Chamber Advocacy | Shaun Lumachi | Chamber of Commerce Consulting

October 2005
Southwest Riverside County business community feels increased clout at state meeting

An annual meeting with state officials Friday morning showcased the growing clout of Southwest County's business community and pointed toward a larger role for the lobbying group it formed earlier this year, participants said.

This year's "legislative summit" was nearly twice as large as the first such gathering, in 2003, organized by the Temecula Valley Chamber of Commerce, which organized a similar gathering last year.

What's more, participants said, Assembly members and legislative aides have grown more attuned to their interests. For more than an hour, local workers and business leaders and a moderator put questions to two local elected officials and a pair of state education officials. In front of a crowd of 240 sat five panelists ---- Assemblyman John Benoit, state Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth, Pechanga Development Corp. vice president Anthony Miranda, Deputy Secretary of Education Scott Himmelstein and Lou Monville, a governor of the state's community college system.

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