Health care bill foes express dissent to Sutton
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LORAIN — The discontent of some against the nation’s leaders made its way to Lorain on Friday when 10 people from five cities and four different groups delivered a letter and a petition to U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton’s office.
Members of the groups — Medina County Friends and Neighbors, the Akron Tea Party, the Cleveland Tea Party, the Westlake 9/12 Group and the Lorain 9/12 Project — say they believe legislators aren’t reading bills before voting on them, and that they aren’t voting in accordance with the views of their constituents.
The letter and the petition demands both, and it also seeks to have Sutton to post online any bill she’s voting on at least 72 hours prior to the vote so constituents can read the bills and give her feedback.
Miles McClelland, a field representative for Sutton, accepted the letter and the petition, which included the signatures of 1,328 people who signed during the Medina County Fair.
John Viola, 65, of North Ridgeville and a member of the Lorain 9/12 project, said many have the wrong perception of why his group formed.
“We’re not a violent group,” he said. “We’re just American citizens, and we’re not being heard.”
The 10 or so folks who visited Sutton’s office Friday said they are upset with Sutton’s support of HR 32000, which deals with health care reform. They contend the majority of people in the country are against it.
“They’re not representing their constituents,” MCFAN member Charles Reno of Medina said of federal legislators. “They’re called ‘representatives.’ There’s a clue there, and they’re not representing … The majority of people in this district and across the country are against these health care bills … and (legislators) aren’t listening.”
In a teleconference earlier this week about the health care reform effort, Sutton was asked whether she’s read the bill, and she assured those who dialed in that she had.
A representative from her office also said Friday that the group’s opposition to changes in health care isn’t what Sutton’s staff hears every day from callers pleading for reform.
Contact Alicia Castelli at 329-7144 or acastelli@chroniclet.com.
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so each congressional district has about 600,000 people in it, and they collected signatures from 1300 who, from the groups listed, probably don’t live in Betty Sutton’s district, and these people think that a majority of the people in her district are against the bill?
a majority would be over 300,000 Charles…and if you live in Medina like the article says, you’re not even in Betty Sutton’s district!
Betty, thank you for Cash 4 Clunkers! don’t let these partisans who don’t realize that they’re already paying more for health care because the system is so bad. and listen to your constituents not people who don’t even live in your district like folks in Medina and West Lake.
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