Rep. Garamendi town hall in Walnut Creek recap

I arrived a few minutes late to the Town Hall meeting thanks to the traditional game in Walnut Creek: let’s find a parking place. The Walnut Creek City Council hall was filled beyond standing room only, with people sitting on the floor and 30 or so more standing at the entrance peering in.

In addition to the Congressman there was Nancy Skinner of the Assembly (AD-14) and local City Council people, but it was a night that was focused on Congressman Garamendi.

The crowd was quickly settled by an appeal for politeness and a reminder to hold applause for or against issues so that they do not cut into the time for discussion. This plea, which had to be repeated several times later, worked rather well over all and kept the more gross displays of negative behavior down. The crowd was about 2-1 supporters and oddly enough the public speakers ran closer to 3-1 or more. The tone was mostly very serious with John able to at least provide a little levity when a questioner came forward with a University of Southern California Trojan sweatshirt, and the former Cal Bears Linebacker could not resist a comment to point out that not only were there Bear Fans in the room but there were also a few Stanford folks around as well so that the speaker better watch himself.

A quick summary of the points raised from the floor with John Garamendi’s (JG) comments:

Transportation
What is happening with the area?

(JG)There is a transportation bill coming up that will put more money into the public and mass transport projects in the area of $60B. He noted that while 4% of the stimulus money went to infrastructure that amount represented 25% of the impacted jobs.

Gun Control
A spokeswomen of the Brady Group asked for support of HR2324 to address Gun Show regulations.

(JG) had no comment and would research the bill (it is still in committee).

Health Care
There were several speakers on this with about 3-1 in favor of a government plan. One of the speakers called the bill unAmerican while quite a few others unloaded on the audience with their own horror stories of both cost and frustration with the current system.

(JG) Said he supports and voted for the Congressional package. He pointed out that we already have a public option such as Medicare. He made a point about separating out the financial structure and the delivery programs of health care; that we already have high functioning government health care delivery programs such as the UCSF, Medical, Medicare etc.

The question was brought up why won’t the Congress give the people the same care it receives?

(JG) He said he has the same coverage as every Federal Employee. And that he agrees that everyone should have the same coverage.

The point was made by a speaker that people cannot get hired because of pre-existing health care and that the cost to employers of including health care has lead to a reduction in full time jobs so as to avoid providing the care.

(JG) He spoke of the legal discrimination and that when health care is in the public realm it will allow for structural changes. In the meantime he joked that the current system was telling people to not allow themselves to be over 50 or a women.

Afghanistan
The issue of sending more troops was brought up.

(JG) He made it clear that he was opposed to the sending of 30,000 more troops. He said that trying to force democracy on people has not worked.

Iranian Relations
A member of the Iranian American Group asked for support of a bill to help Iranian refugees caught in Iraq. He also made the comment that speaking with the Iranian president rather than directly with the Iranian people was wrong.

(JG) He was unfamiliar with the referenced bill ((he number I noted-704- did not match the topic when I researched it), however he is in support of greater involvement with the people in the region as Iran is a major problem in the area.

The Constitution
A clearly conservative Republican constitutionalist questioned where in the Constitution does it allow the government to take over 20% of the economy-implying the health care industry.

(JG) He stated that they simply disagree and “a constitutional debate is not going to get us anywhere here.” He feels that there are grounds for the government to be involved in the safety and health of the citizens, and if there is a constitutional question that is something that the Supreme Court can deal with, though he strongly believes that will not happen.

Job Growth
Several of the speakers recounted their unemployment status woes and the related problems.

(JG) In addition to the transportation stimulus money generating 25% of the jobs, he pointed out that billions were put into education to maintain jobs. Garamendi also pointed out that the states and locals cut back on education and that it was the stimulus money that helped keep some of the jobs there. Amounts in the area of $5B for K-12 education and $300M for the College system.

War Tax
One person brought up that we are not paying for our wars and that there needs to be financial sacrifices to pay for it.

(JG) “If we are going to go to war we are going to have to pay for it.” He noted that under the Bush Administration the U.S. engaged in two wars and then cut taxes on the wealthiest of Americans. This will be addressed by Congress in the upcoming session.

Abortion
A request was made that he hold the line on the Government Funding of Abortions.

(JG) He stated that the Hyde Amendment has been in place for the last 20 years or so, but that he was opposed to the Stupak Amendment that goes well beyond the current restrictions reaching out into the private sector.

Franchise/Transaction Tax
There was question that referenced a Franchise Tax which was described as a tax on stock transaction. John Garamendi pointed out that this had been in effect for decades and was relatively recently removed. He said this was a possible method of cutting back on speculation and an effective way to raise some revenue.

Banks and Credit
A horror story was presented where the speaker could not get his mortgage reworked in any way and the person commented that ‘I am not too big to be allowed to fail.’

(JG) He commented that the problem is the banks and that we need to “Hammer the banks, they have used the money for things other than loans.” He commented that the banks were given $75B and that nationwide they have restructured only 3200 loans with 600,000 being possible. He holds the problem with a lack of applied regulation in the Bank Industry and that this needs to be redone.

How do we afford all this?
The question was raised that the high deficits will eventually lower the standards of everyone and that the single biggest creditor to the US was the “Communist Chinese>”

(JG) Pointed out that right now we are in a major crisis and that cutting back and putting thousands more out of work would not help the situation. “We must first survive the unemployment period.” This will happen with more public works. On fiscal responsibility, which he supports, he pointed out that under the Clinton Administration he was part of the cutting back of the Interior department from 92,000 to 75,000 employees and that part of the issue will be a change in the revenue.

Social Security
A question was raised about cutting Social Security by 13% by Congress. This was erroneously attributed to a Congressmen Geitner though I believe it relates to a statement by Bernanke the head of the Fed.

(JG) There is no chance that congress will cut Social Security.

Military Dumbing Down
An ex-Marine asked if there was going to be a stop to the “dumbing down” of the military and that diversity training contributed to things such as the Fort Hood shooting and the arrest of 4 Marines for punching someone in the face in Iraq who had just killed a bunch of people.

(JG) He stated that there will be investigations as to the cause of events at Fort Hood and that they were already progressing.

Water Policy in CA
Tucked into the response on public works, Garamendi touched on the Delta issues. He pointed out that the 5th largest river in California where the recycling plants are in the south and that it makes no sense to take water from the Delta and move it 500 miles south and pump it over a mountain and make it cleaner when it arrives for a single use. He said that more public works to expand the recycle plants in the south would be a better approach.

Israel and Palestine
A person asked about the two state issue and then asked if he knew how to solve the whole Israel-Palestine situation. This drew a general sense of laughter from the audience.

(JG) He stated that there was a stop to the Israeli settlements, and that he supports the two state solution that goes back to the 1967 war. He recognized that Jerusalem was a major problem and that this has to be worked out by the people there.

Youth and Crime
A question was asked about the Youth Promise Act HR 1064 that relates to approaching youth in prison with programs.

(JG) While not familiar with the specific bill ((it is still in committee)) he supported the general theme of the questioner that we need to do more to keep youth out of jail and that we do not spend enough time addressing the issues that relate to the creation of crime.