Shortly after John Ashcroft became the new attorney general of the United States, officers of NDAA visited him and discussed the concerns of America's prosecutors. As a former prosecutor, the attorney general expressed understanding of these concerns and promised to work closely with NDAA in addressing a number of criminal justice issues.
Similar meetings took place with leaders of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees and principal subcommittees and Alberto R. Gonzales, counsel to the president. These meetings and other meetings with various federal officials, reflect NDAA's growing stature as a major player in the formation of criminal justice policy and legislation in Washington, DC.
In this regard, let me make clear three significant and interrelated points:
- The reason NDAA's presidents and other officials of NDAA are welcomed in Washington policy-making and legislating forums is not because of their titles alone, but because they represent the largest and primary organization of prosecuting attorneys in the United States, with members in all 50 states.
- Where years ago, NDAA sought entrée in Washington and was politely listened to, today NDAA's advice is requested in the making of policy and the drafting of legislation. As I have mentioned before, one of the first questions asked when policy and legislation affecting prosecutors is being considered in the nation's capital is "What does NDAA think?" As a result, NDAA has played a critical role in the structuring of the final products.
- A key factor is numbers: the more members NDAA has, the more influence it has in representing your interests at the highest levels of government. It's that simple. This is especially relevant in Washington because there are so many interests represented, many of them competing.
Aside from these factors, there are a number of major personal and professional benefits from membership in NDAA that no other affiliation can bring. These include networking with your counterparts around the nation and technical assistance through APRI. Additionally, although NDAA membership is not required, there is the availability of attending, and having your assistants attend classes, at the NDAA National Advocacy Center -- the finest facility of its kind -- at no cost to your office.
Accordingly, we are in the process of instituting the most comprehensive coordinated membership effort in the history of this association, and we need your help. The principal players in this effort are NDAA's state directors and the state prosecutor coordinators, who are members of the National Association of Prosecutor Coordinators (NAPC). Because of the continuous changes in prosecutors' offices throughout the nation as the result of elections, resignations and retirements, we rely on NDAA directors and state prosecutor coordinators to keep us abreast of those changes.
Sally Hutchins of our NDAA staff is working with NDAA state directors, who have been asked to get in touch with non-member prosecutors in their respective states, including new prosecutors, to explain the benefits of NDAA membership and urge them to join. Eleven directors have already volunteered to do so. We need more.
Working with Sally is Paula Wulff, a former assistant district attorney in Memphis, who has joined us in a new position, working for both NDAA and NAPC. In addition to the work she does specifically for NAPC, her responsibilities include working with prosecutor coordinators who are being asked to identify non-NDAA members in their respective states and bring the NDAA membership message to them.
Larry Brown, executive director of the California District Attorneys Association, has worked with Grover Trask, DA of Riverside County, California, and an NDAA board member, in drafting an eloquent and persuasive letter to prospective new NDAA members in their state. It could serve as a model for letters in other states.
The letter says, in part:
"NDAA plays a significant role for all of us in representing and protecting local district attorneys from federal encroachment. NDAA has developed an important presence in Congress and within the administration. For example, we have already met with Attorney General Ashcroft to discuss concerns of local prosecutors. NDAA's voice also played an important role in crafting habeas corpus reform in the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act. Without NDAA's advocacy, the act would have eviscerated death penalty laws throughout the states. NDAA also worked hard to remove some of the most offensive provisions of the so-called asset forfeiture reform, which would ultimately impact California law. NDAA has protected funding for the Violence Against Women Act and helped develop funding for community prosecution efforts throughout the country." The letter goes on to mention the incomparable training available at the NDAA National Advocacy Center "at no cost to our offices" and other membership benefits.
It should be emphasized, and I cannot emphasize this too much, that while NDAA's membership includes the DAs in most of the nation's largest jurisdictions, most of our members are from middle-sized and smaller jurisdictions. The point is that prosecutor members from the smallest rural jurisdictions not only have a large voice in NDAA but know that their concerns are being heard, through NDAA, at the highest levels of our government.
In recent years we have seen substantial growth in membership. So far we have 100 percent membership in 13 states. The most recent entries to the 100 percent category have been North Carolina, Kentucky and West Virginia. Our goal, of course, is 100 percent NDAA membership in all 50 states.
In addition to the NDAA directors, every member should be active in soliciting new members, because they know from personal experience and can speak from that experience, how valuable NDAA membership can be.
For all the reasons cited above, the biggest favor you can do, not only for this association but for yourself, is to urge a fellow prosecutor who is not a member to join us in furthering the mission of America's prosecutors as the people's attorneys.
