Congressional Company Visits Rod Reinertson Director of Automation, Van Meter Industrial President-Elect, Iowa/Nebraska Chapter.

Congressional Company Visits

Rod ReinertsonDirector of Automation, Van Meter Industrial

President-Elect, Iowa/Nebraska Chapter

Agenda:• Who are your Congressmen and Senators?

– How do you contact them?

• Do you know your Congressional districts?– Why is that important?

• What do they know about ESOPs?– What is there position on ESOPs?– Shared capitalism is a significant part of the U.S. economic model

• What do they know about your company?– ESOP History & culture

• How do you get them to visit your company?– What to do when you get them there?

Iowa’s1st District – Bruce Braley, 2nd District – David Loebsack, 3rd District – Leonard Boswell, 4th District - Tom Latham, 5th District – Steve KingNote: Loebsack is also a member of House Education and the Workforce Committee

Go to http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW_by_State.shtml to find yours!

Goto http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm for yours!

Iowa SenatorsChuck Grassley and Tom Harkin

Goto http://www.esopassociation.org/pdfs/Advocacy_Kit.pdf orhttp://www.esopassociation.org/pdfs/Congressional_Visit_Kit.pdf

Other key items:• Find the contact person (Administrator, Scheduler or Aide) of

the Congressman's or Senators office nearest you. – Discuss best time for a visit– Be flexible

• Write a letter• Prepare a one page handout on your company and ESOP• Get employee owners involved

– Queue up employee owners to share stories

• Take pictures• Send out press release announcing the visit• Follow- up letter after visit

– Visit them in DC while at ESOP Annual Conference

VMI’s One page handout

Create an agenda for the visit9-9:30am: Company history9:30-10am: ESOP history and ESOP Communication committee

activities10-10:30am: What employee ownership culture means to us?

Engagement; How that affects our customers and our community.

10:30-11:30am: Tour facility and meet employee owners11:30am - 12:30pm: Lunch and give opportunity to speak on

their position on ESOP and any activity they are aware of in their respective offices and DC in regards to ESOPs.

Note: It may be hard to get this much of their time

Senator Chuck Grassley’s visit to Van Meter Industrial – “The Perfect Tour”

Congressman David Loebsack’s visit to Van Meter Industrial – “The Perfect Tour”

• Finally…Be persistent• If all else fails….visit them!

Thank You,Rod [email protected]