Several weeks ago when the hotbed topic of universal healthcare started to take on a personality and odor of its own, I took it upon myself to make contact with one standard sized Congressman who is charged with representing me and hundreds of thousands of my closest neighbors in the San Antonio area. In the past, I’ve never really taken an active roll in contacting those who go to Washington on my behalf. If you’ve read any of my previous work, you can understand why I’m motivated at this point.
So I sent a quick little note to ‘contact me’ link on the website for Charlie Gonzalez. The only thing I asked was whether the Congressman was planning to hold a town hall on the subject of healthcare, and if so, when, and if not, why not.
And then I waited.
It was pretty obvious the website hadn’t been updated lately. There were some pretty old articles on there, and some of the links were goofed up. Even at this point, it looks like some of Gonzalez’s stands on the assorted issues where held over from the previous administration. Go figure. Based on my representative’s inability to hire a webmaster who can keep up with things like current events, I didn’t expect much.
But then, I received the following note in my email box today. I would have loved to have altered the font on this letter, however contraints of the blog template keep me from doing so. Let me assure you. If I had a font which looked like it was produced by the good people at Crayola, I would have used it.
Dear Mr. Tharp:
Thank you for sharing interest in attending my Town Hall during the August recess. I appreciate hearing from you and I would like to inform you that on Monday, August 24th, 2009, I will be holding a Town Hall to discuss the healthcare legislation that is currently being debated in Washington. The venue location is at Edgewood Independent School District Theater of Performing Arts, 607 SW 34th St, San Antonio, Texas 78237. Doors will open at 630 PM and the Town Hall is schedule to begin at 7 PM. I will join community members to explore the ins and outs of America’s Affordable Health Choices Act and look forward to hearing from San Antonians about their views on health insurance reform.
Again, thank you for your interest and I look forward to seeing you next Monday.
Sincerely,
Charles A. Gonzalez
Member of Congress
Sadly, I don’t perceive I can get there early enough to steal a seat from members of the SEIU. From what I understand, Gonzalez and his buddies have access to a phone bank in which they can get quick response answers to the details of the bill that everyone is asking about. Instead, I would focus my questions on what he actually thinks.
“First of all Congressman, have you read the entire bill?”
“Congressman, I understand you and all other members of Congress and a whole gaggle of other federal employees would be exempted from the legislation you are considering. How do you feel about voting on a bill that would literally force millions of American’s to do something you and your colleagues in the House and Senate would not be required to do?
“Why is it Congressman, that you and your party brethren feel compelled to make this a bipartisan effort? You do realize that with control of Congress and the White House, you can do anything you want without the slightest bit of help from the other side, don’t you?
I can only expect I will be treated with the same righteous indignation Barney Frank provided this last Tuesday. Whether Gonzalez would answer those questions without taking a quick shot of Hennigans first remains unknown.
Get your picket signs out San Antonio. Let make this a good one.
