Connie Morella: “Fellow association members, I'm very pleased again to welcome you to our 42nd annual meeting. And I'd like to tell you…”

“Fellow association members, I'm very pleased again to welcome you to our 42nd annual meeting. And I'd like to tell you something about the association. It is bipartisan, as you know. It was chartered by Congress in 1983. The purpose of the U.S. Association of Former Members of Congress is to promote public service and strengthen democracy, both abroad and in the United States. About 600 former Senators and Representatives belong to the association. Republicans, Democrats, and Independents are united in this organization in their desire to teach about Congress and the importance of representative democracy. We're proud to have been chartered by Congress, and we receive no funding from Congress. All the activities which we're about to describe are financed via membership dues, program-specific grants, and sponsors, or via our fund-raising dinner. Our finances are sound, our projects are fully funded, and our 2011 audit by an outside accountant came back with a clean bill of financial health. It's been a very successful, active, and rewarding year. We have continued our work serving as a liaison between the current Congress and legislatures overseas. We have created partnerships with highly respected institutions in the area of democracy building and election monitoring.…”