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Tuesday, March 1

A Message from PAC

NASW’s National PACE had a significant role in the November 2004 federal elections. The Illinois Chapter received a grant to hire a field organizer to assist our state PAC in the election efforts for federally endorsed candidates. What you may not realize is the extent of our field organizer’s involvement in the election. For US House races, PACE Trustees authorized contributions totaling $149,500 to 106 candidates, (82 were incumbents and 24 were challengers). On November 2, 2004, 95% of the PACE endorsed House candidates were elected. In the US Senate, PACE Trustees authorized $170,500 to 22 US Senate candidates, (7 were challengers and 15 were incumbents) On November 2, 2004, 93% of the endorsed senate candidates were elected. To read the full report of the National PACE 2004 election activities, visit the NASW National Website http://www.socialworkers.org and log on with you membership privileges to view the entire report.

 The NASW PAC Illinois is now beginning its work in 2005 by asking members who have not served on this committee to serve as committee volunteers.

 The purposes of PAC are:

 1. To help elect candidates to public office who support legislation and policies consistent with the goals of the social work profession and the needs of those who are served by the social work profession in the Illinois Chapter of NASW.

2. To promote NASW legislative policies through political action and/or through support of candidates.

3. To promote political education and full participation in the electoral political process among members of the social work profession.

4. To take such other and further action as may be necessary to accomplish the foregoing.

 If you are interested in volunteering and would like more information, please call Gary Kenzer at the Chapter office, 1.877.962.7945, ext 114.

 We are continuing to identify social workers who have been elected to public office throughout Illinois. Just last month we found one member not previously on our list. If you know a fellow social worker who is an elected public official, please call the office. We will take it from there. If you want to view the list of elected public officials who are social workers, visit the NASW National website and go to the “Members Only” Political Action section.

 In closing, we have just completed the 2004 calendar year of electronic reporting to the Illinois State Board of Elections. NASW PAC Illinois reports all expenditures and income to the state through this new program. If you wish to view our reports from 2004 and earlier, visit the Illinois State Board of Elections website Campaign Disclosure site at: http://www.elections.state.il.us/Cds/pages/CmteSCrit.asp. Our Committee ID is 2674 and our Committee Type is State.