As the dog days of August slowly slip into the history books, and cooler temperatures, changing leaves, and football are on the way, I thought it might be worthwhile to review with you the type of activities a Member of Congress is involved in during the so-called August District Work Period. The month began with passage of the debt-ceiling agreement on August 1st, which had been the source of much of the debate for the previous two months of the summer. It’s safe to say that no one was particularly satisfied with it, but it gained a majority of votes in the House and in the Senate and President Obama signed it into law.
Then Members of Congress scattered like scalded dogs back to their districts all over America to answer to the people. The August District Work Period (the press often refers to it as the August Recess) is traditionally a time to get your finger back on the pulse of the people you represent. Here’s a sampling of some of the meetings and activities I was involved in over the last month – keeping in touch with the folks I have the honor to represent in the United States Congress.
On the health front, I visited and/or toured Children’s Hospital, University Hospital, Mercy Hospital Western Hills, and the Urology Group in Norwood. I also met with representatives of the Arthritis Foundation, the Multiple Sclerosis Society, the Ohio Medicare Network, and the Ohio AIDS Coalition in my downtown Cincinnati office.
I had meetings with senior citizen groups in Cleves, North College Hill, St. Bernard, and Norwood. Although we discussed a broad range of issues, and I answered a lot of questions, I’d say the issues which came up most frequently were Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and of all things, foreign aid (they don’t like it.)
On the education front, I visited St. Peter and Paul Academy in Reading, Head Start in Bond Hill, and ITT Technical Institute in Norwood. ITT prepares its students for careers in information and electronics technology, drafting and design, business, criminal justice, and health sciences. (Now we just have to make sure that we get this economy moving again so there are jobs out there for the students to occupy when they graduate.)
On the jobs front, I met with groups of small business owners in College Hill and Green Township. I met with the President of the Cincinnati Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. I toured the Coca Cola bottling facility in Madisonville and Cincinnati Electronics in Mason. I cut the ribbon for the grand opening of the new Michael’s Arts and Crafts store at the Western Hills Shopping Center and donned the brown uniform of a UPS deliveryman as I helped deliver packages with UPS driver Harvey Wolfe.
I had the honor of presenting the Korea Defense Service Medal to Bill Wyder, who served his country and earned his medal more than a half century ago in Korea (but never got it.) I presented a letter of congratulations to Marqicia Jones-Woods at the Lincoln Recreation Center in the West End for being a role model and inspiring young girls to live up to their potential through drill, dance, and hard work.
And yes, I had a few town hall meetings (in Greenhills, North Avondale, and Westwood) and managed to raise some controversy. In a nutshell here’s what happened (in case you’ve been in seclusion in Martha’s Vineyard, or in a cave somewhere.)
I’ve been holding town hall meetings for fifteen years now – in general, no major problems or controversy. Then, some years back, we started getting complaints from some attendees who felt their privacy was being violated by people bringing in video cameras. Their concern was that the things they’d bring up were sensitive – health issues, disputes with the IRS, etc., and they didn’t want other people taping them. After first getting advice from the U.S. House of Representatives Sergeant at Arms, we responded by clearly displaying signs at our town hall meetings which said “Video Recording Devices are Prohibited.” No problems until the town meeting in North Avondale last week, when two people ignored the signs; a Cincinnati police officer asked them to stop; they refused and he took the two cameras and returned them at the end of the meeting. Over the next week, there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth so we modified the policy, once again allowing cameras in the town hall meetings, but meeting privately after the meeting without cameras with those who wanted the privacy. (Seemed like a reasonable compromise.)
Anyway, I’ll be in Cincinnati for about another week before I have to head back to Washington for the fall session. If you’d like to weigh in on any issue, or if I can be of any help, please let me know.