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Dear Friends and Colleagues,
With your strong support and commitment, RheumPAC has grown again for the eighth straight year, allowing us to do even more on your behalf. Not only did we exceed our original goal by raising more than $150,000. More importantly, these donations came from nearly 350 ACR and ARHP members—a new record. We were able to disburse $137,500 to our targeted congressional candidates throughout the country who have or are in a position to further the College’s goals as champions of rheumatology.
This generous support allowed us to facilitate the work of the College through the Government Affairs Committee (GAC), our advocacy team and the numerous ACR and ARHP members who are personally involved in working with our political leaders on many critical issues facing us and our patients. Before I provide you with additional details of our many successes in 2015, remember that 2016 is an even bigger and more important year for the ACR, our profession and rheumatology-related policy issues. It is, therefore, vital that we not rest on our laurels, but continue to expand member participation, as well as our total contributions.
The generous support throughout 2015 came from members of both the ACR and the ARHP. We saw expansion in the members of our Leadership Circle (contributors of $2,000 or more, p. 6 of the report), as well as the rest of the membership. Our average donation was more than $380, with a range of $5.00 to $4,000, showing that each member donated what they could. Not only did we have contributions from every single member of the Board of Directors, the GAC, the Committee on Rheumatologic Care, and the ARHP Executive Committee, but the entire ACR and ARHP leadership strongly supported and assisted in furthering our mission.
Although contributions may go to individuals with whom a member disagrees on a certain issue, this process is about developing relationships & facilitating our ability to influence the agendas in Washington on behalf of our patients & ourselves.
RheumPAC did more than just badger everyone for donations in 2015. We revitalized our branding and showed off the result on the distinctive hats worn throughout the 2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting in San Francisco. We maintained our history of distributing patriotic red, white and blue RheumPAC-branded M&Ms to our contributors. In conjunction with the GAC, we provided a legislative update and hosted a special breakfast for donors at the Annual Meeting. We had 119 donors contribute at the ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting, who were further encouraged through a challenge by 19 rheumatology leaders to match $1–5 for every donation, resulting in more than $6,000 of additional RheumPAC investments.
Although we are clearly focused on the number of dollars raised, the money is just a measure of the membership’s interest in and support of our collective policy needs and goals. The RheumPAC Committee expends great effort in determining which members of Congress will be granted financial support. We are absolutely nonpartisan in our decision making and donate only to those who have supported the goals of the ACR in the past or are in a position to do so in the current Congress. This allows RheumPAC investors to feel secure that our professional policy issues are being supported and advocated. Although contributions may go to individuals with whom a member disagrees on a certain issue, this process is about developing relationships and facilitating our ability to influence the agendas in Washington on behalf of our patients and ourselves. No contribution is made without the robust thought, explanation and discussion of our committed RheumPAC members and ACR advocacy staff.
I assume that everyone else is as tired as I am of the nonstop campaign rhetoric and cannot wait for November so we may have a brief respite from the din of demagoguery. Unfortunately, that does not mean we can be absent from the process and, in fact, emphasizes the need for more of our membership to be involved.
The committee has established goals that, at first blush, may seem unattainable, but I believe they are absolutely possible. We want our percentage of contributors to increase from under 4% of membership to 10% of membership in coming years. Although the amount of each donation is important (and more is obviously better), we are focused on encouraging any level of engagement in RheumPAC by more of our membership.
We plan to create more local opportunities for our members to meet their members of Congress and personally present our donations. This is an underestimated, but exceptional opportunity for each of us to educate, inform and assist our elected officials in understanding the effects of their decisions on our lives, our businesses and the lives of our patients—their constituents.
On behalf of the RheumPAC Committee and the ACR, we thank you for your past support and look forward to working with you to make 2016 our best year yet.
Sincerely,
Harry L. Gewanter, MD, FAAP, FACR
2016-2018 Chair, RheumPAC
Leadership Circle Contributors ($2,000–5,000)
Herbert Baraf, MD, Wheaton, Md.
David Borenstein, MD, Washington, D.C.
Nilsa Cruz, BS, Milwaukee, Wis.
Paul DeMarco, MD, Wheaton, Md.
Max Hamburger, MD, Smithtown, N.Y.
William Harvey, MD, Brookline, Mass.
Edward Herzig, MD, Cincinnati
Joseph Huffstutter, MD, Signal Mountain, Tenn.
James Jenkins, PhD, MPH, Los Angeles
Steven Kimmel, MD, Tamarac, Fla.
Steven Klein, MD, Hagerstown, Md.
Karen Kolba, MD, Pismo Beach, Calif.
Timothy Laing, MD, Ann Arbor, Mich.
Sharad Lakhanpal, MD, Dallas
Jeffrey Lawson, MD, Greenville, S.C.
Gwen Melton, MD, Fayetteville, N.C.
Rodolfo Molina, MD, San Antonio
Meera Oza, MD, Orange Park, Fla.
William Palmer, MD, Omaha, Neb.
Deborah Power, DO, Tucson, Ariz.
Ellison Smith, MD, Asheville, N.C.
William St.Clair, MD, Durham, N.C.
Ananda Walaliyadda, MD, Pocatello, Idaho
Grace Wright, MD, New York
RheumPAC-Supported Candidates
U.S. House of Representatives
Rep. Ami Bera, MD (D-CA-7)—$4,000
Rep. Diane Black, RN (R-TN-6)—$3,000
Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-7)—$2,000
Rep. John Boehner (R-OH-8)—$2,500
Rep. Charles Boustany Jr., MD (R-LA-3)—$1,000
Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX-8)—$3,000
Rep. Michael Burgess, MD (R-TX-26)—$5,000
Rep. Henry Cueller (D-TX-28)—$1,000
Rep. Diana Degette (D-CO-1)—$2,500
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-3)—$2,000
Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI-12)—$2,000
Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC-2)—$4,000
Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA-18)—$3,000
Rep. John Fleming, MD (R-LA-4)—$1,000
Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY-2)—$2,500
Rep. Andy Harris, MD (R-MD-1)—$2,000
Rep. Joe Heck, DO (R-NV-3)—$1,500
Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD-5)—$1,500
Rep. Joe Kennedy (D-MA-4)—$2,000
Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI-3)—$3,000
Raja Krishnamoorthi, Candidate for Congress (D-IL-8)—$1,000
Rep. Sander Levin (D-MI-9)—$2,000
Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY-17)—$3,000
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA-23)—$1,500
Rep. Jim McDermott, MD (D-WA-7)—$3,000
Rep. David McKinley (R-WV-1)—$5,000
Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ-6)—$4,000
Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-MN-3)—$1,000
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA-12)—$2,500
Rep. Joe Pitts (R-PA-16)—$1,000
Rep. Tom Price, MD (R-GA-6)—$5,000
Rep. Harold Rogers (R-KY-5)—$1,500
Rep. Raul Ruiz, MD (D-CA-36)—$2,000
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI-1)—$3,000
Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA-1)—$1,500
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL-9)—$1,500
Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX-32)—$2,500
Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI-6)—$4,000
Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD-8)—$2,000
U.S. Senate
Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO)—$5,000
Sen. John Boozman (R-AR)—$3,000
Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC)—$5,000
Sen. Mike Crapo (R-UT)—$2,000
Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA)—$4,000
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI)—$2,500
Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL)—$2,000
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)—$2,000
Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA)—$5,000
Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH)—$1,000
Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS)—$2,000
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)—$4,000
Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC)—$2,000
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR)—$2,000
State Candidates
Assemblyman David Chiu, California State House (D-17)—$500
Total Disbursements
$137,500
Harry L. Gewanter, MD, FAAP, FACR, is a clinical associate professor of pediatrics at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine in Richmond, Va. He is the recipient of the 2013 Paulding Phelps Award from the American College of Rheumatology and the current chair of the ACR RheumPAC Committee.
