Representative Michele Brooks is "On the Road Again"

Written by Roberta Biros

Representative Michele Brooks (R-17) sent an email announcement yesterday morning stating that she would be hosting three town hall meetings in December. The meetings were scheduled for December 1, 2, and 3 from 7pm until 8pm. The announcement provided very short notice to its recipients, but it was an interesting announcement none the less. Why? Well, allow me to explain!

Most interesting is the fact that Representative Michele Brooks is the ONLY legislator that represents any portion of Mercer County that schedules town hall meetings on a regular basis. I am on the email lists of Sen. Bob Robbins, Rep. Dick Stevenson, Rep. Mark Longietti, and Rep. Michele Brooks, and Rep. Brooks seems to be the only one that regularly meets with her constituents in an open forum. For the record, I would be more than happy to attend and summarize any and all meetings of other Mercer County legislators, but there haven’t been any that I am aware of.

Also of interest to me were the locations of Rep. Brooks’ meetings. You may recall that back in May Rep. Brooks held two town hall meetings (read my summary of those meetings HERE). At that time I criticized that both meetings were scheduled for the northwest corner of her district (in Espyville in Crawford County and Greenville in Mercer County). It was my opinion that Rep. Brooks was staying close to her home town of Jamestown and ignoring the rest of her district because she wanted to remain in her “comfort zone”. This month, however, the three meetings were stretched across the vast expanse of the 17th District as follows:

Dec. 1 – Coolspring Township Building, 852 North Perry Highway, Mercer.
Dec. 2 – Cochranton Firehall, 113 Adams St., Cochranton.
Dec. 3 – Washington Township Building, 1413 George Washington Road, Volant.

The careful planning of these meetings is clearly an attempt to cover a much larger piece of real estate, and I give her credit for that. Insert well deserved applause HERE.

I already had previous engagements for December 2nd and 3rd, so I decided to attend the December 1 meeting. Besides, the Coolspring Township location was only a few minutes from my home in Delaware Township. I covered one of her May meetings pretty thoroughly [READ HERE], but I was curious to see if the content matter changed 6 months later.

The meeting was scheduled to begin at 7pm. Unlike the meeting in May, I managed to arrive at this meeting on time and was able to experience the excitement from start to finish. There were between 15 and 20 attendees. Rep. Brooks did not have a planned discussion thread. Instead, she opened the floor to open comments from the attendees and she fielded any and all questions that were tossed her way.

The discussion topics varied, but the following issues were all discussed at some level:

I-80 Tolling
Health Care Reform
2009-2010 PA State Budget
Fair Funding
Police Services
Alternative Energy
PA Agricultural Caucus
Fire Departments
Term Limits
Building Codes
Regulations re: Outdoor Wood Stoves
Guantanamo Bay Prisoners

Below is a more detailed overview of some of the more interesting (and, perhaps, controversial) topics:

I-80 Tolling

Although many people think that the issue of the tolling of I-80 is long over, the truth is that the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has resubmitted an application for enacting tolls on the interstate to the Federal Highway Administration. The two prior applications were rejected, but the Turnpike Commission’s attempts continue. This was the first topic that was brought up by attendees of the meeting, and Representative Brooks was anxious to discuss the topic in detail. As per Rep. Brooks:

“I am spearheading an effort with Congressman Thompson (R-PA 5) and Congresswoman Dahlkemper (D-PA 3) to coordinate a meeting with the Secretary of the Highway Administration. We want to arrange for a delegation to travel to Washington to meet with Secretary LaHood.”

Rep. Brooks made it clear that the goal of the meeting would be to turn down tolling on I-80, but she feels that it is important to make sure that the information used to make the decision is accurate. Rep. Brooks sited various examples of misinformation regarding recent studies and comments regarding “over exaggeration regarding the potential economic hardships for the area”, and she wants to make sure that accurate data is presented from the stand point of trucking, goods and services, and agriculture.

Rep. Brooks pointed out that “while this is a Federal decision, we have rallied to point out the deficiencies in the application that the Turnpike Commission has submitted . . . they have spent millions of dollars getting their story out and we need to make sure that our story is also heard”.

Rep. Brooks also stated “the merits of application have not changed … and we want to make certain that decisions are made on the merit of the application and not on the politics . . . Washington politics should not be involved in this decision”. Rep Brooks stated “there is too much at stake to do otherwise”.

After a long and detailed discussion of the topic, Representative Brooks stated regarding the tolling of I-80, “We aren’t going down without a fight”.

[What is my opinion? I’m glad to see that Representative Brooks is taking a pro-active roll in the fight against the tolling of I-80. It would be easy to simply say “this is a federal issue and it is out of my hands”, but, instead, she is taking extra steps to rally Congressmen and women and take the fight to Washington DC. I’d like to see more ACTION like this from our state legislators. Bravo!]

Health Care Reform

The next topic that was brought up by attendees was that of Health Care Reform. Representative Brooks was very clear to point out that the topic of Health Care Reform is a federal issue, but she was willing to discuss the topic from the prospective of opinion only. While she shared some of her thoughts about the current health care legislation being considered by the federal government, she was equally careful to remain unbiased. While those in attendance were clearly “party friendly”, she made a point to not offend the few Democrats in the room (there were two that I counted . . . including myself).

As a general opinion, Rep. Brooks stated “I’m very concerned about the costs of this plan, but I also wish that the quality of our health care would enter into the discussion.”

Regarding the current health care bill, Rep. Brooks noted “I was raised that you try to do things right the first time. Thousands of pages take months to digest and understand I’m afraid that they are trying to push through a fix too quickly. Don’t we want it done right?”

Representative Brooks further explained that she had participated in a public hearing in the spring at Edinboro University where she heard testimony from physicians from Canada and Australia. She outlined numerous examples of problems with the single-payer systems in those countries.

Rep. Brooks made every attempt to share information as well as her personal opinions regarding health care reform. She shared personal stories and experiences regarding problems with health insurance (and a lack thereof), but she reminded the attendees again “I’m not involved on the federal level but those are my concerns”.

In closing, Rep. Brooks stated “if this (health care bill) goes through, elected officials should be forced to have to go on the plan too”.

[What is my opinion? Oddly enough (and hold onto your hats here), I agree with Representative Brooks. While she was very careful to make her statements regarding health care reform very general, she hit on very important points. I feel very strongly that we need health care reform, but I am very nervous about the current Bill that is working its way through Washington. I’d like to see the focus turn toward torte reform, accessibility across state lines, and extended availability of Medicare (for a fee based on a sliding scale). Unfortunately, the current health care bill doesn’t look anything like that. I think the current option is too big, too expensive, and too complicated to be a viable option.]

Term Limits

I saved my favorite topic for last, but it also happened to be the last topic brought up by the attendees . . . TERM LIMITS. When the question “do you support term limits?” was asked, I nearly fell off my chair and I literally laughed out loud. After a pause (that seemed to last a lifetime), Rep. Brooks explained that she feels that terms limits already exist as “term limits are decided in at the voters box”. [Hmmm . . . Ouch!]

She further went on to explain that “if you don’t like the job that someone is doing you can vote them out”. If voters feel that the person is still doing a good job after years of service, they will vote them back in. [Again Hmmmm . . . and Double Ouch!]

In an effort to try to hang her hat somewhere in the middle, Rep. Brooks stated “there is something to be said for wisdom, and something to be said for new blood”. Unfortunately, however, I get a sense that Rep. Brooks appears to lean away from the “new blood” and toward the “wisdom”. [Ugh! and Triple Ouch!]

In summary, Representative Brooks is clearly against the idea of term limits. After receiving a few groans from the attendees (mostly from a frustrated “new blood” that was seated in the front row), Rep. Brooks asked for a show of hands from those that supported term limits. Unfortunately, I missed the results of the simple poll as I was attempting to type notes on my laptop while also extending my hand as high as I could reach.

[What is my opinion? As someone who ran a race against a 16-year incumbent with a campaign slogan like “the office of county treasurer should be a public service . . . not a career” . . . and with a campaign promise to NOT seek re-election after 2 terms in office, what do YOU think my opinion is?

Regardless of the fact that the topic hits a little close too home for me, the subject was of special interest to me personally for two reasons. The first is an issue of how politics affects those that are involved in it. Glenn Beck made a statement back in February. I wrote about it back then [read HERE], but I’d like to present the quote again now . . .

“I have a new theory. I don’t think I’ll take any more applies from the barrel. I’m gonna start pickin’ them from the tree. I’m gonna start listening to the freshman class because you guys, hopefully, haven’t been corrupted yet!”

It was a general statement that theorized that once “new blood” is elected, it doesn’t take long for them to “become” one of the “good ol’ boys (or girls)”. It is interesting that Rep. Brooks (after only 1.5 terms in state office) has already fallen into the typical style of a “politician”. I’m not sure if she has hopes of protecting her own VERY LONG career in office or if she is defending the VERY LONG careers of her friends and colleagues. I would be curious to know if her perception was the same not so many years ago?

The second point that I found personally interesting is that my stand that is firmly “FOR TERM LIMITS” places me safely “to the right” of Rep. Brooks. That was a place that I didn’t think I’d find myself in right now, so I have to take a minute to savor it.]

My Summary and Closing Comments

The meeting was both interesting and entertaining. The attendees had very intelligent questions and shared in some thoughtful discussion. Representative Brooks has a VERY LOYAL following, and they take the time to show up for her town hall meetings. Her supporters don’t simply respect her as a qualified representative of the 17th district (which they clearly do), but they personally “adore her”. They respect her as “Representative Michele Brooks”, but they seem to protect her more like a daughter . . . a sister . . . or a close and trusted friend.

At the end of the meeting one of the attendees made a statement regarding Representative Brooks as follows “of all of the legislators, you are one of the best communicators”. He then went on to point out the value of her email communications, website, and town hall meetings. In response, Representative Brooks said “we work for you, and I don’t ever want to loose site of that”. She continued with “we chose to live here and we chose to raise our family here . . . I believe this area will be strong again and you are the solution . . . your ideas and feedback are very important”.

What more can I say?

Representative Brooks will hold two more meetings as outlined below. I urge you to attend. It is a great opportunity to hear what she has to say and to challenge her with your own questions and comments.

Dec. 2 – Cochranton Firehall, 113 Adams St., Cochranton (7pm-8pm)
Dec. 3 – Washington Township Building, 1413 George Washington Road, Volant (7pm-8pm)

As always, just my opinion.

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