Published: August 15, 2009 09:44 pm         

Tribune-Star editorial: Civilized sessions on health care needed

It’s pretty easy to understand why U.S. Rep. Brad Ellsworth has confined constituent conversations about health care reform to non-public forums. In the absence of hockey and regular season football, the nation’s favorite action sport this summer seems to be town hall meetings at which elected representatives attempt to discuss health care legislation while citizens shout at them, call them liars and crooks and, in some instances, get so agitatedly in their face, police must be hailed.

Each time Ellsworth or a staff representative meets privately with constituents who want to weigh in — yea or nay — on the proposed omnibus legislation, everyone else gets robbed of the opportunity for a verbal smackdown that likely will land on TV. These days, such a closed stance by a member of Congress can be perceived as dereliction of duty.

After all, as so many sign-waving, red-faced town hall attendees have reminded Democrats and Republicans alike, “You work for us!” Lately, the job description includes insult magnet.

Ellsworth probably isn’t holding scores of private sessions with 8th District constituents because he’s afraid of angry public gatherings. A seasoned veteran of law enforcement (24 years as deputy or sheriff of Vanderburgh County), he’s no stranger to crowds in which a couple of folks might be carrying loaded guns. So far, that’s happened (that we know of) at health care town halls in Arizona, New Hampshire and Tennessee.

Perhaps he just doesn’t like preparing for a discussion of the 1,000-plus-page House version of the health care reform act, then getting yelled at about issues not included in the legislation, such as the Second Amendment, same-sex marriage, the bail-out of U.S. banks, and the amount of television coverage devoted to Michael Jackson’s passing.

There is another possibility, of course. Maybe Ellsworth, who is not up for re-election in November, is after solid input from, and genuine dialogue with, the people he represents in Congress. Those two items can be difficult to come by in a room full of folks who clap and cheer when someone steps to a microphone and booms, “You are dismantling the country!”

All that said, Ellsworth should check with some of his fellow Hoosier legislators on both sides of the aisle. As Brian Howey reports in his column today, at least three U.S. Representatives from Indiana — Baron Hill, Joe Donnelly and Mike Pence — have experienced spirited but nonthreatening crowds at useful public sessions in Indianapolis, Kokomo, New Castle, Muncie, Greensburg and Mishawaka.

Surely, the people of Terre Haute, Evansville, Vincennes and other communities throughout the 8th can perform as well. Our Congressional representative owes us a try. If a town hall meeting or two disintegrates into a shout fest, Ellsworth can go back behind his office doors and say, “I told you so.” If proceedings are fairly civilized, he just might learn some things you discover only in a well-lighted public arena.