Recess Roastings: Local Paper: “Hot About Health Care, but Foster on Trip”

Local Paper: “Hot About Health Care, but Foster on Trip”

Bill Foster Jet Sets To Israel Leaving Staff To Pick Up The Pieces on Healthcare

Dems Promised To Be There For Constituents:

Majority Leader Steny Hoyer: “‘We’re going to be on the air, we’re going to be in neighborhoods,’ he said. ‘We’re going to have a lot of help.’” (Steven T. Dennis, “Hoyer Says Democrats Going on Offense Over August,” Roll Call, 07/30/09)

Recess Roasting: But Dem Rep. Bill Foster Didn’t Get The Memo:

“Almost every aspect of the debate came to the fore during a sometimes contentious, sometimes loud, sometimes angry exchange of ideas at an office hours program run by U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-Geneva.

The office hours program is run ostensibly for people to bring in problems, most likely dealing with Medicare, Social Security, veteran benefits or the like. Congressional staff members man the two-hour events to answer questions from constituents.

But at Thursday afternoon’s meeting at the Geneva Library, about 150 people showed up with one thing in mind: health care.

For some, their No. 1 question was: where was Foster? The congressman is with 20 other legislators on a junket to Israel, which Dan McDonald, Foster’s press representative and one of the staffers at the meeting, called “a fact-finding trip” regarding the situation in the Middle East.

But that did not sit well with many at Thursday’s event, who said he should be in his district, listening to the people.

“This is the biggest bill of our lives, and he should hear what we have to say,” said one woman.

Richard Lau, a North Aurora man, accused Foster of “running out” on his constituents.

“He put you between me and him, and he should have been here himself to hear from the people,” Lau said.

—

“Relay to him that if he votes for this bill we will vote him out of office,” said Doug Henry, a member of the Kane County Young Republicans who attended the meeting. (Steve Lord, “Hot about health care, but Foster on trip,” The Geneva Sun, 8/14/2009)

To read the full article, click here: http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/genevasun/news/1715850,Geneva-Foster-health-care-meeting_au081409.article

###