Paul D. Reid SIGMA President

Spring has sprung across the land and it is time for all marketers to spring into action to attend our Legislative Conference in Washington DC July 15–16. I know, visiting Washington is not on anyone’s top ten list in July—especially when it involves lobbying on the Hill. However, the reality is that mid July is more often than not an optimal time to be sitting down with our Congressional Representatives face to face.

Legislative issues brew from the start of a year and work their way through the various committee processes in the winter and spring—then they are tee’d up for general consideration in the summer. Our paid lobbyists at Steptoe and Johnson rely on our active participation and involvement. Grassroots lobbying at our Summer Legislative Conference and throughout the year through SIGMA’s Grasstops legislative relationship building process are essential elements of SIGMA’s government relations strategy. Simply paying our lobbyists and contributing to our Representatives, while necessary elements of our strategy, are not sufficient and do not get the job done.

Our recent Government Relations (GR) success with the FDA issue, wherein SIGMA members played a key role, is only accomplished with a strong GR foundation. This foundation builds one relationship, one lobbying visit, one
SIGMAPAC contribution at a time. I urge you in the strongest possible terms to consider participating at our Summer Legislative Conference. Thank you and I hope to see you there.

While it is not too late to be in Washington, it is too late to attend our Australia study tour. For those that missed this great tour, here are a few highlights. We learned about the structure of the Australian motor fuel market and the position of the independent marketer in Australia. There is a much more extensive use of joint ventures in Australia between major suppliers and marketers than here at home. The U.S. is much further along in its development of a renewable fuels infrastructure and the marketing of renewable fuels. Australia has an amazingly dynamic economy enjoying consistent GDP growth for the past fifteen years with strong prospects looking forward. Australia is a resource rich country with a well-educated workforce—we were impressed with everyone we met
in different organizations from top to bottom.

We also learned a bit about Australia’s role as a key U.S. ally in our global security commitments. Our group had many wonderful business, cultural, social, recreational and fellowship activities—memories that will last a lifetime.

We hope to see you on SIGMA’s next tour being investigated for 2010. Let us know if you have any ideas and watch for news early next year. As we look forward to the summer season (and we certainly do here in the Buffalo area), I wish all safe travel and fun times with their friends and families.