Minutes
WICPA Public Policy Committee Meeting
January 9, 2007

Present: 

Mark Krueger, Chairperson                 

Bart Adams                                    Steve Pullara

Tom Alberte                                   Jeanne Van Galder

Bill Ahlstrom                                   Tom Weingarten (phone)

Mike Friedman (phone)                     LeRoy Schmidt (phone)

Karin Gale (phone)                           Dennis Tomorsky (phone)

Ted Hart                                        Alice O’Connor

Tammy Hofstede                             Nick Lascari (phone)

Absent: 

Tom Kosler

Terry Jannsen  

Randy Olm

Carl Schultz

Fred Sitzberger            

Janet Tolander

Guest: 

Senator Russell Decker, Co-Chair of the Joint Finance Committee

 

Krueger called the meeting to order at 9:10 a.m.  Introductions were made.

Senator Decker, Co-Chair of the Joint Finance Committee joined the meeting.  Senator Decker presented current issues and answered questions from the Committee.

Approval of Minutes

Adams motioned to approve the minutes of the September 20, 2006 meeting.  Hart seconded and the motion was passed.

Alice O’Connor – Political Landscape

O’Connor stated she was pleased with the WICPA turnout at the Governor’s inauguration dinner. 

O’Connor commented on the current political landscape.  She stated the Governor was opposed to the sales tax on professional services issue which has surfaced.  It was noted that Tomorsky mentioned the behind the scenes efforts in his article in the March/April On Balance.  Some discussion took place regarding the unauthorized practice of law.

O’Connor stated she had met with Tomorsky and Hofstede to brainstorm new initiatives for the Public Policy Committee to gain more exposure with the legislators.  Some suggestions were the Public Policy committee members deliver the contributions to the legislators; schedule legislators to attend and speak briefly at conferences and seminars; have a member from the Public Policy Committee introduce the legislator; hold a legislative informational seminar to inform members of the mission and how to get involved; and encourage the committee members to invite other staff from their firm to attend and get involved with the committee.

The committee discussed visiting legislators at the Capitol after the next meeting.  Hofstede was directed to make this an agenda item for the May meeting.

O’Connor gave an overview of suggested distributions for 2007.

2007 Fundraising Efforts

Krueger reviewed the fundraising target list and assigned committee members to each firm.

Hofstede reported the CPAC/LIF solicitation brochure will be redesigned this year.  Hofstede will notify the committee when letters and brochures are mailed to the partners on the campaign chart listing.  The committee discussed solicitation to the full membership and agreed to do an email with access to the form and information on the WICPA website.

Other Matters

Krueger discussed the Chairperson and Vice Chairperson positions on the Public Policy Committee.  He encouraged the committee members contact him if they were interested.

Next Meeting

The next meeting is scheduled for May 3, 2007, 9:00 a.m. at Murphy & Desmond.

The meeting adjourned at 11:35 a.m.

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