the "burmese pythons in the everglades" paper, as well as the CUNY report and the letter written to congress about 2811 by the group of scientists (specifying that they were companion bills).
we also discussed the issues of this being addressed at a national level and not on a state (florida) level.
i also made SURE to mention the current COLD-snap the south is experiencing, and how any established populations of these snakes will take a HUGE blow this week to their size
as a PERSON, he sounded genuinely interested in the issue, and even told me that he PERSONALLY didn't see a need to ban them, but specified that he couldn't speak for the senator in that regard.
so in summary, MAKE THOSE CALLS AND ARRANGE MEETINGS!!! GET EVERYONE YOU KNOW TO DO IT AS WELL!
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