By Bud Huss
On February 18, four retired electricians–Les Lucas, Ron Ripley, Ken Rawles and I–went to the Suisun City Hall to attend Congressman John Garamendi’s Town Hall Meeting.
The front entrance to the City Hall was crowded with Tea Party protesters, who carried signs with their normal slogans and insults to the President and other politicians that are not of their liking. The people who came to hear Garamendi were not the least intimidated by the protestors, nor was Garamendi, who chose to listen to some of their grievances before he came inside the building for the Town Hall Meeting.
Garamendi is a very good speaker who has always been a good friend to working people. After his initial presentation, he invited anyone and everyone to come to the podium and ask any question about his position on issues that are of concern to them: health care, jobs, deficit, and the list goes on. Garamendi never beat around the bush with baloney and half-truths. His answers were very clear and easy to understand. We four retired electricians were all pleased that we came to this Town Hall Meeting and I believe that if not before we came, after the meeting we were all John Garamendi supporters.
I need to mention that the Tea Party people did not come in the hall and try to disrupt the meeting as you have seen take place on live network shows. I would guess that the majority of people at the meeting were construction workers that would have not tolerated their rude behavior.
Bud Huss is Vice President, IBEW Local 180 Retired Electrician Club