Experience as a lawmaker. You making the decision that he wanted to come to washington and served in congress, you had a successful business in South Carolina. Why was this institution something that interested you . To be honest, it was not. I wanted to stay in South Carolina and had embarked upon a race for the senate and governor and stayed in town fulltime. The more i campaigned, the more people told me that they thought i would be a Better Congress member. Ultimately, my congressman who was running for reelection decided to retire in the middle of reelection in february 2010. After much prayer and a lot of phone calls, i thought the people were right and i switched over to become a congressman. That was the impetus of the switch, the Health Care Law and my desire to see a guy who spent 23 years within the Insurance Industry want to make sure that had the opportunity to make their health cares decisions in the private sector. The impetus is that thinking coming here, one person can
Thrilled to welcome you to the tribune festival. We have a terrific lineup of panelists. First, we need to introduce them. Left is cecile richards. [applause] , she isu do not know president of the planned Parenthood Federation of america and planned parenthood action fund. In 2011, she led the national fight to save federal funding for planned parenthood. [applause] is the speaker for the colorado house of representatives. [applause] she has represented her in central denver since 2010. She was the majority leader for the 2015 and 2016 terms. Recipient of the rising star award. [applause] next we have [applause] [laughter] really, really exciting. He was on the ground at ferguson, missouri. Aroundbeen at protests the country, protesting police violence. In 2015, he joined other advocates and activists and a remarkable effort in a remarkable effort to end police violence. [applause] as is cofounder and executive producer of the invisible project. Before invisible, he worked as an assoc
Richards. [applause] , she isu do not know president of the planned Parenthood Federation of america and planned parenthood action fund. In 2011, she led the national fight to save federal funding for planned parenthood. [applause] is the speaker for the colorado house of representatives. [applause] she has represented her in central denver since 2010. She was the majority leader for the 2015 and 2016 terms. Recipient of the rising star award. [applause] next we have [applause] [laughter] really, really exciting. He was on the ground at ferguson, missouri. Aroundbeen at protests the country, protesting police violence. In 2015, he joined other advocates and activists and a remarkable effort in a remarkable effort to end police violence. [applause] as is cofounder and executive producer of the invisible project. Before invisible, he worked as an associate rector for prosperity now. He served as deputy [applause] we are going to do q a differently this time around. No one is going to com
Country. And as kpix 5 shows us, some of the marchers have stories of painful loss. Reporter they march to bring attention who what organizers call an epidemic of gun violence in the u. S. 33,000 people a year are killed by guns. Reporter and the protesters wore orange tshirts matching the Golden Gate Bridge. Walking through a dense fog this morning. Nothing in my life prepared me for my son being murdered. Reporter many came for deeply personal reasons. But this woman says she wanted to honor her son william who was savagely beaten and shot to death in november. I would say as a mother, you know, hug your kids, and you know, when you see them, and let them know that you love them, because you never know when Something Like this is going to happen. The bay areas antigun rally was one of 500 similar events in cities across the country. And inspired by the sandy hook massacre, and organizers say they are taking aim at common sense legislation that they believe would reduce gun violence.
At 9 a. M. We appreciate you coming out, and we will endeavor to do our part on this panel to make it worth your while. Panel, is tothis provide some best practices, for lobbying congress. We have three amazing organizers leadwho will organizations that focus on effectively lobbying congress, and we have two champions in the caucusses progressive who have committed their careers to organizing and are the best people possible to tell you what works, what does not, and how we basically take this moment of Incredible Energy and turn it into an, longterm progressive organizing. To create tangible wins and victories on capitol hill. So, Everybody Knows how this works, i will do a brief introduction, and each of our panelists will provide a brief introduction or introductory comments about how they see this moment of trouble organizing, and the ways that we can effectively lobby the hill. I will start by saying, we are in an incredible moment of energy and activism. Americans of all politica