Cross Posted From Calitics
It's been almost a month since Jason Rosenbaum's diary Senator Feinstein, Stop Nay-Saying On Health Reform. Now that Obama is involved in earnest in getting a bill passed, it's time we took another look.
Here's the short version: I called her office in San Francisco today, and wouldn't you know it, no change. No word. No statement. No dice. No leadership. No pass go, no get your $200.
Even Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine, a frigging Republican, has now endorsed a public option plan. DiFi? No. Nil. Nada. Hai Mei You.
What's it going to take to us to Drag DiFi To Health?
I won't say that calling her office will do any damn good. But that isn't stopping me, and it shouldn't stop you.
My call today, to the San Francisco office, took a bit of time to get answered (busy signals, twice this time), but the aide eventually did pick up. Here's the deal right now.
In previous calls, the Senator's position was that there was no bill to look at, so she was not going to take a position yet. This is no longer the case, with both the HELP committee and the Finance committee of the Senate looking at bills. There is a right and wrong answer right now. The HELP bill has a real public option, and the Finance bill has Senator Conrad's sham co-ops.
Feinstein, however, is still choosing a third option, Decline To State. The aide says that for right now, the official statement is that Feinstein's office has no official statement. Even Olympia Snowe is a better supporter of health care right now than Diane Feinstein. Even Olympia Snowe is a better supporter of President Obama's health care initiative than Diane Feinstein.
DiFi is not up for re-election until 2012, and she did not face the serious opposition that she deserved in 2006. But still, there needs to be consistent pressure to her offices, consistently applied, until she does the right thing, or we get the woman to resign her seat. She was elected to be a leader. So lead is what she needs to do.
Again, here are the telephone numbers for her offices, as taken from her web site:
Local offices:
San Francisco
One Post Street, Suite 2450
San Francisco, CA 94104
Phone: (415) 393-0707
Fax: (415) 393-0710
The following counties are served by the San Francisco office: Alameda, Butte, Colusa, Contra Costa, Del Norte, El Dorado, Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Lassen, Marin, Mendocino, Modoc, Monterey, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, San Benito, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity, Yolo, Yuba.
Los Angeles
11111 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 915
Los Angeles, CA 90025
Phone: (310) 914-7300
Fax: (310) 914-7318
The following counties are served by the Los Angeles office: Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Ventura.
San Diego
750 B Street, Suite 1030
San Diego, CA 92101
Phone: (619) 231-9712
Fax: (619) 231-1108
The following counties are served by the San Diego office: Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Imperial, San Diego.
Fresno
2500 Tulare Street, Suite 4290
Fresno, CA 93721
Phone: (559) 485-7430
Fax: (559) 485-9689
The following counties are served by the Fresno office: Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Fresno, Imperial, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, Mono, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, Stanislaus, Tulare, Tuolumne.
And the office in DC:
Phone: (202) 224-3841
Fax: (202) 228-3954
TTY/TDD: (202) 224-2501
Be polite, but be persistent. And keep calling.
And if you can, show up at one of these offices with a few friends, or 10. And make sure that Feinstein knows that we will not let her alone until she makes the stand her constituents deserve and demand.