Yesterday Pennsylvania ONE members Reverend Dan Donmoyer, PA Regional Field Organizer Brian Sweeney, and myself, met with Mr. Zach Border from Senator Arlen Specter’s Harrisburg office for a conference call with one of the Senator’s legislative correspondents, Mr. Will Wagner. The meeting was difficult to arrange because of the demanding schedule currently confronting the Senator’s staff, but after half a dozen emails and a few phone calls between myself and both the Harrisburg and Washington offices, we were successful in securing a date. I remembered something that former Representative Jim Kolbe of Arizona told us at the Power 100 Summit in February. He told us to remember that respectful persistence is the way to be heard by legislators, that often the first attempt at communication can be overlooked.

This time it took us six attempts, but we finally succeeded, and I am pleased to say our meeting went well. Senator Specter has been a strong supporter of ONE’s legislative priorities and we made sure to reinforce that his constituents appreciate his leadership and support. We asked Senator Specter’s staff to please urge the Senator to support the President’s request for an increase in the International Affairs Budget, to please consider co-sponsoring the Lugar-Casey Global Food Security Act, and to please be a vocal leader for ONE’s issues among his colleagues in the Senate. The staff was very receptive to our ideas and Mr. Wagner informed us that he was optimistic the President’s foreign aid requests would be met.

Finally, we thanked Senator Specter’s staff for taking time out of their schedule to hear our concerns and let them know that we would be following up on our requests later in the month.

-Matt Schaeffer, PA ONE Member