By Donald H. Harrison
EL CAJON, California–For those of us who are attuned to every development in Middle Eastern news–worrying about violence in Syria and Egypt, negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, and the prospect of Iran getting the N-bomb–attending a town hall meeting such as the one Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-San Diego) conducted at Grossmont College for East County residents on Monday evening, Oct. 21, may have constituted quite a reality check.
In approximately forty minutes of questions and answers between the Jewish member of Congress and her East County constituents, how many times do you think foreign policy–much less the Middle East–came up in questioning?
Zero times. Nada. It wasn’t even a topic of interest. There were 16 questions posed to the congresswoman, everyone of them dealing with domestic issues, and some dealing with issues that might even be described as hyper-local. Some clearly were asked by people with their minds made up about certain ideological issues; others were asked by people who genuinely were seeking information rather than trying to score debating points. Davis handled all the questions fairly effortlessly.
The people from El Cajon, La Mesa, Lemon Grove, and some of the eastern portions of the City of San Diego were interested in how the United States can curb its growing national debt; whether homes will again be affordable; whether big shipyards are squeezing small businesses out of contracts they rightly deserve; what Congress can do to help federal employees victimized during the recent government shut-down; whether Democrats are responsible for a downturn in the economy; and what spending programs of the federal government the congresswoman would cut.
Other questions concerned how children can be kept safe when they go to school; how student loans can be made more affordable; whether Californians realize they can purchase insurance to protect against medical catastrophes; what should be done with the Navy’s Broadway complex; how citizens can be protected against Wall Street greed; whether cutting IRS funding resulted in less revenues; whether members of Congress are trained to recognize and stop sexual harassment; whether there should be user fees for takeoffs and landings at local airports; whether Obama Care will deepen the country’s economic crisis; and whether members of Congress are beholden to their campaign contributors.
Davis listened courteously to the questions, then answered some of them, parried others, suggested other questioners might meet with her staff to explore their concerns further, and in general made the evening a forum for East County residents to express their opinions, rather than for her to provide detailed answers.
In discussing the economic situation of the country, Davis said that the recent government shutdown had cost the country approximately $24 billion because a “lot of work didn’t get done. A tremendous amount of people couldn’t get the services” and that, for all the debate and drama of the congressional stalemate leading to the shutdown, nothing had been accomplished.
Davis expressed the hope that her fellow Democrats and Republicans will have learned from the experience and find some way to compromise before the next fiscal deadline. She said while some people in Washington believe the government can only be forced to accomplish something when presented with a crisis, she hopes that no one will ever again hold the national economy hostage. “Imagine if we did that all the time!” she said.
The congresswoman won applause after segueing from a question about campaign finances to a discussion about restrictions on voting. Whereas in California, people may vote by mail, she said, in as many as 25 other states, they are not permitted to do so without first filing an application. “I think especially in federal elections people ought not to be standing in line at 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. at night” waiting for the opportunity to vote, she declared.
On the issue of protecting school children from people with guns, she said “we need to be careful about getting guns into the hands of children,” pointing out that a middle school student in Nevada in that very day’s news had shot a teacher to death and wounded two other students.
Additionally, she said, strides must be made against bullying. At the same time, she added, there needs to be adequate health care for children. In some cases, she said, the school nurse is the only medical professional that a child from a poor family ever sees. And now faced with tight budgets more and more schools are cutting back on nurses.
Davis said although sexual harassment in the work place makes headlines, bullying at job sites is an even more widespread problem. Either way, she said, “if something like that happened in my office, my chief of staff and I would be on it.” Asked if sexual harassment was a particular problem among members of Congress–a clear reference to former congressman-and-San-Diego-Mayor Bob Filner — Davis said that to the contrary, “I don’t see much of that. It is not the sort of thing that you see a lot.”
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted at donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com