Illinois AG Madigan to receive highest honor from oldest consumer watchdog org – National Consumers League
September 19, 2016
CA State Senator Dr. Richard Pan, FCC’s Karen Peltz Strauss to receive Florence Kelley Consumer Leadership awards
National Consumers League: Cindy Hoang (202) 207-2832, cindyh@nclnet.org
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan Contact: Eileen Boyce (312) 814-3118, eboyce@atg.state.il.us
California State Senator Dr. Richard Pan Contact: Shannan Martinez, (916) 651-4006, shannan.martinez@sen.ca.gov
Federal Communications Commission Contact: Will Wiquist, (202) 418-0509, will.wiquist@fcc.gov
Washington, DC—The National Consumers League (NCL), the nation’s pioneering consumer and worker advocacy organization, will honor Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan with its highest honor, the Trumpeter Award, on Wednesday, September 21 in Washington, DC. The award has honored leaders in the fight for consumer and workers’ rights for more than 40 years, and past honorees include: Senator Ted Kennedy, the award’s inaugural recipient, as well as Labor Secretaries Hilda Solis, Robert Reich, and Alexis Herman, Senators Carl Levin and Paul Wellstone, Delores Huerta of the United Farm Workers, and other honored consumer and labor leaders. Last year’s recipients were Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez.
“The Trumpeter Award is NCL’s highest honor, given to leaders who have dedicated their lives to improving the rights of consumers and workers. Attorney General Lisa Madigan embodies these values, and her impressive career has had a measurable impact on the marketplace for consumers, in Illinois and across the nation,” said NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg. “With this year’s Trumpeter Award, we recognize Madigan’s active leadership on important consumer protection issues such as student loan debt, predatory lending, data security, and more. She is an exceptional attorney general, whose aggressive advocacy for the consumers and workers of Illinois has set a trail for others to follow.”
“I’m honored to receive this recognition from the National Consumers League, which has been a champion for our nation’s consumers and workers for more than a century,” Madigan said. “I’m proud to partner with NCL to protect and advocate for consumers in Illinois and throughout the country.”
Florence Kelley Consumer Leadership Award
In addition to the Trumpeter Award, NCL will the honor two recipients of this year’s Florence Kelley Consumer Leadership Award, which was named after an early leader of NCL: Dr. Richard Pan, California State Senator, and Karen Peltz Strauss, Deputy Chief of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission.
“Dr. Pan is a passionate advocate for his patients and constituents, a hero to those fighting misinformation about vaccination efficacy and risk, and an ally in our own work to ensure that consumers get access to safe, effective medicines,” said Karin Bolte, NCL health policy director. NCL has worked with Dr. Pan via its Script Your Future medication adherence program and are allies in the fight to promote vaccinations.
“It is an incredible honor to be recognized by the National Consumers League, which has advocated for American consumers since 1899,” said Dr. Richard Pan, California State Senator representing the Sacramento Region. “Consumers need accurate guidance on medications that can improve their health, especially vaccines which benefit both patients and the public. NCL has been a strong partner as we strive to combat misinformation about vaccines.”
NCL will honor Karen Peltz Strauss for her leadership on access for those with disabilities.
“As one of the country’s premier disability rights attorneys for more than three decades, Strauss has valiantly led efforts to ensure persons with disabilities have access to our country’s communications programming, services, and equipment,” said John Breyault, NCL vice president, public policy, telecommunications and fraud.
“The FCC is proud of the essential role we play – and our continued success – in addressing communications accessibility issues. Under Chairman Wheeler, we have made tremendous headway in such areas as closed captioning, video description, accessible broadband and wireless communications, and emergency access. And because today’s technology allows us to address so many of these issues in ways never before considered, for the first time we can take advantage of new innovations, such as real-time text, to fully integrate access by people with disabilities into our shared public communications systems. I thank the League for its support on this important work,” said Peltz Strauss.
The event will feature a reception, dinner, and speaking appearances by NCL leadership and the honorees, as well as former Trumpeter recipient and Washington Post syndicated columnist Michelle Singletary, FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray, and S. Floyd Mori, President and CEO of the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies.
MEDIA ADVISORY
What: National Consumers League’s 2016 Trumpeter Awards
When: Wednesday, September 21, 2016 – 7 pm Dinner and Presentation of Awards
Where: Omni Shoreham Hotel, 2500 Calvert Street, NW, Washington, DC 20008
Members of the media are welcome to attend this event but must RSVP. For questions or to RSVP: Call Cindy Hoang, (202) 207-2832 or Carol McKay, (724) 799-5392.
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About the National Consumers League
The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.
