Building Relationships through Cap-to-Cap

By the time you read this, some 300 Sacramentans, including six representatives from SAR, will have returned from the Metro Chamber’s Cap-to-Cap trip to Washington DC.

The annual Cap-to-Cap program brings the region’s business, labor and government leaders together to build consensus for important regional priorities. Volunteers working on 13 teams will bring the region’s top issues to our nation’s leaders via 90 issue papers and more than 230 appointments with elected leaders, the Obama administration and other agency officials. Cap-to-Cap is the largest local chamber of commerce program of its kind in the nation.

I have a special regard for this effort. In 1943, in the middle of WWII, my father, Otto Rohwer, who was then the president of the Chamber of Commerce, went to Washington DC as part of a regional delegation to lobby Congress – not for more defense contracts – but for appropriations to build the Folsom Dam. Sixty-seven years later, I am serving on the Flood Protection team.

On the Flood Protection team, we worked for 200-year flood protection. Funding is not the only issue; we worked to educate federal agencies on how outdated regulations and policies stand in the way of flood protection and improving regional water supply.

The other Members of our delegation this year were Doug Covill, President-elect; Kathy Fox, Secretary- Treasurer; Nelson Janes, Executive Vice President; Caylyn Brown, Government Affairs Director, and Eric Rasmusson, Government Affairs Consultant. We spread out through the halls of Congress and numerous government agencies, bringing Sacramento’s message.

Nelson has served for several years on the Workforce Development and Education Team. That team focused on how to make sure we have the workforce to serve the growing clean/green segment of our area’s economy.

Although every Member of the SAR delegation served on an issues team, the real value of the trip comes from the relationships we are able to build. Cap-to-Cap provides an excellent opportunity for casual conversation with many of the elected and appointed officials we need to maintain good relations with. We also touch base with business representatives, such as those from SMUD and PG&E, we need to work with to carry out SAR’s goals.