Rep. Gerry Connolly’s private, gated town hall at the Springfield’s Greenspring Retirement Community on Tuesday left demonstrators feeling like their congressman intentionally ducked them.
A small group of protesters were relegated to the outskirts of Greenspring. Some said they were turned away at the gate.
“He’s definitely hiding from us,” said Geraldine Davie, a retired schoolteacher from Springfield.
Connolly, a Virginia Democrat, “simply wants to make the appearance that he is listening to constituents, but he doesn’t want to face those who oppose his views,” said John Fisher, a government lawyer from Oak Hill.
Fisher said the current health care proposal “amounts to the first step toward socialism,” and disputed the notion that he and other protesters wanted to dismantle all federal entitlements.
“I don’t think most people out here are in favor of that,” he said. “They feel that we have a health care system that works for 85 percent of the people, and that unfortunately doesn’t cover 15 percent. There are ways to bring those 15 percent into health care coverage without destroying the 85 percent who are happy with theirs.”
Connolly’s staff has said the Greenspring venue allowed him to speak directly to seniors.
The congressman said he hasn’t committed to any specific legislation. He added that he, too, was concerned about aspects of the draft health care bill in the House. But he said he wanted to bring the 47 million uninsured Americans “into the system,” expand prescription drug coverage and cut the number of families resorting to the emergency room for health care.
“I want to make sure that catastrophic illness doesn’t bankrupt families in America,” he said.
