The following student report was submitted by Ambassador League Agent Hannah K. during the 2007-2008 League.
Mackinac Island, What an Experience!
The Republican Leadership Conference on Mackinac Island brought a lot of excitement and anticipation on my family's part!
We had been invited by Representative Fulton Sheen to go and promote the Michigan Fair Tax campaign at the conference. Representative Sheen is spearheading the legislative initiative that would place the Michigan Fair Tax Proposal on the 2008 ballet. Because of the work that we have done with Fulton in the past, he knew that we would be a good promotional team at the conference.
When we arrived on Mackinac, we weren't exactly sure what to expect! We had never been on the Island before, and so that, in and of itself was a very new experience for us! The first thing we did was to make sure that we knew where our hotel was, and then we went up to the Grand Hotel to get registered.
After that we got our tee-shirts, hats, and other paraphernalia, then went and started handing out information to people and telling them what Fair Tax was all about. I ended up going with a few other people to a place called Mission Point, where there's a big club. We went to give some information to people at a meeting there. When we had handed out what we could, we headed back to our hotel, along the way handing out more information and having the enjoyment of being walking billboards!
Early Saturday morning a few of us went to a meeting where Newt Gingrich was supposed to speak. We were there to hand out information to people as they came in the door. I was just standing there, trying to hand out as much information as people would take, and then Newt Gingrich walks in the door. I waited there knowing that none of the people with him would want information on Fair Tax, when all of a sudden he was in front of me holding out his hand. My hands, being full of information, weren't ready for him. Well I decided that if he wanted some information I would give it to him, so I preceded to try to hand him a paper. He then said "I just want to shake your hand" so I dropped everything I was holding, smiled, and shook his hand! That is definitely something that I will never forget for the rest of my life, even though it is kind of embarrassing!!
Later in the day we went to several different meetings, some of them being the Tax Policy meeting, Citizens for Traditional Values, and a few others as well! After these meetings were over all of the girls accompanied Representative Sheen's wife, Cheryl, to a GOP Women Matter Tea on the second floor of the Grand Hotel. At the same time all the guys went to watch football at one of the restaurants on the island with Representative Sheen. Our goal was to get the Michigan Fair Tax message out to as many groups of people as possible. Doing that meant splitting up a lot during the conference, and being at as many hospitality meetings as we could. This brought many comments from conference attendees, who said that having so many Fair Tax supporters present at the majority of the meetings left a standing impression on them.
According to the rules of the Grand Hotel, everyone had to dress more formally after six o'clock. Because of a meeting we had to go to at the Grand Hotel Saturday evening, we headed back to our hotel to change; something that didn't bother us girls too much, seeing that we RARELY dress formally! The meeting was really awesome; we had been invited to an event sponsored by ALEC (American Legislative Executive Counsel) in the cupola at the top of the Grand Hotel. We could see the moon reflecting off the water, and the Mackinac Bridge that shone brightly on the horizon. After most of the people had left some of us stayed and talked. We were really glad to be able to spend time with Mr. and Mrs. Muffett, Fulton Sheen, and a few others!
That marks the end of our experiences of the conference. I am VERY glad that I was able to spend those couple of days on the Island with my family, and learn that just walking around with matching Fair Tax tee-shirts on sent out a big message to people. I pray that they take home what information that they have learned about the Michigan Fair Tax and pass it on to others in order to enable our state to put it on the Ballot in 2008.
