At the table or on the menu

March’s mid-month update from the Recreational Aviation Foundation (RAF) included two briefs that jumped out to me. 

RAF Chair John McKenna and Director Tim Riley met with Pennsylvania Congressman Glenn “GT” Thompson in late February at Thompson’s Washington D.C. office. Thompson is the Republican leader of the House Agriculture Committee that oversees the US Forest Service.

McKenna and Riley also met with Jake Donnay, Director of Legislative Affairs for the US Forest Service (USFS), and Angela Coleman, USFS Deputy Chief, as well as other Congressional contacts.

And then, in early March, McKenna, RAF Director Mike Perkins, and RAF Montana Liaison Scott Newpower met with Kent Wellner, a program manager for the US Forest Service Northern Region (Region 1).

“The purpose of the meeting was to continue to build on the working relationship the RAF has with the USFS in Region 1,” according to RAF officials.

RAF officials have enjoyed a nearly 20 year relationship with senior Forest Service policymakers.

So I called John McKenna to ask how many trips he’s made to D.C. on RAF business. 

“Roughly four per year, for about 15 years, so probably 50 to 60 trips,” John relayed off the top of his head. “But I’m just one person. Others also make regular appearances in D.C. In all, probably more than 100 trips for RAF business have been made over the years.”

It is those relationships that have paid the true dividends. When the RAF started traveling to D.C., it was just to be in the room where policy is discussed and hashed out.

The RAF aims to be polite, but persistent. By being in the room, repeatedly, those at the table couldn’t help but ask, “Who are you guys in the orange shirts? What are you here for?”

Those discussions, oftentimes, led to being asked to a seat at the table.

And in the case of the US Forest Service, “the RAF is the go-to organization when it comes to maintaining USFS strips in the backcountry,” noted McKenna referring to a RAF maintenance agreement with USFS.

“You are either at the table or you are on the menu.”

McKenna said the halls of power are filled with lobbyists. Those in power are inundated with lobbyist meetings on a daily basis. And those lobby interests don’t always align with the needs of aviation.

According to OpenSecrets.org, in 2021, more than 12,000 companies hired a lobbyist, including more than 3,700 for the first time. They collectively spent a record $3.7 billion.

For those unfamiliar, the genesis of the idea that became the RAF took place around a firepit where there “was no FBO sign at this spot, no nearby motel, not even the old Buick courtesy car. But there was the smell of pine trees, cowboy coffee, wood smoke, the distant howl of a coyote and the flicker of fire light. They knew these places were special and that someone needed to step up to the plate and defend them.”

That was back in the early 2000s. By December 2003, the RAF had been formed and incorporated as a 501(c)3 non-profit public charity.

Since then, the RAF has grown to more than 9,000 members. And when you make a contribution to the RAF, you receive a handwritten thank you letter. When was the last time you wrote a handwritten…anything…let alone a thank you letter.

That is just how the RAF has always done it. The organization represents the epitome of playing the long game by building real relationships. And real relationships take time.