Sen. Boxer to Meet Well Dressed San Diego Constituents — sort of!

Dear Readers: I went to the Aug. 14th protest today in front of the local offices of Senators Boxer and Feinstein as a citizen journalist. This rally was one of many nationwide held, as organized by Tea Party Patriots, in front of federal congressional and senatorial offices throughout the country to oppose HR3200 – ‘‘America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009’’. The Southern California Tax Revolt Coalition organized the local events. The rally was polite, non-confrontational (despite the presence of four pro-reform demonstrators who obviously failed to get the White House etiquette memo).

There are many important developments regarding nature of our citizens movement and the level of their engagement, which I discovered by talking to my fellow Americans. I hardly know where to begin. I have too much material to put into one blog post, so I am going to write several pieces to give my dear and cherished readers the full scope of information.

There are two key points to be highlighted today:

1) We had many first-time protesters, specifically citing their anger at being labeled by President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Reid, and media elitists as “astro-turf”, “members of a mob“, “Clansmen“, “un-American”, “political terrorists“, “Nazis“, and “evil-mongers“.

2) The citizens were in no mood to be consoled by form letters and statements “I will pass your comments on to the Senator” by low-level office assistants (and I say this with deep respect to these assistants, who are dealing respectfully with an active citizenry — the likes of which has absolutely no parallel in modern American history).

The number of people who came today to protest was at least double the amount of our similarly-styled July 17th rally. Today we had about 300 people at the Boxer-Feinstein office complex. It is reported another 75 showed up at Susan Davis’ office. One of the most common themes among the people at the rallies was that they were upset that neither Senator was planning to have a townhall in California during the August recess. Other Senators seem to be able to schedule them, so why not our California duo?

A group of six citizens, lead by the obviously well dressed Linda Reedy (pictured below), went up to deliver opposition letters and requests for appointment to the San Diego office. The intern duly took the message and said “she would inform her supervisor”. However, Kay (a savvy business professional) intervened and asked to see her supervisor. The local officer supervisor, Caridad Sanchez, was not in — in fact, only the intern was present at the office. Why? Because, per the statement of the office supervisor……………………..

BOXER HAS NOT BEEN TO HER SAN DIEGO OFFICE IN OVER 2 YEARS!

I think there was a revolution that once started because of taxation without representation, but I digress.

Kay insisted the intern call the supervisor, so that one of the constituents could have a chat to clarify our desire for a town hall or to actually have Senator Boxer come talk with the constituents. The intern called the supervisor, and Linda got on the line. When asked to make an appointment to see Sen. Boxer, Caridad countered “Boxer could not meet with everyone one-on-one”. Then, the five other people in the office chimed in loudly:

THAT IS WHY YOU NEED TOWNHALLS!

At this point, Carolyn (a newly minted protester), worried about the socialist direction of this country, said “she has an obligation to meet with her constituents — she is our representative. She serves us, we do not serve her.” I might add Carolyn and I meet earlier, when she noted that I was taking quotes and pictures. She was worried that I might be “an ACORN plant who would distort our message.” I wonder why she is worried about plants and distortions? Anyway, a few minutes of giving my Tea Party resume allayed her reasonable concerns. I am glad, because I would have been toast if I were really an ACORN plant — this is Carolyn:

Caridad Sanchez refused to get onto speaker phone, despite the fact we all wanted to hear what she had to say about scheduling an appointment with Boxer. My fellow Americans spent 15 minutes on the phone trying to convince Caridad that Boxer:

1) Had to come to the San Diego office.
2) Had to meet with at least some of her constituents.
3) Should be doing townhalls like other Senators (it kind of gives you some respect for Senator Arlen Specter, who has at least held them).

The best we could do as a 10 am meeting with Ms. Sanchez next Tuesday (Aug. 18th) at Boxer’s downtown office (600 B Street, Suite 2240 in downtown San Diego). But we scheduled the meeting, and all six of us are planning to be there to hear what she has to say on behalf of Senator Boxer. Needless to say that this citizen journalist will be here with pad in hand. This should be HOT!

Babs — I don’t know how to break this to you, but form letters and lackey kiss-offs are not going to cut it with Californians any longer! We are just not content with video clips filmed by friendly media and pictures on local office walls. You need to put a little skin in this game, girlfriend!

I must say, I did not see anyone from the “Brooks Brother Brigade”. It was the traditional t-shirt and shorts set. However, I will note that Kay was probably the most glamorous citizen activist I have ever seen at this type of event! She was wearing a lovely yellow linen dress with eyelet details that was to-die-for.

UPDATE: Ed Morrissey of Hot Air has compiled a list of “Milk Carton” politicians! You will note California’s Senate reps are towards the top of the list.