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NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA, FEB. 18, 2009 – The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) today honors Brian Kading, executive vice president and general Manager of the Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives (IAEC), with the William F. Matson democracy Award. This annual award recognizes cooperative leadership through political action, political education and participation in the cooperatives’ Action Committee for Rural Electrification (ACRE).
“Now more than ever, the cooperative program depends on effective political communication. Under Brian Kading’s leadership, the Iowa cooperatives have created a model of grassroots advocacy,” said Jack Wolfe, president of the NRECA Board of Directors.
Kading has put his commitment to grassroots political advocacy into action. In 2005, Iowa piloted an advocacy training program through which 6 of the 37 distribution cooperatives received training and conducted concerted grassroots activities. By 2007, all but one of the association’s members were participating and Kading hired a full-time grassroots coordinator whose sole job is to ensure a robust political action network that can be mobilized to advocate on both state and federal issues.
The effectiveness of this network was tested in 2005 when the Administration proposed so-called market rates for the Power Marketing Administration. Kading responded by launching a grassroots letter-writing campaign directed at Budget Committee Chairman Jim Nussle. The Administration’s proposal was quickly shelved.
At the state level in 2008, Iowa’s cooperatives stopped several pieces of legislation. The grassroots network was so successful that any energy legislation signed by the Governor had the support of cooperatives.
Kading has been a driving force for participation in the ACRE program in Iowa. In 2005, the President’s Club had 25 members; four years later, this number has doubled. Iowa now ranks third in the nation with 53 President’s Club members – an impressive number given Iowa’s relatively small size.
Under Kading’s leadership, the Iowa ACRE program has more than doubled its contribution to the federal PAC.
As energy policy takes center stage in Congress, Kading is preparing to mobilize this network again to ensure that cooperative have a strong voice in Washington.
The Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives, formed in 1942, represents the interests of and provides support to the 44 electric cooperatives in Iowa that provide power in each of the state's 99 counties to approximately 650,000 people.
The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association is the national service organization that represents the nation’s more than 900 private, not-for-profit, consumer-owned electric cooperatives, which provide service to 42 million people in 47 states.
More than 9,000 representatives from cooperative electric utilities across the nation are attending the NRECA Annual Meeting, February 15-18, at the New Orleans Convention Center, during which they will set NRECA’s legislative and organizational agenda for 2009. In addition to considering and acting upon policy resolutions, delegates receive reports from NRECA officials, hear addresses by key public figures and business experts, and attend panel sessions on major issues affecting electric cooperatives and their consumer owners.
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