Since I did pretty well coding support for del.icio.us bookmarks tonight, I rode my bike over to the Santa Clara City Hall for our Congressman Mike Honda's Town Meeting. He conducts about three of these, during each Congressional recess (twice a year). I got there a few minutes early. There were only about 100 people there, and after I sat down I noticed that the front row was nearly empty, so I moved up and began talking to Mike about the weather, and apologized for us having our first mini heat wave of the year just as he came home for vacation. We told him to keep our weather a secret but he said that "they already know", and explained what we already know about Washington, D.C. heat and humidity.
Then, Mike sat down next to me as city council member Jamie McLeod introduced him. Yep, my congressman, wearing a necktie, sitting right next to me in my t-shirt and shorts. He even removed the chewing gum from his mouth, placed it on a piece of used paper, folded the paper up, got out of his chair, walked a few steps to his jacket that was hanging on the back of another chair, and placed the gummy paper in his jacket pocket. He probably threw it in the trash when he got home tonight. I've always known that he was a good guy. I wonder how many representatives would have tried to stick it under their chair while I wasn't looking?
No, I didn't say anything serious because I knew there would be plenty of people who wanted to talk, and many heartfelt and important things were said. And, as I expected, there was ample opportunity to join the applause whenever the word "impeachment" was mentioned. No one screamed at him when explained his reasons for not signing on to HR333. I'd been thinking that, since this is right next door to their headquarters, the local police might have assigned an officer to walk over and see how things were going. But the only vestige of a uniformed officer seemed to be a Vietnam veteran, now in regular clothing, who asked Mike to please figure out a way to stop executives who were AWOL during their youth from ordering others to charge up the hill while they and their children watch it on TV. That's Silicon Valley for you. Irreverent, but civil. Most all of the speakers started by thanking Mike for his service and the meeting. Fifty miles north of here, in San Francisco, I understand that things have gotten so bitter between Nancy Pelosi and some of her constituents that she doesn't have Town Hall meetings any more.
My main reason for going was to do my part to see that Mike and his staff saw that people care. It did become standing room only, maybe 200 people, about 20 minutes after the meeting started, but by the end it had dwindled down to about 100 again. Two hundred people coming to 3 meetings is 600. In a district population of over 600,000, this means that less than 1 in 1000 constitutents show up. Also, looking around, it seemed that at least 85% of the people were older than me (51). If I discounted Mike's staff and the students from the Advanced Placement Government class from Evergreen Valley High School, it would be more like 90% older than me.
So, if you missed your representative's Town Hall meeting this time, be sure to go the next one. And watch what he/she does with their chewing gum.