REALTORS ASSOCIATION OF NORTHWESTERN WISCONSIN THE GAD REPORT VOLUME 8, ISSUE 8 NOVEMBER, 2015 RPAC FUNDRAISING RECORD ANNOUNCED The second annual RPAC Appreciation lunch was held on November 3rd at Florian Gardens in Eau Claire. Congratulation to John Flor, Paul Canfield and Pete Wiese who were names to WRA s RPAC Hall of Fame for lifetime RPAC investments exceeding $10,000 This year s RPAC fundraising campaign has been one for the record books, as RANWW has smashed its all time fundraising record and is on track to exceed $40,000 in RPAC investments this year. Our guest speakers were Lindsay Shuba, Regional Political Representative for NAR. Lindsay highlighted the current state of Congress, and the outlook for the 2016 election cycle. Shuba also touched on one of the battleground Senate races next year pitting incumbent Ron Johnson against former Senator Russ Feingold. Kit Hale, owner and principal broker from MKB REALTORS in Roanoke, Virginia and REALTOR Party Liaison, addressed the group about his experience as a broker and the importance of investing in RPAC and answering the calls to action from NAR when they occur. Do You Have The App? www.realtoractioncenter.com /realtor-party/get-involved/ mobile-app-1.html Available for iphone and Droid platforms RPAC FUNDRAISING SMASHES RECORD 1 BUILDER CONFIDENCE AT 10-YEAR HIGH According to the National Association of Home Builders, optimism about home construction has hit a ten year high. Builders are seeing an uptick in new construction, and in some areas, a shortage of trained construction workers to meet the demand. That demand has been building up across the country with solid new home starts in all areas, and a huge increase in the construction of apartments and condos. Every new home that is constructed accounts for three jobs for a year and over $90,000 in tax revenue. With the existing home inventory continuing to fall, new construction will be needed to keep up with demand. BUILDER CONFIDENCE AT 10-YEAR HIGH DOWNTOWN CHIPPEWA FALLS DEVELOPMENT WASHBURN BOARD STAYS AT 21 RPAC AUCTION AN- NOUNCED HAYWARD SCHOOL REF- ERENDUM YOU CAN WIN AN IWATCH 1 2 2 3 3 5
PAGE 2 THE GAD REPORT NEW HOTEL, PARK HIGHLIGHT CHIPPEWA FALLS DOWNTOWN Plans are underway to develop parkland in the downtown area, and a new Staybridge Suites hotel will be constructed on the former Plaza building site in downtown Chippewa Falls. With downtowns such as Eau Claire, Menomonie and Cumberland undergoing facelifts, repurposing old buildings and building new inventories, Chippewa Falls leaders are adopting the same ideals. Refurbish old facilities, build new buildings as needed, and give residents and visitors a reason to be in the downtown area. In downtown Chippewa Falls, business is up by double digits, and its not just the downtown area that is seeing a resurgence. Both shopping malls on the city s south side are seeing renewed interest, with Gordy s returning a grocery store, and other stores moving in. The Staybridge will be a 45 room hotel, with parking adjacent to the hotel, and parkland that will be developed over the next year or two, that will include picnic areas, bike and walking trails, benches and will encourage more foot and bike traffic into the downtown area. Officials say that a number of businesses are interested in moving into the downtown area in the coming months. KIRK BANGSTAD DROPS 7TH CD BID RANWW HAS THE HIGHEST PER CAPITA PARTICIPATION IN THE LARGE DONOR COUNCIL IN WISCONSIN! Kirk Bangstad announced his bid for the 7th Congressional seat held by Sean Duffy in July. Three months later, Bangstad ending his bid for Congress by withdrawing his candidacy. His decision came after meetings with leadership of the Democratic party who told Bangstad that the amount of money raised did not make him a candidate that, in their opinion, would be able to mount an effective campaign against the veteran Duffy, who currently has $900,000 in his war chest, and currently has no opponent. The problem with the 7th Congressional district is the vastness of the district. The 7th covers nearly a third of Wisconsin and includes media markets in Eau Claire, Twin Cities (to reach far western Wisconsin), Duluth and Wausau/Rhinelander. With the election a year away, there is still time for someone to step forward. Whoever does will need to raise money, and a lot of it in a hurry, in order to be competitive. WASHBURN COUNTY BOARD STAYS AT 21 A number of supervisors on the Washburn County Board want to shrink the number of representatives from 21 to 15, similar to what Chippewa and other counties around Wisconsin have done in recent years. Concerns over whether the new districts would favor urban districts over rural dis- tricts, and with fewer representatives, would come more work by all elected officials on standing committees. A number of residents spoke against the plan, along with representatives from townships and other municipalities. The board then voted 11 to 9 to retain their 21 board seats.
VOLUME 8, ISSUE 8 PAGE 3 RPAC AUCTION ANNOUNCED BY BEAU KRUEGER, GAD INTERN It is my mission while interning at RANWW to put the FUN back in FUNdraising and to establish an event that can be something of tradition for the association for years to come. So it is my pleasure to announce the First Annual RANWW RPAC Auction! The event will take place on February 25th at 5:30 pm at Horizons in Chippewa Falls so mark your calendars now. The fee is only $10 which will go towards your 2016 investment total. The event will start with an hour of social time with hot and cold hors d'oeuvres being served. A full bar will be at your disposal for the entirety of the event as well. At 6:30, the auction will begin and will conclude when all the items have been bought. Jerry Andrews of Andrews Auction Service has been generous enough to be the auctioneer of the event at no cost. All the proceeds from the auction will go directly to RPAC. If you would like more information on donating an item or becoming a sponsor to the auction, feel free to contact me at 715-835 -0923 or at GADIntern@ranww.org. I challenge each of you to donate an item to benefit RPAC as well as making the inception of this annual event a victory and paving the way for future auction success! Keep your eyes peeled for more information to come!!! HAYWARD SCHOOL REFERENDUM PLANNED The Hayward School District voted 7 to 0 to go to a referendum on February 16th to exceed revenue caps each year for programs and services. The districts plan includes exceeding the cap by $2,970,000 for these purposes. The second question will asak to exceed cap by $1,410,000 from 2018 to 2022 for purposes that in- clude technology upgrades, facility upgrades and building maintenance. The district will hold informational meetings after the first of the year to discuss with taxpayers what specifics the dollars will be used for and the necessity the district faces to exceed caps. Discussion will also be held on the ramifications should one or both questions fail Adding to the importance of the referendum is state legislative action that could be in place by February that would restrict a school districts ability to go to referendum on the same question for a period of two years. DON T FORGET RPAC IN YOUR DUES BILLING The only thing to remember is that RPAC investments must be made by personal check or personal credit cards only (no corporate, LLC checks or credit cards accepted!). If your finances can support stepping up to become a member of the Large Donor Council, you d join a record number of participants from our Association. The minimum investment is $1000, with $700 going to Direct Giver, which is your to invest, and $300 going to RPAC, which is invested by trustees. 30% of your $300 RPAC investment comes right back to the Association for use in our PAC account, where decisions are made by a group of seven of your peers. The same can be said for your $35 dues billing. We receive 30% of your $35 investment, so it is vital that you do not scratch that investment opportunity. Have questions? Contact Bruce at the board office. RANWW HAS SMASHED IT S PREVIOUS RECORD WITH 31 LARGE DONOR COUNCIL MEMBERS! THANK YOU!!!
Win an iwatch and be part of the network. NAR will send you short text messages when you need to take action on important real estate issues. You'll receive usually three to five texts per year. All REALTORS who sign up for NAR s mobile alerts now through December 2015 will be eligible to win a new iwatch. For more information, contact Joe Murray at jmurray@wra.org. Text word network to 30644
REALTORS ASSOCIATION OF NORTHWESTERN WISCONSIN 1903 Keith Street Suite #3 Eau Claire, WI 54701 Phone: 715-828-1976 home office/text Phone: 715-835-0923 board office E-mail: bruce@ranww.org Bruce King Government Affairs Director WWW. R A N W W. O RG The REALTORS Association of Northwestern Wisconsin is the largest association in terms of area, stretching from Lake Pepin to the south all the way to Cable in Bayfield County to the north. We are the fourth largest of the 23 associations in terms of membership. Your Association covers 270 units of local government, monitoring a wide variety of issues that can and do affect you. In addition to local government, your GAD also monitor issues at the state and national level that will have a direct or indirect impact on housing and the industry, as well as legislation that can affect the consumer. Your Government Affairs Director works with members and affiliates to raise investment dollars for RPAC that help to support elected officials that support your business. RANWW is one of only three REALTOR Association s in Wisconsin that have their own PAC, which was started 36 years ago to support candidates at the local and state level. We have added a Facebook page, called The GADabouts, that aims to keep you up to date on political issues that will affect your business. Your GAD also produces a periodic government affairs program posted on our YouTube channel, RANWWTV!! "WE ARE THE TRUSTED VOICE IN REAL ESTATE, UNITED IN PROVIDING VALUE TO THE MEMBERS AND COMMUNITIES WE SERVE. MY THOUGHTS BY BRUCE KING With 2015 coming to a close soon, we will be able to take a look back at the year that was, see what worked, what could be done better, and areas we can better serve our members and affiliates. One area that we are excelling at is RPAC. In late October, I was pleased to announce that our Association had met its $28,000 RPAC goal. Shortly after that, we hit second place all time with $29,520 raised (we have not hit that number since 2005). After that, we eclipsed the $30,000 mark. The announcement I was able to make before Hallow- een has been one I ve waited for eleven years to make. Our Association broke our all-time RPAC fundraising record of $31,879 set in 2004 with 1204 members back then. While those numbers are impressive, there are a few more that rival the impressive dollar total. RANWW is, as of this writing, first in per capita of participants in dues billing and Direct Giver. RANWW is first in per capita of Large Donor Council members. RANWW accounts for 15.5% of the total number of Large Donor Council members in Wisconsin (200)...only South Central has a higher percentage (16%). RANWW is one of two out of 21 Associations in Wisconsin with 30 or more LDCs (RANWW has 31, South Central has 32). RANWW, thru the investments of our members and affiliates, are currently pacing to reach $40,000 this year in total RPAC investments. Thank You!!!!!!