President's Page November 2004   CHARGE! Organizing to affect change

by Warren E. Lichliter, MD 2004 DCMS President

With this issue of the Dallas Medical Journal, your Dallas County Medical Society will unveil the final product on more than six months’ work by your DCMS Legislative Affairs Committee, Executive Committee, and board of directors. One of our biggest achievements this year has been a major change in the involvement of the Society in local public affairs, particularly in the legislative aspect of county government. As our involvement increases, so does the agenda for our monthly board meeting. We have met with the county commissioners, the leadership of the county Health Department, and community leaders. We have become involved with several local initiatives from Parkland, the county Health Department, and immunization efforts with the DCMS Alliance.

What has become apparent to your leadership is the need to develop a political action committee to concentrate on furthering relationships with elected officials and to better influence the campaigns and decisions of those wishing to run for office. As much as I have been opposed to the concept of money “opening doors,” it is the reality of the day—not only in Washington and Austin, but in Dallas, as well. Even the American College of Surgeons recently established a PAC, as have several county medical societies. A political action committee creates a vehicle to accept donations from its membership in a legal entity that properly manages the money.

Selecting the right name for our PAC was important. We wanted to remain focused on the healthcare needs of our entire community, so we established HealthPAC. The basis for the creation of HealthPAC was not only the realization that a separate donating entity was required under state law, but that even small amounts of money DCMS could raise during local campaigns could be effective. Just a few thousand dollars is a significant contribution to a county commissioner’s campaign and if our entire membership of 6000 donated just $10, the $60,000 raised would be sufficient to maintain HealthPAC on an ongoing basis.

From the onset of our discussions to create a local PAC, we understood that we could not establish an organization that would compete for funding with TEXPAC, the TMA political action committee that is involved in statewide races. We enjoy a great working relationship with TMA and it would be inappropriate to duplicate its efforts on a state level by channeling funds from TEXPAC. By working with TMA and TEXPAC, we have created a vehicle for funding that has earned their support.

Our political action committee will concentrate only on local county elections. Elections for county commissioners, and local district judges who see malpractice cases are the focus of our efforts. TEXPAC does an excellent job analyzing statewide elections and your AMA looks at the national races. HealthPAC will not duplicate the roles of these organizations.

In the broader view, we hope HealthPAC can be a significant influence in persuading a DCMS physician to be a candidate for a local elected office. We all know the financial difficulties in managing a practice, and help from HealthPAC might encourage that first step. Physicians must increase Medicine’s ability to speak for us in representing physicians and Medicine.

We soon will compile a survey of DCMS members to see who might be interested in serving on the HealthPAC board and to get member feedback on important county-specific issues. After this we will arrange a fund-raiser and meeting to kick off HealthPAC, and I hope to see you there. With the initial fund-raising, DCMS and HealthPAC can hit the ground running to develop an effective and well-respected voice in the local political process. This issue of the DMJ will make the case for our attempt to improve the health of not only the citizens of the region, but for our physicians and their medical practices, as well.

List of Past President Pages

Home | Who We Are | Membership | DCMS In Action | Communications | Community Service
Products & Services | Business of Medicine | Legislative Issues | Physician Finder | DMJ On-Line

Copyright © 1997-2004, Dallas County Medical Society. Information contained in this site does not constitute legal or medical advice. Links are provided within this site as an added benefit to our visitors. The content of other sites is not monitored by DCMS.