Synder Town Hall Hide and Seek!

Congressman Vic Synder voted for the Health Care Takeover bill. The Tea Party folks in his district, as well as other concerned citizens, wanted to talk to him about that and other votes. It looks like he is not going to make him self too easy to find during this recess.

First the word was he was going to have a townhall meeting tomorrow night that was open to the public. The Tea Party folks started circulating word of the event, eagerly anticipating finally getting a chance to let Synder know how they feel about his representation. Then the word was that it would be a closed forum discussing card check legislation only. Then word got out that the event was canceled due to "scheduling conflicts". Then the word was that Synder would talk about health care, at an event at Arkansas Children's Hospital. In other words, surrounded by children with serious health care issues. The time for that event, initially reported to be two PM, may actually have been changed to one PM. No one can find Vic Synder except the people he wants to find him.

Even the liberal Arkansas Times speculated that Synder's staff canceled the original forum in order to dodge the Tea Party folks upset with his health care vote. After all, there have been reports around the country of Congressman coming home to rooms full of constituents upset with their "representatives". Some, like Congressman David Bishop, have simply quit having town hall meetings.

The move to the Children's Hospital prompted Tea Party activists to cancel their effort to round up a crowd to call Synder to task for his votes. They did not want to get sick kids in the middle of a political dispute. One hopes that Synder did not change his townhall to this forum in an effort to use the sick children as the political equivalent of "human shields" to either prevent legitimate public protest of his votes, or even worse, set them up to be the villians if they made a scene at an inappropriate situation.

Here is a statement release by Arkansas Unite, a clearinghouse for many local Tea Party groups around the state.........


Friends

We found out this afternoon due to scheduling conflicts, Vic Snyder's office is canceling the town hall meeting tomorrow night at the Central Arkansas Labor Council on Enmar Drive.

Since then we have been informed that Representatives Snyder and Ross will be at the Arkansas Children's Hospital at 2 pm for a town hall meeting. Our question would be why would our elected officials choose a hospital filled with children and hurting families for a political forum? We have waited for months for our elected officials to return in able to have an opportunity to respectfully address their decisions in Washington. To involve ill children and their families seems to be once again an extremely poor choice.

Given these circumstances are beyond our control, we encourage you to be mindful of the situation and of the innocent families involved and to refrain from attending. Please keep those children and their families in your thoughts and prayers. As always, we encourage everyone to be firm and assertive but civil. We are honorable people who are sympathetic to the hurts of our fellow citizens.

Hopefully, we will have an opportunity to have an open dialogue with our representatives during their recess. Please let them know in a considerate manner that we would like some of their time. Stay informed, engaged and empowered!