Inside the Handmade Toy Alliance
Published June 13, 2009 @ 12:10AM PT
We had an HTA board meeting today. It took place not in a board room but via conference call using a free web-based service that usually works well enough but today was causing our voices to echo like we were inside a grain silo. All of us, from Oregon to Massachusetts, were taking time from our families and our businesses to organize our thoughts. One of us was sick with the flu, another had just recovered. At one point we all waited while a child was tended to.
None of us are professional lobbyists or political insiders. We're just small business owners caught in a net that was supposed to catch bigger fish. When Shakespeare wrote "Neither a borrower nor a lender be", he might also have added, "nor be an unintended consequence." The problem with being a side effect, with being the baby that got thrown out with the bath water, is that no one wants to admit they were wrong and fix the problem, least of all powerful House committee chairs or the New York Times.
What sustains and fuels us, I think, is our respect and admiration for each other--not just on the board, but all of the members of the Handmade Toy Alliance. We are people in an untenable situation who banded together and formed a community. Not a corporation, not a special interest group, but a community. We've all taken considerable time and energy away from the businesses that sustain us in order to fight an unfair law. Working together, we've gotten the attention of folks who didn't know we existed a year ago. Working together, we've replaced our individual feelings of despair with action, support, and shared struggle.
Now we just need a few brave lawmakers to stand up for us and amend the CPSIA.
Comments
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Dan Marshall
- Saint Paul, MN
I am a small business owner in Colorado. I didn't see any state representatives for Colorado such as Ken Salazar. Any ideas on Colorado connections?
Posted by Ann Jenkins on 06/17/2009 @ 08:11AM PT
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The key Senators on this issue are on the Commerce Committee, which does not have a Senator from Colorado. See http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=About.Members to view the entire list. Many HTA members have been asking their Senators who aren't on the committee to share their concerns with those who are, especially Senators Rockefeller, Klobuchar, and Pryor.
In the House, there is Colorado representation from Diana DeGette, who sits on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. See http://energycommerce.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=160&Itemid=61.
Please take a look at www.handmadetoyalliance.org/Home/our-proposal-to-modify-the-cpsia for the HTA's complete set of proposals for fixing the CPSIA. You can share these directly with your representatives. Thanks!
Posted by Dan Marshall on 06/18/2009 @ 08:43PM PT
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