After 25 sheriff's deputies showed up at Marc Steinorth's district office, it was evident to all that the embattled assemblyman had to meet with his constituents, and just about anyone else who was furious with his Cap-N-Betrayal vote.
In case you missed it, here's the video with all the deputies from the California Highway Patrol ready to rumble:
And here's the 30 minute meeting Steinorth held with voters
Notice how he wanted to take the vast majority of the time to justify his vote.
He kept talking about saving jobs, protecting small businesses, and saving the environment.
Sure, all of that sweet talk is nice and good.
But none of it is true.
Joseph Turner of American Children First asked some very pointed questions.
Steinorth retorted that Turner was paid to be there.
In fact, everyone seated at the table in Steinorth's office attended that meeting on their own time, with no money paid for them to be there.
That is the most shameful thing that I heard in the whole conference.
But other elements are noteworthy.
You will notice that Steinorth repeatedly declared that he had to cast that hard vote. It was either a moderated form of Cap and Trade, or an unelected agency would go full Command and Control.
Baloney.
The fact is that many Democrats did not want to vote for the terrible program. Left-wing as well as conservative activists wanted to stop the Cap and Trade sellout, and the third-house money was the only reason pushing people to cave and vote for that terrible program.
Unthinkable.
Notice also how Steinorth tries to throw the shame back onto the angry constituents: "Would you want me to destroy businesses?"
Then came one question: "Why not let the Democrats own the program?"
Steinorth tried to sound like some martyr-champion: "I did not want to stand and look at the desolation and then claim that I had stood my ground."
Give me a break!
Yeah, sure, he listed a whole bunch of business interests who wanted to support the Cap and Trade program. That's not liberty, and that is not free market capitalism. All that Steinorth did is promote cronyism, especially for public interests who claim to serve as private forces. It's all a bunch of bunkum.
Just as he gave me a line about his widespread availability with constituents. That is the oldest trick in the political playbook. Politicians will sweet-talk their constituents with the argument "Hey, you can call me any time!" But what's the point of contact your lawmakers when they continue to vote against your best interests?
What's the point of emailing and calling your representative when they don't do what you want? The truth is that constituents, voters need to demand power, not just beg for access to their representatives.
They work for us, and therefore we should not have to work hard to get in touch with them.
In the above meeting, you will notice that Judi Neal of Mountain View Republicans demanded to know why Steinorth took the time to meet with big business interests, but never bothered to discuss with individual constituents, aka taxpaying citizens, about their views on the Cap and Trade deal.
He had no credible answer … because he never could have one.
I had decided not to go to the meeting, but perhaps I could have attended, and been there long enough to ask one question: "When are you going to resign?"
I don't want to hear legislators' excuses for selling out their voters. They either must do the right thing, or the only right thing left for them to do is … resign.