Inland Northwest leaders ready for annual lobbying trip to Washington, D.C.

For the 20th year in a row, Greater Spokane Incorporated will send a large delegation of government and business leaders to the nation’s capital next week to lobby for regional economic concerns.

GSI President and CEO Rich Hadley will lead the group of 40, his last such trip before he retires from 20 years of heading the local chamber of commerce.

Each spring’s “fly-in” trip is a hectic three days of visiting congressional leaders, government officials and military commanders, Hadley said.

Hadley said the focus of the annual trip to Washington is different from another annual expedition the chamber organizes to Olympia, with more long-term targets on the agenda.

The D.C. group is also more regional. When the first fly-ins began in the early 1990s, fewer than 15 people went. Hadley and others increased the group to include people from Idaho, Spokane Valley, area universities and Eastern Washington business and nonprofit groups.

The philosophy is to be united in their message and to come back every year, he said. “You have to be there year after year, trying to move the needle on some projects.”

This year’s visit will focus on four initiatives, some of which are repeats.

They include continued expansion of the Fairchild Air Force Base mission; support for regional transportation projects; increased investment to expand Spokane-based medical education; and identification of connections between national initiatives and area programs focusing on the teaching of science, engineering, technology and math.

The first day’s agenda, Wednesday, includes visits to the offices of four senators and three U.S. representatives. That evening the local group hosts a reception for the staffs of the regional elected officials.

On Thursday, the delegates divide into groups to visit the Pentagon and federal Health and Education departments. In the afternoon they visit the White House director of STEM education programs. Later they meet with Victor Mendez, the administrator of the Federal Highway Administration.

That evening, they gather for a dinner hosted by Washington Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers.

On Friday, the group has visits penciled in with Energy Department officials and staff of the Office of Management and Budget.

Then they head to the airport and land in Spokane at midnight on Friday, he said.

“We are pretty much exhausted,” Hadley said.

Hadley hasn’t missed any of the past 20 trips and figures this will be his last.

“I don’t expect to go again as ex-officio member,” he said.