Tom Perriello came to Danville’s O.T. Bonner Middle School for his “Tom In Your Town” meeting. Things didn’t go quite as advertised.
Well, let’s start out with what it was supposed to be…
During the August district work period, Congressman Perriello will be visiting every locality in the 5th District and hosting “Tom In Your Town” events. Tom In Your Town is a chance for constituents to meet one-on-one with the congressman to discuss policy issues, give suggestions, or to get help with federal programs like Medicare, Social Security, or veterans’ benefits. All constituents are invited to come by anytime during the time period and sign in. Meetings are first-come, first-served. After the constituent meets with the congressman, staff members will be there to follow up with any concerns.
Now let’s go to the thoughts…
- With the health care reform bill in progress in Congress, you had one “We Don’t Like Periello” group in play.
- With the Tea Partiers movement going on, you had another “We Don’t Like Perriello” group in play.
- When the Tea Partiers also don’t want the health care reform to pass, you add them together and get “We Really Don’t Like Perriello”.
- Perriello finally arrives at around 6:10 PM with Kimble Reynolds and Ruby Archie leading the way. He walks into the auditorium to mild applause and then a lot of BOOS?!
- I was totally ashamed at some people’s reactions while Perriello spoke. I don’t give a damn if you hate the man and think he’s Satan. He deserves a degree of respect no matter what. Let the man talk.
- The “One-on-One” talk with Perriello was blown out of the water as they turned to a townhall format complete with the rude jerks. Most of the rudeness eminated from the Tea Partiers section… sad, sad, friggin’ sad.
- Perriello handed the microphone off to a guy who asked a question, then another, then another, then another. This ain’t gonna work. New limit: One question per person.
- Perriello’s doing a decent job explaining his take on the bill. Too bad he’s getting no respect from “those people”.
- The microphone goes up to a self-described truck driver who reads questions from a piece of paper. He spouts off some conspiracy theory that the stimulus bill was written by the Apollo Initiative… or the Dharma Initiative… or the Apollo Mission. Perriello gives the guy the empty stare that he deserves and I realize that I’ve had enough of this crap.
- At this rate, they won’t get to the one-on-one quick talks to well… actually HELP HIS CONSTITUENTS for another 93 hours. There’s a big thunderstorm brewing and I’m hungry. I’ll meet Perriello another day.
- I poke my head into the auditorium again and hear some guy telling Perriello that the White House’s blog site is going to go after anybody that disagrees. I’m feeling sorry for Perriello now but he recovers well and says (paraphrased) “Um… I have no idea what you’re talking about”
- I seriously hope that nobody had any serious problem for Perriello and his staff to deal with. They’re probably still there now (at 10 PM). Not me. I got smart.
- So, who’s there from local politics land? We’ve got Ruby Archie that accompanied him in and Larry Campbell in the audience (looking rather laidback) 🙂 That’s all. That’s sad.
- There are no state police secretly watching the group, so that’s one less conspiracy theory to deal with in the morning.
- Mike Stark from the Firedoglake blog was there with a cameraman having fun with some of the anti-health care people by simply talking to them. I can’t wait to see that video.
Final Thoughts: This could have been informative. It’s too bad that rude people made it into a tasteless Jerry Springer show audience. I know, it might have changed after I left. I don’t care. Perriello deserved at least a little respect and some people ruined it (at least for me).
your article is correct on one major point: we should all be respectful. c’mon, we’re southern Virginians!
but, Perriello should have known about the website “flag@whitehouse.gov” where we are to report “fishy” statements about obamacare.
our committee in lunenburg has been reminded & will be again, to be respectful.
I plan to go to the town hall here. Everyone knows how I feel about the dems in general and the healtcare plan…but one thing I will do…is be respectful and urge others to do the same.
I will make this point though….disrespectful or not….the majority of people at these town halls are against the democrat plans for health insurance reform from what is reported on the news and by liberal democrats themselves this is happening nationwide)…I hope that is the message they get and remember it when they vote.
Did you really think the voices of those who oppose the plans wouldnt be heard. Say goodbye to Perriello in 2010….this seat is a hot target.
We see where those who elected him were by the way…..at home smoking crack. Periello road Obamas coat tails to victory….2010 will be differnet….all those “Brothers” who voted for Obama will stay home and Perriello will get sent packing.
Anyone who doesnt believe what I just said….go check the State Board of Elections result sights between 2006 and 2008…..itll suprise you.
Um… wow.
an addendum to my above post……check 2004 also.
Brandon. You’re a racist and a fool…but mostly a racist. Do yourself a favor, and come into the 21st century and then begin to participate in political debate. And for the record, Perriello did better than Obama this November. When you factor in the many people who voted for president and not the House, thousands of people voted for Mccain and Perriello.
But beyond that, you’re a racist and your views are indicative of why the GOP is the minority party in this county.
perriello does have a steep hill to climb.
we will have attys & the press here in lunenburg. so if Perriello brings in people from out of the area (and hey, this is kenbridge–we all know each other), we’ll know it & report it.
i’m sorry its come to this, but Congress needs to listen. we pay them. we elect them to represent us, not the other way around. they don’t get it.
many of them will get it in 2010.
Kelly, are you saying that you will be looking for non-local Virginia citizens?
Brandon,
What time does the JBS meeting start tonight?
mark brooks, if we see people we don’t know that are causing a fuss, then we will ask where they are from.
if others from the 5th are there–that’s fine.
but there are reports that moveon.org & the SEIU have been asked to shout down local townspeople. that’s what i hope to avoid.
[…] with the tea party movement because of their actions, and rightfully so. It all started with Nigel Coleman & his group attempting to shout down Tom Perriello at his Danville town hall meet…. Then you’ve got Coleman’s idea to burn Tom Perriello & Nancy Pelosi in effigy […]
Perriello owes those who come some respect also. Just the simple respect of answering the question. If he then wants to go on and on that’s ok, it’s his forum. But he seldom answers the question. I asked him several. He has never answered how many jobs were created at the dairy farm, had no response at all to his mailings done at taxpayer expense. I went by to see a very knowledgeable and successful community leader that day and asked him if he were going. His answer was that Perriello seldom answers and when he does, you can’t depend on it so why waste the time. That is widely felt and one big reason the attendance is down.
In Halifax he was asked about how he can say he takes no lobbyist money but has a long list of donations from labor unions. It is Perriello’s spin that it isn’t the same. Any rational person would wonder why the labor union list of donations is so long and wonder if the union does not lobby him and get answers they like. He want’s to split a fine hair and he is not kidding anyone.
Again, the message should be, Tom, just answer the question. Show the respect to others who are concerned enough to come out and you will get respect yourself.