Fearful of forfeiting his cushy congressional seat after a disastrous first year in office, desperate Democrat Tom Perriello has issued another press release—devoid of substance—in a last-ditch attempt to mollify outraged constituents.
After boastfully hosting 21 town hall meetings throughout Virginia’s 5th District in which attendees overwhelming urged the boy Congressman to reject the socialist health care bill, Perriello disregarded the stated will of his representees and arrogantly voted in favor of H.R. 3962.
Now, two-faced Tom wants us to believe that he’s on our side in demanding “greater transparency” in health care negotiations, as the Senate and House “reconcile” their differences behind closed doors.
Don’t believe it.
Perriello spokesman Jessica Barba issued today, the following press release:
Office of Congressman Tom Perriello
Representing Virginia’s 5th District
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 8, 2009
Contact: Jessica Barba, (202) 226-7953
Perriello Urges Greater Transparency in Health Care Negotiations
Washington, DC—Congressman Tom Perriello released the following statement regarding transparency in the final negotiations of health care reform legislation. He has also signed on to a letter to congressional leaders urging them to hold a conference committee, rather than informal discussions, to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate bills.
“I held 21 town hall meetings in August – more than any other Member of Congress in the country – because I believe the American people deserve to play a role in the process as we work to improve our nation’s health care system. As differences are reconciled between the House and Senate bills, we should again engage the American people in the discussion, whether by televising the negotiations or ensuring the bill is available to the public at least 72 hours before any vote. Only with greater transparency and an open process can we make sure pork and unfair taxes are not in the final version.”
While this plea may sound sincere to the uninitiated, recall that two-faced Tom has played this game before.
To wit, Perriello made a similar request of Speaker Pelosi, prior to passage of H.R. 1, commonly know as the “stimulus” bill, as reported by David Swanson:
Before the final [stimulus bill] vote, Perriello bucked party leadership by requesting that the final vote be delayed until 48 hours after the bill had been posted online, to allow constituents ample time to study and understand the bill. He was one of only 18 Democrats to take this stand. In a letter sent to Speaker Nancy Pelosi yesterday afternoon, Perriello said, “I support the passage of this bill because only urgent and dramatic action can begin to close the $2 trillion contraction in our national economy, but providing for these funds does not exempt us from our responsibility to keep policy-making transparent for our constituents.” [emphasis added]
The full text of Perriello’s letter to Pelosi, linked from Swanson’s web posting, has since been removed from the Congressman’s web site. Why? Perhaps because Pelosi did not delay the vote as requested, yet two-faced Tom voted for H.R. 1 anyway.
Words are worthless, Tom, unless you have the cojones to back them up with actions. Save your phony posturing for the stage, which come to think of it, just may be the perfect transitional career for a soon-to-be-former congressman.
Mr Schilling you never cease to amaze me. If you were told that a republican representative “bucked party leadership by requesting that the final vote be delayed until 48 hours after the bill had been posted online, to allow constituents ample time to study and understand the bill” you would be ecstatic.
If the representative then said, “I held 21 town hall meetings in August – more than any other Member of Congress in the country – because I believe the American people deserve to play a role in the process as we work to improve our nation’s health care system. As differences are reconciled between the House and Senate bills, we should again engage the American people in the discussion, whether by televising the negotiations or ensuring the bill is available to the public at least 72 hours before any vote. Only with greater transparency and an open process can we make sure pork and unfair taxes are not in the final version”, you would be overjoyed.
But you cannot give any credit where credit is due. Our representative is making a great effort to listen. How many of the townhall meetings did you go to? How many questions did you ask? And if you did go, did you give concrete, thoughtful ideas to help the public understand the bill?
“Words are worthless, Tom, unless you have the cojones to back them up with actions.” I can say the same of you. Why not take your forum and give ideas to solve our nations problems rather than ditto everything the right wingers say?
Mr. Periello may have put on more town hall meetings than anyone else in Congress but then he abandoned his constituents by voting with his leadership and ignoring the fact that voters in the 5th district overwhelmingly opposed the socialist healthcare reforms put forth. He was sent to congress to REPRESENT the 5th District, not decide what is best for us. I am so tired of democrats in Congress ignoring the very people who put them in and marching to the likes of Nance Pelosi. The results of this non representation were seen in Mass this past week and will be clearly seen this coming November.
Mr. Tom Whitehead,
I’m glad that you are constantly amazed, but you are incorrect in your speculation. I would not be ecstatic over a contrived move by a disingenuous politician like Tom Perriello, be he Republican, Democrat, Libertarian or other.
The boy-Congressman held 21 meetings and then completely disregarded most of what he “listened” to. Our “representative” certainly is not representing our interests.