I learned this morning, thanks to Firedoglake that my congressman, Bill Pascrell, has taken the progressive pledge to vote down any health care legislation that does not include a public option.
So I called his local main office in Paterson, NJ, to express my appreciation.
And, to all you NJ progressives, I learned that Rep. Pascrell will be holding a town hall meeting on September 3! Details below the fold.
I find this signficant because for weeks I have been checking town hall lists hoping to see Pascrell's name. Perhaps I wasn't dogged enough, or perhaps this is a new deal.
But related to this, either through Pascrell's neglect or my own poor (rusty) journalistic skills, I have not seen Pascrell commit to a strong public option in any mainstream outlet. (I told his rep this on the phone. She agreed to suggest to Pascrell a letter or op-ed for the Star-Ledger. We'll see.)
So, I do not know yet whether I will be able to get to the town hall (I suspect I will), but it seems like it would be essential for SOME NJ progressive to get there, ask him the question, and get it on record that Pascrell supports the public option.
Now some good important details. The meeting will be held on THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, from 4 PM TO 6 PM in the University Hall Conference Center at Montclair State University.
MSU is a great school but very much a difficult campus to manage in terms of parking. Hard to walk to because it is far from town. But, NJ Transit has bus lines that can get you there, and there is a major NJ Transit Rail hub on campus that serves the Manhatten direct Red Line.
Something else that is good to know. MSU has a serious campus police force. They take campus order very, very seriously and they are well-staffed. I cannot imagine that any wingnuts will be tolerated, even a little bit. And whacko fucknuts with guns and veiled threats? Probably taken directly into custody on sight. (I hope.)
Anyway - hope to see you there.