The other day I reported on my visit to Senator Feinstein's office. Today, I will still urge all of you to go to Organizing for America, and sign up to visit your local Senator and/or Representative to give a rational perspective on constituent's opinions.
Since then, I have been receiving regular dispatches from Eva, the young lady who attended the meetings all week. I asked and received her permission to post some of these here. I thought you would find them informative and perhaps inspiring. And while I'm above the fold, can I ask: Does anyone else have any reports from meetings like these elsewhere in the USA?
In case you were about to ask, Eva doesn't have a Kos account, but said she will get one, which means she can't post until next week or something.
Here are selected sections of the email she sent very late Tuesday night:
Recap of Tuesday, 8.11.09 Meeting, and Announcement of Upcoming Pete Stark (D-CA-13) and Jackie Speier (D-CA-12) Events
Dear Fellow Constituent:
As predicted, the Tuesday, 8.11.09 meetings with Senator Feinstein’s representatives were remarkably similar to the Monday meetings, with three notable differences:
- Approximately three times as many constituents showed up to voice their concerns on Tuesday; (Diarist note: approximately 100 showed up Monday) (Also: my emphasis)
- The larger number of constituents translated into longer meetings, with the 10 a.m. meeting stretching over two hours in the crowded lobby;
- The 1:00 p.m. meeting featured Jim Molinari, whose title in Senator Feinstein’s office is State Director.
Mr. Molinari is a much more practiced communicator than the far younger Mr. Murray, who has patiently borne the burden of representing the Senator for the past two days.
Allowed far more leeway in his statements than Mr. Murray, Mr. Molinari nevertheless offered little more than a certain practiced, old-boy charm. Mr. Molinari did suggest that Senator Feinstein was a shrewd operator who could be more effective through her silence than by openly supporting the public option. He also repeatedly stated "there is no bill." (Per Mr. Molinari, whatever exists of the package is currently in the Finance Committee, of which Senator Feinstein is not a part - and therefore any information we have about health care reform is, per Mr. Molinari, merely rumor.)
As on Monday, one of the major issues discussed throughout the day was the public option, and the degree of Senator Feinstein’s support for the public option, as she has yet to state her support clearly and publicly, whether in emails, press conferences, or website.
And once again, when this issue was raised by wave after wave of constituents, the response was consistently that she supports the public option BUT that she is also open to co-operatives, and cannot rule out other measures.
Thus the near-consensus of constituents throughout the meetings remains that her support for the public option is vague, at best, and her leadership on the issue as a senior senator remains vastly disappointing.
Which brings us to Tuesday’s featured constituent: Brooklyn-born Dr. Harold LeCar, a UC Berkeley biophysicist (and winner of the American Public Health Service Award.) Faced with Feinstein’s failure to support the public option in any meaningful way, Dr. LeCar suggested that if nothing else, Senator Feinstein could make a clear statement of her basic health care principles, starting with the principle that basic health care is not a privilege, but a right.
(To translate Dr. Lecar’s noble sentiment into language palatable to our fiscally conservative friends: the provision of basic preventive health care is not an expense, but a strategy to significantly reduce wasteful budgetary expenditures not only over the next fiscal year, but over all future fiscal years.)
In other news, Feinstein constituent Brian Imagawa is building a website where you can share your ideas with other Feinstein constituents, as there are simply too many truly compelling statistics and personal stories to relay in an email newsletter.
Lastly, we have identified some upcoming town halls, although constituents seem split on the wisdom of attending such events.
Please see the link below for upcoming Pete Stark events on August 15:
http://www.wellstoneclub.org/...
(DIARISTS NOTE: yes, that was today.)
...
Please see the link below for an upcoming Jackie Speier event on August 29, 2009.
http://speier.house.gov/...
Many thanks for your patience,
Eva -
Did you catch that? "Mr. Molinari did suggest that Senator Feinstein was a shrewd operator who could be more effective through her silence than by openly supporting the public option."??? What a load of doubletalk! From Mr. Molinari, that is.
By the way, Pete Stark is having THREE town halls on the 15th; one in Fremont, one in San Leandro, and one in Alameda, then three more again on Sept. 12th. Please check that link again, and see if you can attend one of them.
Jackie Speier, representative from San Mateo County, has a whole slew of meetings scheduled. Those on the 21st, 23rd and 29th look appropriate for health care discussions.
And now, here follows the most recent report, sent Saturday morning:
Friday Recap, Final Headcount, Opposition and Outreach:
Dear All,
THANK YOU for coming to Dianne Feinstein’s office this week. Counting from Monday through the end of day Friday, we had over 1,200 people show up(Diarist's emphasis) – and ALL but 15 supported the public option. BRAVO!!! (And BRAVA!!!)
Of the fifteen people who did not support the public option, three (3) were adamantly for single payer, and twelve were against both the public option and single payer.
Most of the 1200+ who supported the public option preferred single payer, but realized that the public option was the most workable compromise.
Going by these ratios (1,200+:15), we’re looking at approximately 98.75% of people supporting the public option who showed up this week.
The most recent word from Feinstein’s office is that a position paper should be issued shortly stating her position on health care reform. No timeline provided. (Diarist's emphasis) In the meantime, they are still saying that she "supports the public option but is open to considering cooperative models...." which you have nearly unanimously found too vague.
I will work on negotiating a sit-down meeting with Senator Feinstein in August through her D.C. office, now that we have a sense of how many there are of us.
Given our large numbers, I apologize that some people have been missing the Thursday recap – there were so many email addresses by Thursday afternoon that I did not finish inputting them until late Friday night. Just email me if you want the Thursday recap, or any others, I can complete those requests by Sunday.
Distinct Groups and Opposition:
Friday morning saw some wonderful groups come out in support of the public option at Senator Feinstein’s office, including Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health. We have also had an incredible turnout from very busy, very esteemed individual physicians from local hospitals, particularly from UCSF. The week had earlier brought the very organized Silicon Valley Action Network. We also met Rossmoor Grandparents for Peace and Justice, a group whose sheer energy and effectiveness puts people half their age to shame.
On Friday we also saw the largest number of people opposed to the public option. One woman, an independent businesswoman who is exhausted by the tax rate, was largely concerned with cost controls. She’d brought in a large sign that read T.E.A.: Taxed Enough Already. It should be noted that, as with the military veteran earlier in the week who also opposed further "government involvement" in health care, she made her case calmly and thoughtfully, and was received in kind. She did as good a job in listening to us, as in stating her case.
I know we will meet similarly calm people who oppose health care reform at the town meetings today – my concern is that the media will instead feed off of the highly vocal opponents, thus potentially scaring many of us away from showing up to support for the public option.
Let’s not let the unequal media representation of uninformed but very vocal people at town halls scare us away from showing our support for health care reform.
Keeping Up the Pressure:
Many of you feel, as I do, that we must keep up the pressure throughout the month of August. I have been in daily contact with OFA organizers since Wednesday night, and they share this goal, so we should have some additional venues in the coming weeks for you to demonstrate your support for the public option. I am in daily contact with local OFA organizers, and will let you know ASAP.
As mentioned earlier, some of us will be at Pete Stark’s events today in Fremont, San Leandro, and Alameda. (See link below:) I am going to the noontime town hall in Alameda.
http://www.wellstoneclub.org/...
Outreach:
Late Friday evening, we were offered assistance in supporting health care reform at the Pete Stark events by PICO. PICO is a multicultural, non-denominational, faith-based group of community organizers who will be meeting with the President by teleconference on August 19.
In the early evening on Tuesday, August 11, I saw PICO turn out a multi-ethnic group of at least a hundred very young people to support health care reform. They had done this on less than 24 hour’s notice, so PICO can serve as a powerful ally. For those of us older people who were concerned about a lack of support from a younger, broader base – PICO is there for us.
I asked local OFA organizer Erica Rodriguez to approve their participation, and she graciously did, and spoke well of the group. She also heartily endorses any outreach to other groups that we can do on our own.
Essential Recent Articles/Podcasts:
From The New York Times: "What Happened to a Public Health Plan?"
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.c...
And the famous Atul Gawande article which became mandatory reading at the White House:
http://www.newyorker.com/...
And a few notes from the heroic Dr. Marcia Angell, who’s done double duty as a physician and an investigative journalist:
http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.c...
Two worthy repeats:
Again, from The New York Times, the article on RAM’s efforts in Los Angeles, which should make us wonder, why is there less coverage of heroic doctors and nurses providing free care to people without insurance than there is of the relatively small number of rowdy people at the Town Halls?
http://www.nytimes.com/...
We will have more articles on RAM coming up.
And if you missed it in the earlier newsletter, Atul Gawande et al’s article, "Ten Steps to Better Health Care."
http://www.nytimes.com/...
Friday’s Featured Constituent:
I’d like to close with a message from Vietnam veteran Charles Brinkley, Jr., guardian of his four-year-old grandchild, who came to Dianne Feinstein’s office on Friday and asked, "What is wrong with the Democrats? Where is their spine? Why can’t they support the President?"
Indeed, Mr. Brinkley. Absent the spine of our congressional representatives, we’ve got to stay as active as possible, and particularly during the August recess.
Please contact me with any questions or comments. I’ll actively keep you informed of any future places we can show our support for the public option, and will send a recap of today’s Pete Stark town meetings.
Cheers,
Eva
I certainly hope Eva decides to get a Daily Kos account, but it looks like she is very very busy these days. I say she deserves a round of applesauce for all her hard work. If you rec this, I promise I will pass the praise along to her.
Meanwhile, this is a good plan and should be continued! It was far more impressive that going to a town hall, as it went on all week, and will probably continue. So again, I am especially interested in non-town-hall meetings at senators and reps offices in other parts of the country. Please get your own dispatches in, and if I missed them, on DK or anywhere else, please link me in the comments.
Fight this to the bitter end. The legend that come from this must not be, "The right wing rabble rose up and Democrats folded," but instead, "The progressive majority rose up and fought hard against the right-wing minority wingnut astroturfers and the battle was epic!"
Better late than never.