KYIV – Politicians like U.S. Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) call him Andriy in Ukrainian, not by his given name of Andrew. Officials at every level, whether national or local, have known Andriy Futey – the newly elected president of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA) – for 17 years as the leader of a government relations firm and for his advocacy efforts in various Ukrainian organizations.
Now, for the next four years of his term, Mr. Futey, 50, hopes to harness the familiarity he has on Capitol Hill and in his home state of Ohio to promote the interests of the 1.5 million Ukrainians living in the United States.
“Every organization as you go through it needs a jumpstart,” Mr. Futey told The Ukrainian Weekly in a Skype call on October 6, less than three weeks after succeeding two-term UCCA President Tamara Olexy and just a week after the former and current UCCA chiefs traveled to Kyiv on a working visit.
Current efforts are devoted to the upcoming November 8 U.S. presidential election. The idea is to inform Ukrainian American voters of where each candidate stands on Ukraine vis-à-vis Russia. This includes candidates’ position on Crimea and whether to provide Kyiv with lethal weapons. To do this, together with Ms. Olexy and other UCCA officials, Mr. Futey, who was UCCA executive vice-president prior to the Congress of Ukrainian Americans held on September 23-25, has written position papers on Ukraine that were sent to both political parties. Questionnaires on the candidates’ foreign policy positions were submitted. Meetings with senior campaign staff members were held to get feedback.
High on the new UCCA president’s agenda is to also “identify” new Ukrainian communities and “encourage and get them involved within our structures to get a better impact,” he said, emphasizing work that would avoid duplication of efforts and “not spread ourselves thin.”
Mr. Futey continued: “I still believe there’s a lot of uncoordinated effort out there. I want to travel around and take a look at the country. Where are now our largest and newest communities? They’re in areas we’ve never thought of: North Carolina, Portland, Seattle, Sacramento, San Francisco, Houston, Austin, Dallas, Atlanta… and tell them how to get the public relations out, how to work better with their local media, how to work better with their local, federal and state officials.”
Getting known Ukrainian groups back into the fold is another priority. Over two dozen organizations quit the UCCA in protest after the controversial congress of 1980.
Organizations that haven’t been members of the umbrella group for over 30 years include Plast Ukrainian Scouting Organization, the Ukrainian Medical Association of North America, the Ukrainian American Veterans and the Ukrainian American Bar Association, among others.
“We’ve reached out to these organizations. We’ve received a positive response. I’m calling on these organizations, I’m calling on the activists, their leadership,” Mr. Futey said. “I’m calling on the Ukrainian American community to come back and be an integral part… of UCCA. I look forward to their input and their cooperation within the current structures that we have.”
To ensure that lawmakers and policy makers are informed about Ukraine, coalition partnerships are being sought with allies like Jewish and Central and Eastern European ethnic organizations.
“Since the Ukraine crisis, we have forged a very strong and unique cooperation effort with the Central and Eastern European Coalition [based in Washington],” he said. “Particularly in Washington… We’ve taken a leadership role in coordinating the activities…we have participation from the Baltics, the Polish community, and some of the other Eastern European coalitions. We’ve together with them issued joint statements. We’ve written the [presidential] administration and the Congressional leaderships together under everybody’s signature.”
Continuity of advocacy has extended to the local level. Specifically, a strong bond has been formed with the Jewish American community in Mr. Futey’s home state of Ohio.
About a year ago, the local chapter of the UCCA and the Jewish community had an editorial board meeting with the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper to “immediately dispel any Russian disinformation as to what’s happening” in Ukraine, he said.
“Part of what I see happening in the future and I’ll promote is that we take that to all our cities, not only those who work with the Central and Eastern European Coalition and the American Jewish communities, and others who have the same principles in mind,” Mr. Futey added.
Noting that he isn’t a “spring chicken,” the first-generation Ukrainian American wants to set up a program to encourage young folks to start taking leadership roles in their communities with the possibility of entering politics.
“That’s where they get their training, that’s how they get involved [at the local level],” said Mr. Futey, whose father is a retired federal judge whom ex-President Ronald Reagan had appointed. “It’s about time we have our own Ukrainian American who is a member of Congress. It’s about time we’ve a Ukrainian American who is a mayor. That’s one of the things that I’d like the UCCA to do – develop a program for our younger generation to not only get involved with the UCCA in terms of the community, but also in the American political system.”
Mr. Futey has equally high-level access to officials in Ukraine. He has met with Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman and in the past with former President Viktor Yushchenko and influential members of the Verkhovna Rada, and is closely tied with prominent members of the diaspora that reside in Ukraine.
For that reason he wants the UCCA to be an “honest broker” for Ukraine in the United States.
Mr. Futey plans to communicate with the Ukrainian government, “be it the president and his advisers, the Cabinet of Ministers, and various ministers – we can’t tell them what they want to hear, we need to tell them what they should hear.”
He first visited his ancestral homeland in 1990. That year he witnessed how the nationalistic Popular Movement of Ukraine, or Rukh, formed a 540-kilometer human chain from Lviv to Kyiv as an expression of unity and yearning for independence.
He’s returned numerous times as an election observer for either the International Republican Institute or the UCCA’s observation missions.
“I’ve been going to Ukraine for many years; I think I’ve missed [only] one or two elections as an observer,” Mr. Futey said, who has served also as the honorary Consul of Ukraine for Ohio and Kentucky.
The current Ukrainian government is “receptive, they’re genuine,” he said of President Petro Poroshenko’s administration. Noting that Mr. Poroshenko commended the UCCA during his recent trip to New York “for its efforts and leadership,” Mr. Futey said, “the key ministries and officials know who we are, they know what we have accomplished and how effective we can be.”
He credits his parents and his Ukrainian upbringing for his success.
“I recognized that I would not be where I am today if it were not for my parents,” Mr. Futey said. “Both were born in Ukraine, who from the very beginning instilled in me and my sisters the love for Ukraine, for [our] Ukrainian heritage. My father always said, ‘show me someone who is proud of their Ukrainian heritage, and I’ll show you a proud American.’”
Speaking of his predecessor as UCCA president, Ms. Olexy, he said she positioned the UCCA on the right path from where to relay the baton.
“She really dedicated herself. Under the very tough circumstances that we’ve faced over the last two years, and the resources that UCCA had, she’s done an outstanding job. I really want to give her acknowledgement,” Mr. Futey stated.