Elections: Be proactive...be, be proactive

If you're like me, you're somewhat afraid to learn the results of today's elections.

But regardless of which candidates win and which candidates lose, and which party loses control and which party gains control, there's work to be done. This is how Wayne Stanfield put it in a bulletin to NAIMES members this morning:

Depending on which of the pundits you listen to, there will be from 50 to 80 new people going to Washington to represent you in the House and Senate. These new freshmen legislators will go to Washington with an eagerness to learn the ropes of Washington politics, and it will only take a few weeks or months for the Washington establishment to begin filling their heads with the goo that suddenly makes them forget their campaign promises. You have a chance to affect their understanding of the DME industry before they get to D.C.  After you vote today and after the election results are certified, if you have a new freshman representative, call their campaign office and make an appointment to have them visit you at your business. You will never have a better chance for a site visit than with an eager new member of Congress who wants to learn.  You must have a face-to-face meeting with them before they go to DC in just 6 weeks.

Stanfield goes on:

What's that you say? They are from the wrong party? Forget that and make a friend and maybe a champion for DME. They won and you've got them for the next two years.

This echoes something Cara Bachenheimer told me recently:

Our issues haven't really been partisan issues. It's really where the industry has developed relationships—that's how it has gotten its support.

So watch the election results tonight, and shed a tear if need be, but then move on. Like I said, there's work to be done.

Liz Beaulieu