Help with legislative efforts at state and federal levels of goverment

I have the privilege of serving as the legislative chairman for the American Legion Auxiliary this year. I started out the year apprehensive of the job ahead of me, but I have changed my mind.

As with every program chairmanship I have had, I have learned so much. There is always someone there to answer our questions, no matter what program and I thank them.

Earlier this year, I provided our members with information on how they can help. There are a few websites that you can visit and sign up for notifications. Some of these notifications include a way to send a “support this bill” notice to each of your personal representatives.

Remember that the American Legion is non-political. Even if your representative is not from your personal party, they still represent you — they should still listen to your opinions.

www.legion-aux.org/Member/Guides/Advocacy-Guide has a downloadable copy of the Auxiliary’s Legislative Advocacy Guide.

www.legion.org/publications/223496/legislative-handbook has a downloadable copy of the Legion Family Legislative Handbook

www.votervoice.net/AmericanLegion/Register is where you can sign up to receive American Legion legislative alerts when Family members are asked to act.

mnlegion.org/action/ is there you can tell our state lawmakers about issues we need passed in Minnesota, such as reducing taxes on charitable gambling and providing tax relief for post homes.

The Auxiliary’s program chairman is invited to attend the Commanders’ Task Force, which is made up of eight congressionally chartered veteran organizations in Minnesota.

I attended a retreat with this group last fall at Camp Ripley. There was a conversation over supper that will always stay with me. It was a chat between members from three of the member organizations: American Legion, VFW and Paralyzed Veterans of America.

There was friendly joking about which branch of the military was the best and which veteran organization was the best. There was a short silence, and the CTF chairman at the time spoke up. He told us that no matter the branch or the organization, this group was together for one reason — to help our veterans.

This group meets monthly. Their main goal is to support bills coming before our legislators that will benefit our veterans. They bring in speakers to talk about the benefits. The MDVA tells us about the benefits they provide to our veterans. I am not going to list the issues here because I am hoping that you read all of them in the last issue of the Legionnaire. They benefit our veterans and that is our goal.

You also can find them listed at mnlegion.org/legislation. You even can download PDFs.

Veterans on the Hill is an upcoming CTF event that the DAV coordinates, and I hope many of you will consider attending. It is set for April 9, barring any changes.

I attended last year for the first time, and it was so impressive to see our veterans and their supporters walk as a group from the Armory to the Veteran Service Building to the Capitol. There, we met in the Rotunda to hear from our representatives and Gov. Tim Walz.

It is a time for us to let our voices be heard.

I know we have citizens that say that their vote doesn’t count, so they don’t bother going to the polls in November. We think about our Minnesota veterans as voters, but then think about their spouses, children, grandchildren and siblings — all voters. That isn’t even mentioning friends and neighbors. We are a group to reckon with. Please take an interest and remember to vote every November.