Last week I was in Miami and visited the N.P.F. main office. We
discussed the letter / 1st draft position paper prepared by the N.P.F.'s
Washington attorney.
It was not a well written letter and did not convey the message
intended. It was -or should have been- written as an offer to compromise
some of the extras of the Udall bill in return for getting the main part
[medical research dollars$$$] through the Senate and hopefully through the
House. I have a copy of the original draft which circulated at least as far
as Senator Hatfield's office.
I was told that the draft was written by the attorney without any
outside assistance. It was a very rough draft [complete with syntax
problems] which should have been read over and retyped with editorial and
grammatical corrections by a good secretary. When one does one's own writing
in a hurry, errors creep in which are not visable to the writer who only
sees what he meant rather than what another reader would see. Re-writes
which cleaned up the writing editorially and grammatically were submitted.
As things worked out, the Senate passed essentially what was in the
letter. So, it was only $80 million.... I'll take $80 million for research
with no qualms.. I only wish we had done as well in the House.
It is unfortunate that we do not speak with one voice, loud and
clear. The A.P.D.A., N.P.F., P.A.N., P.D.F., U.P.F., etc. are all on the
side of getting the Udall Bill passed --- and taking credit for getting it
passed.
And here's to long "ons" and short "offs"
WILL JOHNSTON 4049 OAKLAND SCHOOL ROAD
SALISBURY, MD 21804-2716
410-543-0110
Pres A.P.D.A. DelMarVa Chapter
