PAC creation yields credibility – a needed dynamic in cutthroat DC
In another milestone for the Association of Independent Mortgage Experts (AIME), the trade association this week launched a political action committee to amplify the collective voice of independent brokers on an “unprecedented scale,” officials said.
AIME CEO Katie Sweeney (pictured) took time for an interview with Mortgage Professional America to provide further insight into the move. Development of the PAC comes on the heels of AIME’s hiring of a lobbying firm, Forbes Tate Partners, earlier this year as another tactic in amplifying the brokers’ voice toward safeguarding its interests.
“It’s been in the works for quite some time,” she said of the Broker Action Coalition Political Action Committee (BACPAC) formation. “It’s been fun to see it all come to fruition and have an even more successful launch than we had hoped for.”
Post-celebration, she described the importance of having a PAC to represent the interests of its more than 65,000 members scattered across all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Sweeney noted how crucial it is for the wholesale channel’s voice to be heard at the highest levels of government. To that end, the BACPAC represents a “massive step” toward securing and bolstering the industry’s presence on Capitol Hill, she said.
Read more: AIME secures lobbying firm services to broaden its voice
“The way that we’re approaching our advocacy initiative has really stepped up this year,” she said during a telephone interview. “We believe that there are a handful of things that are necessary to make sure we’re well rounded in representing our members in DC. One of those things is establishing relationships which we’ve been working very hard on since January. We need a really strong legislative team. We brought on a lobbying firm in January, Forbes Tate Partners, we absolutely love working with and that have done a lot to get us introduced to the right people at the right time.”
Members play a prominent role in shaping the PAC’s agenda, Sweeney noted. “We need a really strong understanding of what our members’ needs are,” she said. To that end, AIME has long established social media channels for members to air their views. More recently, the trade association established an “issues intake process” for members to provide evidence on issues needing to be addressed by AIME, Sweeney said.
For all the cogs that go into its making, the PAC’s ready ability to suffuse credibility – to make AIME’s presence known – is a big reason for its creation, Sweeney suggested. “It really helps create this credibility that’s necessary in DC,” she said. “A PAC allows us to leverage our relationships to get in front of people faster.”
