Last Updated: Wednesday, September 26, 2007 1:38 PM CDT
Kagen representative discusses local concerns
by Vern Hollister - Correspondent
In an ambitious schedule last week, Congressman Steve Kagen's field representative, Elisa Farmilant, stopped at nine town halls in two days to field "questions about government services" and to listen to "problems or concerns (brought) to the Congressman's attention ...," according to pre-Town Hall notices.
Each session with Farmilant lasted a half hour, and with only a few attending in Goodman, the first stop, questions and concerns from voters received individual attention. Part of the reason for the attendance lack, according to Goodman town chairman Bill Stankevich, was not enough advance notice.
Goodman resident Ed Lanthrip is a former trucker. He has a son who currently trucks. Lanthrip said the plan to allow Mexican truckers to enter the United States almost unabated is "the biggest rip-off I've ever heard. Why doesn't Bush abide by the of, for, and by the people? We don't have any rights. We've got no security whatsoever."
Lanthrip wanted to know Kagen's stand on the issue. On the same day at the town hall meeting, Kagen's office forwarded a press release. On Thursday, September 6, 2007, Kagen "... voiced his strong opposition to a Bush administration program to permit Mexican trucks to operate across the United States."
His official statement reads: "America is not for sale. When president Bush arranged the Dubai Ports world deal, the American people rejected it. And now the administration is attempting to do it again. Mexican trucks do not meet our U.S. standards. Period. We have no way of knowing if their drivers have passed drug tests. We have no way of knowing if they have been driving for 24 hours straight. We stopped the Dubai Ports deal, and working with Chairman Oberstar we will stop this Mexican truck deal.”
Town hall meetings included traveling from Goodman to Pembine and as far south as Beaver, five stops on Monday. Tuesday, Farmilant was to begin in Niagara and drive to Aurora, Florence and Tipler.
"We try to be here to help people who are not getting the services they need, to listen to either a need or a complaint," Farmilant said. "I'm basically doing constituency outreach in the district, making contact with the people in the district."
Her district includes Forest, Vilas, Florence Counties and the northern part of Marinette County. According to Farmilant, the biggest concern in Wisconsin was the prospect of doing away with SeniorCare. To date, it has been extended to 2009. Overall, health care is the number one issue followed by the war in Iraq.
Of the war, she said, "I think people are concerned about American lives, and the cost."
Farmilant said that Kagen's idea is to have a national risk pool for health care. "If you're a citizen in the risk pool, everyone is covered," she said, and likened the plan to veteran's health care where everyone is covered at a like rate.
On the local level and for Goodman, Stankevich said that the biggest issue is low school enrollment and bringing industry in to attract young families.
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At Congressman Steve Kagen's satellite office hour in Goodman, Ed Lanthrip shares his opinions about the possibility of allowing trucks and truckers to enter the United States from Mexico without inspections and checks.
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