Posted January 23rd, 2012 by hiwayhowie
COP on the Hill
Your Voice in the United States Congress
Nurse Karen is not happy/Howard back in the saddle: I did return to the Senate this week, taking advantage of their last week of recess. Not so good, I had an excellent response from staffers (21 total) wanting to meet, including 7 my first day back. It was a bit much, as I did 5 back to back before lunch. Karen was ready to have me committed/restrained for my own good. I DID push myself too much.
I survived the day and the week without any real problems or hurting my brain. My speech stayed solid for every chat and it was important that I regain my confidence. For all reasons it was nice & important for one staffer to come over to my table during lunch, give me a hug and said how much she was looking forward to our follow-up chat later in the week. (she did not know I had run out of free samples?)
Transition: As you know, staffers come and go. As I updated my notes on each office, it was painful to know some with whom I had had such a good relationship had moved on. Craig was one such that I met in 2007, my first full year.. we had great chats, he was with me on marijuana, he had written a paper in college on decrim/legalize. Last year he did ask his Democratic Senator/boss to sponsor a companion bill to the Frank/Paul bill to repeal federal prohibition. Like the other 8 staffers who asked, the Senator said no. One Republican staffer this week described her frustration, when she asked her Senator last year for a companion bill and was rejected.
Personal/health: All good. My speech is 97% of normal, walking/balance are 95%, left side fine motor control is up to about 90% (right side at 100% & I am right handed). Started driving 10 days after the stroke. As I said, all memories, including my languages were never affected. Spoke French for an hour on Saturday. Lucky boy I am.
Stats for COP’s third year, started on August 1, 2011:
253 presentations to Congressional staffers: 21 this week
6 Letter to the Editor: 0 this week
2 Television appearances (Univision): this week
5 Other media (blogs, cable TV, etc): this week
7 radio shows: this week
11 (Member of Congress) contacts: this week
Permanent invitation to Grover Norquist’s Wednesday brunch attended by 140 conservative VIPs.
2 Major conferences attended: Drug Policy Alliance International & the Congressional Black Caucus
Consider being a member of COP at $30.00 or more per year. All contributions are tax-deductible. Law Enforcement’s voice in opposition to current policy is vital on the Hill to achieve a repeal of federal prohibition. COP provides that voice. If you agree that Modern Prohibition/War on Drugs is the most destructive, dysfunctional and immoral policy since slavery & Jim Crow… Go to:
www.CitizensOpposingProhibition.org and click on Donate/Join – by credit card or send a check to:
COP
POB 2902
Washington, DC 20013
If you have questions or comments, please send an email to: howard@citizensopposingprohibition.org
COP total stats in first two years: August 1, 2009 thru July 31, 2011)
649 Presentations to Congressional staffers
22 Appearances on major TV networks
10 published interviews in newspapers
12 interviews and reports in minor media = blogs, cable TV, etc
57 published letters to the editor (value per MAPINC in free publicity: $56,000)
19 brief chats with Members of Congress
13 chats with other elected officials, state reps, senators, etc.
6 major conferences attended (CPAC, LULAC, NRA, etc)
Permanent invitation to Grover Norquist’s Wednesday brunch attended by 140 conservative VIPs.
Posted January 9th, 2012 by hiwayhowie
COP on the Hill
Your Voice in the United States Congress
Year in review: My meat and potatoes = presentations numbered 393 for the calendar year, mostly in the House. Only 7 offices have never heard of COP..all freshmen. As you know, some staffers have refused to see me, no matter how many times I ask for a few minutes.
I have worked hard on asking aides to bring HR 2306 – the repeal marijuana bill – to their Member with a positive recommendation on at least policy grounds/reasons. Twenty (20) have signed on with a couple of others saying they would vote YES, if it came to a vote. Solid progress and I will build on that.
The NRA & LULAC (National Rifle Association & League of United Latino American Citizens) conventions were ground-breaking for drug reform & successful. I will attend them again in 2012. The NRA happens in just 4 months & I will be there.
COP membership: Thank you for being a member of COP and donating to its efforts. If you haven’t joined yet, know that your membership is tax-deductible, even as it keeps the only full-time voice in the halls of Congress pushing for a repeal of drug prohibition.
Concerns: Several of you over the months have expressed a concern that COP might be endangering its 501 C 3 status, due to my efforts to push for 2306. I thank you for the feedback and concern.
Based on a seminar I attended at DPA 2009 and the latest IRS bulletin (July 20, 2011), COP may spend an insignificant amount of its budget lobbying. The good news/bad news is that I am a volunteer drawing no salary, just expenses. COP produces no literature which talks about 2306, buys no expensive dinners for Congressmen (LOL), etc. I do buy train and metro tickets, a four dollar lunch in the Longworth café, etc. COP expenses per year are running roughly $6,000. COP status as a 501 C 3 is solid.
Just to be double safe, I do track all the time I spend on 2306 in my Outlook. It amounts to an average of 1-2 hours a week. In a 30 minute chat with a staffer I spend only 2-3 minutes talking about 2306. The rest of the time is on drug prohibition in general from heroin back to MJ…just like when I started back in 2005.
Scratch it off my ‘Bucket list’: On Tuesday night Life threw me a curve ball (stroke) and I spent my first nights in a hospital since birth. Good news is all my memories, languages, etc are intact….just my speech, balance and sense of taste were affected. A week later I am off the walker and cane and my speech is 95% normal.. I will be out of action till late in January.
2012: I will change significantly my routine in 2012. I still have 73 offices in the Senate to visit & 134 in the House. I will do more targeted communications to aides/offices to push them for a public position on prohibition. The goal is to add as many supporters to repeal as possible in this Congress…to build on that progress for the next one in January 2013.
I will be spending two months in Colorado in the fall to push their legalize/regulate/tax marijuana ballot initiative. Naturally Misty is part of that plan.
Stats for COP’s third year, started on August 1, 2011:
232 presentations to Congressional staffers: 0 this week
6 Letter to the Editor: 1 this week
2 Television appearances (Univision): this week
5 Other media (blogs, cable TV, etc): this week
7 radio shows: this week
11 (Member of Congress) contacts: this week
Permanent invitation to Grover Norquist’s Wednesday brunch attended by 140 conservative VIPs.
2 Major conferences attended: Drug Policy Alliance International & the Congressional Black Caucus
Consider being a member of COP at $30.00 or more per year. All contributions are tax-deductible. Law Enforcement’s voice in opposition to current policy is vital on the Hill to achieve a repeal of federal prohibition. COP provides that voice. If you agree that Modern Prohibition/War on Drugs is the most destructive, dysfunctional and immoral policy since slavery & Jim Crow… Go to:
www.CitizensOpposingProhibition.org and click on Donate/Join – by credit card or send a check to:
COP
POB 2902
Washington, DC 20013
If you have questions or comments, please send an email to: howard@citizensopposingprohibition.org
COP total stats in first two years: August 1, 2009 thru July 31, 2011)
649 Presentations to Congressional staffers
22 Appearances on major TV networks
10 published interviews in newspapers
12 interviews and reports in minor media = blogs, cable TV, etc
57 published letters to the editor (value per MAPINC in free publicity: $56,000)
19 brief chats with Members of Congress
13 chats with other elected officials, state reps, senators, etc.
6 major conferences attended (CPAC, LULAC, NRA, etc)
Permanent invitation to Grover Norquist’s Wednesday brunch attended by 140 conservative VIPs.
Posted January 2nd, 2012 by hiwayhowie
Regarding the editorial “Bay City attorney’s broadside on BAYANET gets professional reply, but no formal debate:”
Writing as a retired detective, BAYANET is a horrific waste of tax dollars, both federal “free” money and Michigan residents’. We taxpayers must pay the $30,000 per year to lock up those arrested by my colleagues. The feds are $15 trillion in the red, in case anybody cares.
After 40 years of Drug War and a trillion tax dollars spent, drugs are cheaper, stronger and readily available to Michigan residents young and old. We know that every drug dealer arrested is quickly replaced.
Due to my experience as a street cop, these illegal drugs, even marijuana, are too dangerous to leave in the control of criminals and teens. They should be brought under the control of Lansing, like we do with alcohol and tobacco products.
Howard Wooldridge
LeRoy
Posted January 1st, 2012 by hiwayhowie
COP on the Hill
Your Voice in the United States Congress
Beat the dead horse: The House went home on Tuesday night after not passing a bill to extend a few things. Everyone has left town, many of the office closed completely till the New Year. I managed 3 presentations.
If I had a dollar for everyone who asked, “Why is marijuana still illegal?” I could fund COP for the next 20 years. Now I simply respond, what can you really expect our Congress to accomplish? The Dead Horse is Old Nellie and I am just trying to get her to do one simple thing, repeal drug prohibition.
Beating her with words or a stick will accomplish little. The Congress is beyond shame. Thus, my little pet project, www.wearethecartels.com to embarrass the Congress and other politicians has been put in mothballs.
From the archives of Stories, my two most favorite during the past 5 years:
Capitol Newsletter: December 30, 2005 (very first newsletter)
Funny Story of the Week: Meeting with a Congressional staffer on Tuesday, I came to realize I was not in Kansas anymore. This man was sympathetic with LEAP’s position but he said I just did not understand how Washington works. “It is all about pork.” He said. “Take your idea of treatment instead of jail. How does that help my district? You need to propose that the federal government build a regional treatment center in our district. That would definitely help you get such a bill passed. Your ideas would lay off thousands of high-paying, federal prison guard jobs. You have to replace those lost federal paychecks with other paychecks or you won’t go anywhere in this town.” After leaving, I lost it and just started laughing. I am so naïve but this cowboy is learning the ropes.
Capitol Newsletter: January 6, 2006
FUN STORY OF THE WEEK: As many of you know, I have been working on ending drug prohibition for 8 years and with over 14,000 persons asking me why, I thought I had heard all the reasons why not. A Congressional staffer had a new one. His reason for opposing ending prohibition? ‘If we legalize marijuana, eventually the growers will want to receive a subsidy to grow it, the same as farmers receive subsidies to grow tobacco, rice, sugar etc. It will just mean one more expense for the federal government.’ Most of you don’t know it but I do have a poker face. I coolly replied, “Well, this is the first day of second rodeo. Call me naïve but I have faith that the US Congress will never subsidize cannabis farmers.” The staffer remained unconvinced. I went onto another meeting, chuckling all the way down the hall of the Rayburn Building.
note: here rodeo = job as educator/lobbyist
Stats for COP’s third year, started on August 1, 2011:
232 presentations to Congressional staffers: 03 this week
5 Letter to the Editor: this week
2 Television appearances (Univision): this week
5 Other media (blogs, cable TV, etc): this week
7 radio shows: this week
11 (Member of Congress) contacts: 1 this week
Permanent invitation to Grover Norquist’s Wednesday brunch attended by 140 conservative VIPs.
2 Major conferences attended: Drug Policy Alliance International & the Congressional Black Caucus
Consider being a member of COP at $30.00 or more per year. All contributions are tax-deductible. Law Enforcement’s voice in opposition to current policy is vital on the Hill to achieve a repeal of federal prohibition. COP provides that voice. If you agree that Modern Prohibition/War on Drugs is the most destructive, dysfunctional and immoral policy since slavery & Jim Crow… Go to:
www.CitizensOpposingProhibition.org and click on Donate/Join – by credit card or send a check to:
COP
POB 2902
Washington, DC 20013
If you have questions or comments, please send an email to: howard@citizensopposingprohibition.org
COP total stats in first two years: August 1, 2009 thru July 31, 2011)
649 Presentations to Congressional staffers
22 Appearances on major TV networks
10 published interviews in newspapers
12 interviews and reports in minor media = blogs, cable TV, etc
57 published letters to the editor (value per MAPINC in free publicity: $56,000)
19 brief chats with Members of Congress
13 chats with other elected officials, state reps, senators, etc.
6 major conferences attended (CPAC, LULAC, NRA, etc)
Permanent invitation to Grover Norquist’s Wednesday brunch attended by 140 conservative VIPs.
Posted January 1st, 2012 by hiwayhowie
COP on the Hill
Your Voice in the United States Congress
Shake hands with four Members, chat with one: Congressman Session (R-TX) asked about the LONG RIDER belt buckle. With two other Members I shook hands & kept going and with one from Georgia we had a 90 second chat on the issue, as I walked him to the elevator. Another day at the salt mines, it was.
Meanwhile I made 14 presentations this week. Especially important was with a legislative director who blocked out 45 minutes for our conversation. He wanted and received chapter and verse on how to sell HR 2306 (Repeal MJ prohibition) to his boss and voters. Another LD that I met again (three times over four years) likes 2306 and will go to bat for it as soon as the budget crisis has a lull. Small steps.
I was struck this week by how many aides had never heard of the Frank/Paul to repeal. And that reinforces how important it is to meet with all 535 offices, not just our friends. BTW, we are up to 20 co-sponsors. My goal is 40 by this time next year.
Snooze – you lose: I called the NRA this week (National Rifle Association) to reserve a booth for their April national conference in St. Louis. Oops. They rented that last 10 feet two weeks after their show in Pittsburg closed this past May. Damn! I will put COP money down for 2013, as soon as I arrive in St. Louis on April 12.
Stats for COP’s third year, started on August 1, 2011:
229 presentations to Congressional staffers: 14 this week
5 Letter to the Editor: this week
2 Television appearances (Univision): this week
5 Other media (blogs, cable TV, etc): this week
7 radio shows: this week
10 (Member of Congress) contacts: 1 this week
Permanent invitation to Grover Norquist’s Wednesday brunch attended by 140 conservative VIPs.
2 Major conferences attended: Drug Policy Alliance International & the Congressional Black Caucus
Consider being a member of COP at $30.00 or more per year. All contributions are tax-deductible. Law Enforcement’s voice in opposition to current policy is vital on the Hill to achieve a repeal of federal prohibition. COP provides that voice. If you agree that Modern Prohibition/War on Drugs is the most destructive, dysfunctional and immoral policy since slavery & Jim Crow… Go to:
www.CitizensOpposingProhibition.org and click on Donate/Join – by credit card or send a check to:
COP
POB 2902
Washington, DC 20013
If you have questions or comments, please send an email to: howard@citizensopposingprohibition.org
COP total stats in first two years: August 1, 2009 thru July 31, 2011)
649 Presentations to Congressional staffers
22 Appearances on major TV networks
10 published interviews in newspapers
12 interviews and reports in minor media = blogs, cable TV, etc
57 published letters to the editor (value per MAPINC in free publicity: $56,000)
19 brief chats with Members of Congress
13 chats with other elected officials, state reps, senators, etc.
6 major conferences attended (CPAC, LULAC, NRA, etc)
Permanent invitation to Grover Norquist’s Wednesday brunch attended by 140 conservative VIPs.
