Congressman Mark Sanford (R, SC-1) called a town hall on Friday afternoon for Saturday Night in N. Charleston and the local progressive community was able to rally about 30 people to participate. Notice was short and you have to be desperate or a nerd to show up for an event like this on Saturday night. To his credit, Sanford let everyone speak, recognized plenty of people who were obviously not conservatives and ran a civil Town Hall. Tea Party crazy made several appearances during the evening, but the crowd, including Republicans weren't in the mood to humor it.
We recorded the entire town hall. I also produced one short video highlighting the contribution of a College Student who has lost his job working on a Department of Agriculture project to cultivate herloom strains of collard greens which have anti cancer properties. A year's work growing these and other crops may be lost shortly when these vegitables rot in the field, unharvested and untested. The student was working three jobs and was also looking forward to getting coverage through Obamacare.
Most present wanted a clean CR and a return to working on the issues which divide America without being surrounded by a building that is on fire. Sanford made no hard committments but stated several times that promises that Obamacare would be destroyed by a shut down were probably oversold. Several people present, including some Republicans, stated they welcomed the opportunity to get health care coverage, some for the first time in over a decade.
Follow links from this post to the three segments containing the entire town hall meeting content. I've embedded the highlight vidoe. Links to the full meeting video Follow:
Thanks to everyone who attended and helped produce a balanced, sane discussion. Sanford made no major promises about what he would be doing at the Town Hall.
8:44 AM PT: Rob Groce has filed his report on Saturday Night which challenges some of Sanford's statements and positions, including the peculiar focus on the White House July 4th. Picnic http://www.rob-servations.com/...
Tue Oct 15, 2013 at 3:23 PM PT: Sanford's office in DC is open and they're answering calls on the second ring today, which indicates they're not as busy as they ought to be. Please call if you live in the district.
Mark Sanford
Phone: (202) 225-3176
Fax: (202) 225-3407