Where's Marcy? Congresswoman fails to show for health care meeting with constitutents

I thought about calling this post, "Where in the world is Marcy Kaptur" - with apologies to Carmen Sandiego, but I realize that not everyone is familiar with the children's character.

But with recent events, it's certainly a good question to ask about our Congressional Representative.

According to numerous reports, here is what occurred:

* The week of March 22nd, President Barack Obama's Organizing for America sent out an email that Marcy Kaptur would be holding a meeting to answer questions about the health care bill. The email indicated that the meeting would be at 2 p.m. at the Toledo Lucas County Library downtown branch.

* Several members of the local tea-party-like group, Children of Liberty, who are on the email list, decided to share the notice with the group, encouraging people to show up and take advantage of the opportunity to have their questions about the bill answered.

(Side Note: many of these members have been trying to months to get answers about the health care bill from Marcy...)

* Several media outlets mentioned the meeting.

* The meeting, however, was not to be.

* Children of Liberty member John recounts his efforts to find out about the cancelled meeting:

I got word at around 8:50am that the event was canceled!!! . WWWHHHHHTT?

I called the Library at 9am, the room was reserved by Rep Kaptur, and the attendance estimate she gave to the Library when she reserved the room was 15 people.

Over the next ½ hour, I had several calls from people who were also planning on attending. They had called Rep Kaptur’s office and the Staff told them, “there wasn’t anything on the schedule and they didn’t know anything about it”.

What’s the deal?

I checked back with the Library about 9:30am, I was told that someone from Rep Kaptur’s office had just called and canceled the room (Hhmmm, I wonder if there’s a cancellation fee?)

I told the Library that we had several people coming from all around town and it would be impossible to let them know of the cancellation. I then asked if I could have the room, and we could at least continue some of the meeting without Rep Kaptur.

I indicated that I would be more than willing to pay for the room at its usual rate, and I’d be more than happy to accept the room set up for the original meeting; The Library will check into it.

An hour later (About 10:30am), I checked back with the Library, They’ll let me have the room, no problems. I indicated that I anticipated approximately 50 guests, but due to the Cancellation confusion, it could be less. (They need the guest count so they can supply the correct number of pre-paid parking passes)

At noon, when the Library opened, I meet with the Library Staff, they showed me the room (McMaster), and I signed the contract.

In reviewing the contract with the Library Staff, they made it clear that because this is a public facility, this cannot be a private meeting, and any meetings held in this room are automatically open to the public.

I arrived back at the Library at 2pm, where I found several people waiting to get in for the original 2pm Meeting that Rep Kaptur scheduled. None of these people were aware that Rep Kaptur had canceled.

I briefly explained that for some unknown reason, at 9:30 this morning, Rep Kaptur canceled the meeting and the hall.. At 10am, I reserved the room and planned on continuing the Health Care Q&A, but unless Rep Kaptur showed up, there wouldn’t be any “A” portion of the “Q&A”.

* Absent the Congresswoman, her constituents recorded the questions with the intent of sharing the video with Kaptur and getting answers to the questions.

* While she couldn't made the event she'd scheduled, a member of her staff was present and 'furiously taking notes.'

* Several reports after the fact had staff from her office claiming that the scheduled meeting was a 'private' one.

I can only wonder if this is the modus operandi for those who voted for the atrocious health care bill: meet only with people who agree with your vote while ignoring and avoiding the majority who opposed this measure.

Should the group receive any answers to the questions posed on the video, I'll report that, as well. But I'm not holding my breath!