Local leaders attend Interstate 69 caucus in Washington

Submitted  by Mary King

2012 Madisonville-Hopkins County Chamber of Commerce Board Chair Mary Ann King and Past Chair Amy Sanderson attended an I-69 caucus in Washington, D.C. February 27-28. Gerald Cook, executive director of the Madisonville-Hopkins County Economic Development Corp. and Bill Corum, MHCEDC board member, also attended. The event was organized by Congressman Ed Whitfield’s office in collaboration with C-LINK, WKRCA, & Hoosier Voices members. Brad Schneider, president of the Henderson Chamber, worked closely with Congressman Whitfield’s office to create an event to bring together leaders from chambers of commerce, economic development, and other coalitions affected by the progress of I-69.

From left, Mary King, Amy Sanderson,
Congressman Ed Whitfield, and
Brad Schneider. (Photo provided.)

The event began Tuesday morning, February 27, with a meeting at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. We were briefed by Chamber staff on issues affecting businesses from many areas: Political Affairs and Public Policy, Energy/Environment Policy, Healthcare Policy, Transportation Policy, and Small Business Policy. This meeting brought us up to date on ways our U.S. Chamber advocates for the individual chambers throughout the U.S. and their local members.

The group then reconvened at Rayburn House Office Bldg. for a noon meeting and luncheon.  We were welcomed by Congressman Whitfield and also heard from Gov. Steve Beshear, Sen. John Boozman of Arkansas, Jennifer Shepard of Texas’s I-69 Alliance, and Michael Cline and Michael Schopmeyer, both of Indiana. Brad Schneider wrapped things up, speaking on what we can do as interested parties to help the progress on a local, state, and national level. The meeting ended with a brief question & answer session for the speakers. The delegation then split into groups to meet with senators and congressman from the individual districts.

On Wednesday, February 28, we met with Taylor Booth from Congressman Whitfield’s office to wrap up what we hoped to accomplish from this delegation, and to learn what their office would be doing to help. We were advised to stay in contact with our local and state legislators and urge them to keep all 12 of the I-69 related projects in the proposed 6 year road plan. The Kentucky General Assembly will be voting on the road plan soon. We will also continue the working relationship C-LINK has with Hoosier Voices to develop a strategy to promote the establishment of a national I-69 project manager to our state DOT chiefs, and eventually introduce the plan to the Federal Highway Administration.

This was the first I-69 delegation and it came to fruition largely because of the willingness of Congressman Ed Whitfield and his staff in leading the way. They are hoping to make this an annual event, and grow it into an even larger event with delegations and speakers from all 8 states involved from Michigan to Texas.

(See more photos from this trip on our Facebook page.)