WHAT IS GAD?
As the end of 2006 approaches, it’s a good time to take stock of how our government affairs program is doing and to report on what I think are some of the biggest successes we’ve had in the first ten months of our Shared GAD program.
First things first: This is a good time to clear up some of the acronyms associated with what we’re doing:
GAD stands for Government Affairs Director. I work for all of the seven boards of the Metro Denver area to assist in individual and collective government affairs activities, ranging from local issues lobbying, political fundraising, grassroots involvement and public policy awareness.
GMDRA stands for the Greater Metro Denver REALTOR® Associations. This is a name that we came up with to identify the seven associations participating in the Shared GAD program. This is nothing more than a pseudonym for the whole group. It is not an actual organization, board or association. It merely allows us to collectively identify ourselves to all the members of the participating boards as well as elected officials, community organizations and members of the public.
Some of the highlights for this year include:
The establishment of this website for all of our members to use as a source for government affairs information. Here you can find news and updates of local activities, area sign ordinance information, PSF and RSDC fundraising information, links to CAR and NAR legislative activities, and a host of other useful information. This website will continue to grow along with our government affairs program.
The establishment of a local Call-To-Action program and website that will allow us to respond quickly when elected officials need to hear from members. This action center (provided through our vendor Voter Voice) allows us to quickly motivate and mobilize our members when action is needed. If you live or work in a particular elected official’s district that needs to hear from us, you will receive an email directing you to a website that summarizes the issues and makes it easy for you to take action with an email, phone call or fax. The best thing about this program? It’s free of charge to use and specifically matches elected officials with their constituents.
Periodic Government Affairs Updates – These updates are designed to keep you up to date on the most current legislative activity at NAR, CAR and local board levels. As we head into the new year and the start of another legislative session, look for more updates on a weekly basis as things change rapidly at the state Capitol.
Increased public presence- Now that we’ve been active for ten months, we’re able to see that our collective visibility is increasing with external groups such as elected officials, civic groups, chambers of commerce and others. We’ve worked with groups such as the Transit Alliance, Denver Water, and DRCOG in the past few months who all understand that we’re trying to project the image of a unified group of REALTORS®, not just the interests of one particular local association. This will only continue to strengthen us as we become more and more involved with regional issues.
Individual legislative activities have been plentiful. The Shared GAD program also allows for me to act as a local GAD for individual boards and engage in issues important to the members of one specific area. We’ve been involved in issues such as a sign ordinance in Thornton, the proposed Jefferson County Mountain Groundwater Overlay District, possible special tax districts/elections in Aurora, the exploration of Aurora’s formulation as a city and county, Denver’s Demolition Permitting Ordinance, various city’s planning and zoning review procedures, the possible formulation of Highlands Ranch as a city, West Metro Fire Districts pursuit of a bond issue, School District 27-J’s pursuit of a bond and mil increase issue and many other topics. Needless to say, it’s been a busy year!
An extremely successful candidate interview and support process for the November 7th elections. Collectively, the great majority of candidates selected by our local boards won their elections, thereby reinforcing the idea that the issues most important to real estate are important to the public. We select candidates to support based on their support of things such as private property rights, eminent domain, water rights, streamlining of the government process and tax issues. We then work hard to help the candidates we select get elected. We were successful in over 90 percent of the races this year.
Successful PSF fundraising – This past year, each and every local board in the Metro Denver area raised more money than they did the previous year for PSF. Two boards, SMDRA and MMAR raised more money than they ever have!
As you can see, 2006 was a busy year, but there will be much more for us to do in 2007. Many municipalities have spring elections. We will have new PSF goals and many more legislative issues will pop up that will need our attention. I look forward to attacking these tasks with each of you as we continue to maintain a successful government affairs program, protect private property rights and give great service to our members!
Nick Bokone, Shared GAD
Greater Metro Denver REALTOR® Associations