A flawed forum, but health-care talk was real

“Boooo!”

Duane Coffey didn’t like what he was hearing from Alan Grayson. So he let him know.

“Boooooooo!!” he repeated a few minutes later, louder and longer.

Coffey sounded angry. He looked mad.

And yet, moments after Orlando’s one and only health-care town-hall meeting disbanded, the 43-year-old father of three and critic of Barack Obama’s health-care plans looked happy as a clam.

“I’m glad Grayson had this,” he said with a smile. “I think he needed to hear what people think. And tonight, he did.”

Oh, Coffey still had his objections — both to the plan and to the way the Democratic congressman stacked the room in his favor. (Think of a deck of cards where three out of every four cards was an ace … in Grayson’s pocket.)

But the result was a “town hall” meeting unlike most of what we have seen in the rest of America — rational and with meaningful discussion — even though most of the questions came from critics.

As such, you probably won’t see much about it on Fox or CNN.

The 24-hour media, after all, have no more interest in covering rational discussions than the public has in watching them.

Still, some good things happened here — and some bad. Here’s a recap:

•Good: Grayson held a meeting. That’s more than can be said for most of Central Florida’s congressional reps — including Republicans.

•Bad: Grayson loaded the dice. For some people, this overshadowed everything else. And I can see why. Grayson pre-loaded the venue with Democrats, so that less than half the seats were even available to rank-and-file citizens. That move was transparent and tainted things from the get-go.

•Good: The format. Grayson used a format that rotated speaking time among supporters, opponents and undecideds — with most “undecideds” actually offering criticism or pointed questions. As a result, even though Grayson had obviously tilted the playing field in his favor, critics got more speaking time.

•Bad: The venue choice. Come on, a union hall that seats 125 people? Too small and too partisan. It’s understandable that Grayson wanted a space manageable enough to allow actual discussions. But when you’re only letting about 45 regular folks in, that doesn’t pass the smell test.

•Good: He had ‘Read the bill.’ Grayson knew the specifics. Even his critics said as much. They didn’t all agree with his answers or interpretations. But most were impressed by his familiarity with the 1,000-plus-page bill. He even had a big-screen copy to read with the audience, line by line.

•Bad: The repeated child references. Grayson brought three of his children to the meeting and then repeatedly cited their presence in an effort to thwart objections from the crowd or as his excuse for needing to wrap up. It was unseemly.

•Good: Willing to listen. More than once, Grayson disagreed with a critic’s interpretation of the bill — but said he could be swayed. Such was the case when one woman suggested the bill would cover prostate checkups but not breast exams. Grayson disagreed but then provided his staff’s contact information and said that, if she could offer any proof of that, he would personally file an amendment to fix that discrepancy. He also ultimately agreed to stay late and hear from additional critics.

Overall, Grayson accomplished his goal. He held a productive meeting, filled with questions from critics, but that wasn’t dominated by screaming.

Did he open himself up to criticism? You bet.

But Grayson’s office was even receptive to that, saying late Tuesday that the congressman plans to hold another town hall — this time with improvements.

(Details on that aren’t set. More info on that — as well as a telephone town hall he’s holding Thursday — at 407-841-1757 or grayson.house.gov.)

Like many of the protesters there Monday night, Frank Ioppolo was thoroughly unimpressed with Grayson’s venue choice and deck-stacking.

That said, after he actually took part in a real discussion dominated by thoughtful questions, Ioppolo surprised himself. “I came here very much opposed,” said the 67-year-old lawyer and former Disney attorney. “But now I’m undecided.

“I give him credit for doing his homework and not sticking to the playbook.”

Ioppolo certainly isn’t ready to start touting Obama’s health-care plan. Not by a long shot.

But he wishes that more Americans would engage in constructive dialogues — and that all Americans would keep a little “world perspective” in mind.

No, not everyone will get to fuss directly in the face of their public official. But to even live in a country where that is allowed makes Ioppolo proud.

“Yeah, we’ve got faults,” he said. “But imagine this kind of debate in most any other country. My goodness.”
Click here to read the full story.