2009 NFIB Conference

I'm back in my office today after attending yet another amazing NFIB (National Federation for Independant Businesses) conference! They attract some wonderful speakers, even ones that Rich will sit and listen to and still say, wow, he/she was good. About politics, can you believe it?? The conference was in Walla Walla this year, which was a bit of a drive, but since I had a volunteer driver (Rich) we made a little vacation out of it! Because of a wedding Saturday night, we didn't get to do the wine tour, but I hear from people that went that it was great.. and apparently they had some 180 wineries to choose from. Rich and I were shocked, it's hard to find a sweet onion there now! We headed down/over Sunday morning and made it in time to get settled into our room and freshened up for the silent auction social. The leadership committee puts this on every year to raise funds for Washington scholarships. If you have child going to school for business, make sure they apply! It was quite enjoyable to watch Rich rubbing shoulders with the state lawmakers. He and Representative Bruce Dammeier, out of Puyallup, were having a bidding war on a tool belt, and Rich made sure to rub it in when he was the highest bidder. I think those guys like having people like Rich there, they get to stop talking business and just have casual conversations. The actual conference started Monday morning, and like I said, the speakers were outstanding! We were informed of L&I's latest rate hike (even though businesses are having to do so many cut backs) and got the VERY exciting news that BIAW (Building Industray Assoc. of WA) is going to put their efforts toward privitizing the one of only 4 states who let their government have a monopoly on workers comp. YAY! They have many businesses standing behind them in support! We also had great speakers on healthcare, tribal competition (did you know they don't pay into L&I, but they can/do collect it). Here's another little interesting fact that I'm sure you don't know... the University of Washington is requiring this year's incoming freshmen to read President Obama's book, Dreams from My Father. I'll let you stew over that one and come up with an oppinion on your own! Overall, it was super informative, and super inspiring! Here we go grassroots! Let's take back Washington and take back our nation!