Schmidt & Voinovich, Plain Old Lazy

August 26, 2009

I just finished reading an Enquirer report dated August 16, 2009 titled "MOST LOCAL LAWMAKERS SKIP TOWN HALLS". Strangely, the piece was reporting on potential news some of our local lawmakers avoided making last week. It seems as though facing the public right now is just too risky for some noted Republicans. As of the date I submitted this op-ed neither of our Republican congressional representatives, Sen. George Vonivich or Rep. Jean Schmidt, has scheduled any public meetings to discuss legislative matters with their constituents. Schmidt has scheduled a private meeting on August 28th with the Chamber of Commerce. I wonder are they avoiding an open discussion on health care reform?

Really, I can’t understand how is it that Democrats Sherrod Brown and Steve Driehaus have time to conduct public meetings but these Republican lightweights can’t schedule some dates. Driehaus has even agreed to meet with Republican political clubs! This reluctance to meet with constituents is particularly odd on the part of Rep. Schmidt. Consider the fact that she won her last election with just 45% of the vote. Maybe she doesn’t want to face the 55% that voted for someone else or perhaps John Boehner has already decided how she is going to vote?

According to a Schmidt spokesman "At this point, a town hall is not going to produce anything since there is not really anything to put out there and say".

Excuse me Jean, we live in a state where two insurance firm’s collusion now controls 58% of the commercial insurance market. Under this near monopoly, insurance premiums have grown by an average of 76% since 2000, four times faster than wages. Small and medium sized businesses are being squeezed because of rising premiums. They are being forced to pass on more of the premium costs to employees, or resorting more to non-covered part time help, or just dropping their healthcare plan entirely. Low-wage workers, those employed by small businesses suffer the most. One report determined that 78% of low-wage workers don’t receive health benefits on the job. More and more hardworking people are being forced into high premium, high deductible private plans. Currently, one out of seven Americans under age 65 are uninsured. We are being confronted with a Katrina-like crisis in health care and Jean Schmidt can’t muster up the energy to hold a public meeting on the topic. Second district voters, we should demand more of Rep. Schmidt.

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