From a press release:

AMA Holds Successful Introduction to Washington Seminar

PICKERINGTON, Ohio — The American Motorcyclist Association held a successful “Introduction to Washington” seminar in Washington, D.C., March 1-4 that featured some heavy hitters from motorcycling and government.

About 30 participants gathered at the Phoenix Park Hotel to meet and learn from the AMA’s Washington staff as well as other political experts. Besides learning about state and federal issues facing motorcyclists today, participants got tips on building relationships with government-agency officials and on lobbying elected officials.

Ed Moreland, AMA vice president for government relations, led a session, as well as Tom Wyld, vice president for government relations of the Motorcycle Riders Foundation.

Others who took part in seminar panels include Joey Syner, manager of the national motorcycle safety program at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Karl Simon, deputy director of the Assessment and Standards Division at the Federal Environmental Protection Agency, who advises EPA management and others on rulemaking and enforcement issues, and Linc Wehrly, a mechanical engineer who works with Simon at the EPA and is involved in developing rules and evaluating technology.

Joel Blackwell, head of the Issue Management Company, which is a media relations and grassroots lobbying firm, also took part in the seminar, as well as Joshua Penry, staff director of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health.

Seminar participants also put what they learned into practice, lobbying their members of Congress in face-to-face talks on issues ranging from health-insurance discrimination against motorcyclists to the need for comprehensive research into the causes of motorcycle crashes.

“We had a very successful program this year and want to thank the speakers, panelists and participants for making it such a success,” Moreland said.

Meanwhile, members of the Mid-South MILE from Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas made the trip to Washington, D.C., in mid-March to lobby lawmakers to bar health-insurance discrimination against motorcyclists and to support new motorcycle-crash research, bolstering the lobbying efforts of the AMA and Motorcycle Riders Foundation.