On Monday of this week, I received an invitation from the White House Business Council inviting me to their next briefing and discussion of the President’s economic priorities. The stated agenda is to seek input and perspective from community business leaders across the United States. We will be able to ask questions and offer solutions to Administration officials to help improve policymaking. Past speakers have included Chairman of the National Economic Council Gene Sperling, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers Jason Furman, and Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett.
In registering for the event, they asked which issues are most important to me/my community. Some of the choices included: Immigration reform, regulatory reform, Healthcare/ACA, Education, Infrastructure, Manufacturing, etc.
It turns out that the CEO of my local Chamber of Commerce (Mountain View) nominated my invitation (he’s gone in the past) as I am the current Chair of its Board of Directors. Additionally, I chair my City’s Human Relations Commission and am strongly considering a run for City Council in 2014. He thought this might be a good opportunity for me in terms of my campaign. But I think it will be a good meeting for me because I’m interested in this topic and feel I have something to contribute. After considering it for about 3 seconds, I bought a plane ticket, reserved a room, and am so excited I can’t stand it! I’ve only been to Washington DC once in my life…on the Close Up program when I was in high school. I think it was in 1983. And we didn’t go into the White House. I’m sure with all the holiday decorations, it will be simply beautiful!
If anybody wants to put in the comments serious questions, I’ll cut and paste them into a document and present it at the meeting. This is about business, not government in general. So keep them relevant and germane to the audience I will have.
Wish me luck!