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View Full Version : Quick Call for Help! -- CPA Association meet n greet




GunnyFreedom
08-25-2010, 09:48 AM
I'm leaving to talk to the North Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants in 3.5 hours, and I have no idea what to tell them about my platform, other than the standard generic stump. All I can think of is that reducing personal and business taxation, and reducing regulatory burdens on people and companies, would seemingly reduce their relevancy, so I do not know what I should be talking to them about.

Does anybody have any insight on how to explain the benefits of the Ron Paul platform to an association of CPA's?

I hate it, but I was hoping to come up with something on my own, so this is pretty short notice. I need a little insight ASAP so I can fold it into my presentation.

Thanks!

Imperial
08-25-2010, 09:56 AM
You could talk about how accountants are in a situation where they can particularly see the massive burdens of the regulatory system in the status quo upon individual taxpayers.

I wouldn't worry too much about "reducing their relevancy". You will never be able to destroy enough of government to make a CPA irrelevant, and even without govt cpa's can still provide useful services for private clients. Besides, don't make the mistake of thinking that their membership in this organization overrides all else- they are still individual humans, and they understand the problems we all face just like any other taxpayer.

GunnyFreedom
08-25-2010, 09:59 AM
You could talk about how accountants are in a situation where they can particularly see the massive burdens of the regulatory system in the status quo upon individual taxpayers.

I wouldn't worry too much about "reducing their relevancy". You will never be able to destroy enough of government to make a CPA irrelevant, and even without govt cpa's can still provide useful services for private clients. Besides, don't make the mistake of thinking that their membership in this organization overrides all else- they are still individual humans, and they understand the problems we all face just like any other taxpayer.

Thanks! So one approach will be that "You fine proffesionals, more than almost anybody else, can see for yourselves these huge burdens that the government is putting on our small businesses and how much money they have to spend to comply with them. Once we ease those burdens, those companies will have more funds to hire employees, expand their businesses, and will need your services even more for private audits."

Cool, that helps! :cool:

LibertyMage
08-25-2010, 10:03 AM
Lets think politics:

What are the interests of CPAs? There is going to be a certain degree of feeling them out. I would be reluctant to attempt to pitch the whole platform. Stick with what they are interested in and focus on that. My bet would be business regulation. Liability and ethics laws are going to be important to CPAs. After a brief view of some resources, regulation and liability seem to be issues that are reinforced over and over.

GunnyFreedom
08-25-2010, 10:10 AM
Lets think politics:

What are the interests of CPAs? There is going to be a certain degree of feeling them out. I would be reluctant to attempt to pitch the whole platform. Stick with what they are interested in and focus on that. My bet would be business regulation. Liability and ethics laws are going to be important to CPAs. After a brief view of some resources, regulation and liability seem to be issues that are reinforced over and over.

"Unless you are very careful, a CPA can sometimes be held liable for the mistakes of their clients. Obviously that ought not to be. We need to reform liability laws and bring something like attorney-client-privilege to the accounting realm, and fix the blame for misconduct onto the party where it rightfully belongs, so you are free to conduct business as would best serve your clients."

:cool:

Cowlesy
08-25-2010, 10:18 AM
I might approach these people from a business standpoint. Explain how you want to support initiatives to bring jobs to the region, and ask them from their standpoint as business people what they'd like to see happen in respect to legislative action to foster job growth.

This way you state your goal is grow jobs, you don't act like you have all the answers, and you make them feel good in that you are asking for their help so they have a vested interest in your plans (and maybe to help you get elected).

You can also use this model to ask what parts of the regulatory environment they observe as being particularly troublesome for their business clients, and what may be done to reduce regulation to help businesses survive.

Beyond that, like Imperial said, the standard issues you already know well will play to them I'd assume.

A strong fiscal house is probably in their best interest, and usually politicians don't think about fiscal responsibility, so you'll be a breathe of fresh air.

GunnyFreedom
08-25-2010, 10:33 AM
I might approach these people from a business standpoint. Explain how you want to support initiatives to bring jobs to the region, and ask them from their standpoint as business people what they'd like to see happen in respect to legislative action to foster job growth.

This way you state your goal is grow jobs, you don't act like you have all the answers, and you make them feel good in that you are asking for their help so they have a vested interest in your plans (and maybe to help you get elected).

You can also use this model to ask what parts of the regulatory environment they observe as being particularly troublesome for their business clients, and what may be done to reduce regulation to help businesses survive.

Beyond that, like Imperial said, the standard issues you already know well will play to them I'd assume.

A strong fiscal house is probably in their best interest, and usually politicians don't think about fiscal responsibility, so you'll be a breathe of fresh air.


By reducing the onerous tax and regulatory burdens on North Carolina businesses, it will provide companies with more money to expand and hire. By bringing more jobs to the State, I believe there will be even more of a need for CPA's in North Carolina. But more than anything else, I'd like to hear from you -- as the men and women on the street where the rubber meets the road, you have a far better appreciation for which regulations are most troublesome for your clients, and what sorts of reforms need to be enacted to ensure the survivability and the success of yourselves and your clients.

It is time to put our State's financial house in order, and I hope to rely on the North Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants to help me restore fiscal responsibility to our government.

:cool:

GunnyFreedom
08-25-2010, 10:41 AM
OK here is what I've got then:


Good evening, my name is Glen Bradley, and I am running for North Carolina State House in District 49, in Franklin County, and parts of Nash and Halifax Counties. I want to thank you for the opportunity to address you tonight, and I am hoping that we can form a mutually beneficial relationship that will help move all of us forward in the great State of North Carolina.

You fine proffesionals, more than almost anybody else, can see for yourselves these huge burdens that the government is putting on our small businesses and how much money they have to spend to comply with them. Once we ease those burdens, those companies will have more funds to hire employees, expand their businesses, and will need your services even more for private audits.

Unless you are very careful, a CPA can sometimes be held liable for the mistakes of their clients. Obviously that ought not to be. We need to reform liability laws and bring something like attorney-client-privilege to the accounting realm, and fix the blame for misconduct onto the party where it rightfully belongs, so you are free to conduct business as would best serve your clients.

By reducing the onerous tax and regulatory burdens on North Carolina businesses, it will provide companies with more money to expand and hire. By bringing more jobs to the State, I believe there will be even more of a need for CPA's in North Carolina. But more than anything else, I'd like to hear from you -- as the men and women on the street where the rubber meets the road, you have a far better appreciation for which regulations are most troublesome for your clients, and what sorts of reforms need to be enacted to ensure the survivability and the success of yourselves and your clients.

It is time to put our State's financial house in order, and I hope to rely on the North Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants to help me restore fiscal responsibility to our government.

My name is Glen Bradley, I am running for State House on the Republican ticket for November, and according to a recent poll from North carolina's own Public Policy Polling, I am currently 8 points ahead of the incumbent John May. I greatly appreciate any help and advice which you have to offer, and I thank you for your time!

PS -- I JUST noticed from the invite that the NCACPA is "a registered lobbyist principal." So this could very well mean campaign funds this year. Nevertheless, after 2 years of demonstrating that I will stick to principles and not cotton to lobbyist buyouts, I suspect it will not recur in 2012.

jacque
08-25-2010, 10:43 AM
Go get em! Sounds good to me.

GunnyFreedom
08-25-2010, 11:08 AM
Thanks everyone! I've got someone else to drive, so I'll have an hour and a half to memorize that. :D

GunnyFreedom
08-25-2010, 07:25 PM
WOW! I don't know if I'll be getting any money from the NCACPA PAC as of yet, but apparently the event went over like gangbusters. Of all the candidated to appear, I was the only one with a targetted message, and that seemed to blow folks away. I'm going to try and get video up soon, but it's just iPhone video so no promises on quality or audio....

jacque
08-25-2010, 07:29 PM
Sorry I missed this one!:rolleyes:

MontanaRose
08-25-2010, 07:32 PM
I went to the CPA meeting with Gunny tonight, a lot of the attending candidates came up to me after the speeches and asked me about myself I informed them I was there for Glen (Gunny) to help with his campaign. There was about 6 or 7 of the other people their also said the Glens speech was the only one that actually said anything.

I am sure he will give more details.

oyarde
08-25-2010, 07:36 PM
Job creation being key . The more people who are producing , the more the cpa services are needed.

Mr.Magnanimous
08-25-2010, 07:37 PM
I patiently await the video...

GunnyFreedom
08-25-2010, 07:39 PM
Job creation being key . The more people who are producing , the more the cpa services are needed.

Agree -- The video turned out not bad, but once I cropped in to it, it came out a bit shaky so I am running the video through image stabilization. I should have video up in an hour or so from YouTube I hope. It is iPhone video zoomed and cropped way in, so it's a little out of focus...

jacque
08-25-2010, 08:00 PM
Did you pass out a ton of donation envelopes and bumperstickers?

GunnyFreedom
08-25-2010, 08:17 PM
Did you pass out a ton of donation envelopes and bumperstickers?

I wish, there wasn't much of an opportunity for handouts, sad to say. But this event was the prelude to some kind of PAC thing. So I may end up getting a little PAC money from this but I do not actually know.

Rose says that one of the Democrat House members present took a donor envelope from our handouts bag, so I dunno.

PS -- did you see that my signs came in? :D

Hoping the video is done very soon....

jacque
08-25-2010, 08:22 PM
No. Did you send me an email about the signs? How do they look!

GunnyFreedom
08-25-2010, 08:27 PM
No. Did you send me an email about the signs? How do they look!

No, checked on iChat to go video and you weren't on -- see this thread:

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=258432

GunnyFreedom
08-25-2010, 08:53 PM
3min left on upload then however long YouTube takes to make it available...

GunnyFreedom
08-25-2010, 09:02 PM
Video is here!

YouTube - NC Association of CPA's Meet & Greet (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McFB1LbWDTw)

GunnyFreedom
08-25-2010, 09:37 PM
video bump :D

LibertyMage
08-26-2010, 12:49 AM
Cool, calm, collected, consistent, concise, confident - that was about as close to perfect as you could have made a speech.

You hit all the free market points without getting philosophical. You connected with them on the issues important to them. You left the door open to hearing their concerns. You even got a laugh from the crowd. Couldn't have done it better myself. Good work!

teacherone
08-26-2010, 05:38 AM
Wow!!!http://www.tweak3d.net/forums/imagehosting/12254a885fadccc3b.gif

Your speaking skills are getting to be top-notch.

You got the makings of a pro here:-- the joke at the end, the info about the poll,the repetition of your name, your website address, PLUS the targeted speech.

Great job.