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SAOVA's Second S1139 (PAWS) Communication to the American Kennel Club
Sent June 16, 2005 |
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From: Robert Kane To: Dennis B. Sprung Cc: Dr. Patricia Haines ; jxc@akc.org ; Jim Holt ; Walter F. Goodman ; Steven D. Gladstone, Esq ; Ronald Menaker ; Patti Strand ; pat_scully@bd.com ; Ken Marden ; Honorable David Merriam ; Dr. Thomas M. Davies ; J. Charles Garvin MD ; Dr. Carmen L. Battaglia ; Dr. Asa Mays ; Nina Schaefer Sent: Thursday, June 16, 2005 11:53 AM Subject: AKC's Deal with Sen. Santorum & HSUS - The Real S1139 Blunder Dear Mr. Sprung and AKC Directors: In face to face legislative lobbying, once you've committed to the sponsor of a bill (S1139) to support his measure as introduced, you've also committed to fight all efforts to change it during its deliberation. This prevents any parties to a negotiated deal from using surrogates to break that commitment and attempt to improve their positions. If you later discover you made a really bad deal, the only recourse that you have is either to go back the sponsor (Sen. Santorum) to negotiate language changes, or reverse your position and oppose the bill. Renegotiating necessarily means that HSUS will bring out its unfulfilled wish list, exposing you to more risk. Reversing your position under such circumstances, damages your credibility and stature on the Hill, adversely impacting your future lobbying. You've made a very bad deal, e.g. for cat owners, rescuers, owners of hunting dogs, security dogs, also in sharing registration data with USDA and requiring hobby breeders to meet commercial standards. Competent advocates recognize and avoid such problems before the bill's introduced, or at least address them before it's passed, not during its implementation rulemakings. The USDA has to follow the law as Congress wrote it. I've not heard or read a single indication from the AKC that this bill needs substantial rewriting, let alone burying. You now have two choices. Dance around, blowing smoke trying to confuse your constituents, as Jim Holt's clearly doing, or own up to the blunder and decide how to correct it. The four AKC directors that voted to drop support of S1139 on June 12th know the nature and magnitude of your blunder. They also know the bill's flaws can't be fixed in an agency rulemaking. The other eight either aren't convinced or don't want to acknowledge the situation and take corrective measures. Messrs. Menaker, Sprung, et. al. hope that SAOVA and others will just shut up and go away. That's not going to happen. AKC must reverse itself and oppose S1139. Nothing in this bill is worth the damage that it does. Jim Holt's lost his ability to effectively represent the fancy in Washington. Your personal reputations are on the line at this point. The question now is which of you will meet your fiduciary responsibility and reverse AKC's position on S1139. This bill can not pass. When you're in a hole, the first thing that you need to do is stop digging. Sincerely, Robert J. Kane, President Virginia Hunting Dog Owners' Association http://vhdoa.uplandbirddog.com/ Sportsmen's and Animal Owners' Voting Alliance - Working to identify and elect supportive legislators http://saova.org | |