CLEARLAKE OAKS — “I hear two things,” Congressman John Garamendi (D-Fairfield) told Lake County residents?on Saturday. “?Get government out!” and ?Let government in!” It”s a question that comes down to the role of the federal government in your lives and the lives of your families.”
Garamendi answered that question, along with a dozen other ones posed by the county”s citizenry, at a two-hour town hall meeting at the Moose Lodge in Clearlake Oaks.?
A crowd of about 100 turned out for the event, about a dozen of whom shared their problems and priorities as they tossed questions at Garamendi, who 2? months into his first term in District 3 had little trouble framing his answers in the context of the current budget battle in Washington.?
Complaints about the declining condition of Clear Lake, the illegal marijuana cultivation on federal land, the bureaucratic hurdles facing veterans, and the prospect of more cuts to a school system already reeling were easy pitches to the?Democrat,?who assured the crowd that these and a lot of other problems facing the county will only get worse if the Republicans get their way in budget negotiations in coming weeks.?
Garamendi said the Re publicans” proposed budget, which could be introduced to Congress as early as next week, would do nothing but “cut, cut and cut” federal programs that have already been thrashed to the bone.
He said the Republicans” budget would cut $85 billion and 750,000 federal jobs over the next six months.?
Some of those lost jobs would further reduce the already limited resources?at the Environmental Projection Agency, Department of Forestry and the Army Corps of Engineers — federal agencies that could help Lake County address its problems, Garamendi said.
The Democrat from Fairfield?said the agencies should do their jobs addressing Clear Lake”s ecological issues, such as high?mercury levels, the delays in the implementation of the Middle Creek restoration project and?the added stress that illegal pot growers on federal lands are putting on the lake.
The town hall meeting was the second of three that Garamendi hosted on Saturday. He opened the day at a gathering in Yuba City and was heading out for another meeting with Orland residents after his two-hour stop-over in Lake County.
?Harking back to America”s Founding Fathers, Garamendi said that when?George Washington?assigned Alexander Hamilton to research and report on the role of the federal government, Hamilton reported back to the president with a list of recommendations that Washington promptly ran with, thereby clearly establishing the significant role of the government in the nation”s economy and economic plan.?
That role included a particular interest in areas of transportation –?roads, canals and ports, he said.
He also told the town hall gathering that government should support American businesses and jobs by buying American products, which is at the core of his “Buy America” campaign.
“The federal government,” he said, “ought to use its purchasing power to support American industry. Make it in America and Use our tax dollars to buy American.”
In his other responses, Garamendi said he would fight any efforts by Republicans to privatize Social Security and that he supported financial aid to Egypt and Israel, but that it”s time to pull the plug on Afghanistan.?
“We ought to get out of Afghanistan as soon as possible,” he said, adding that continued involvement there could cost Americans $50 billion a year.
Some topics at Saturday”s session weren”t related directly to the ongoing budget wars in Washington. But?when Lucerne dentist Doug Reams asked for direction in dealing with a local water agency that is “totally gouging” the town”s residents, he told the congressman, “We need state and federal legislation to stop the tyranny of privatization.”
Reams said, “Cal Water is a private company on the New York Stock Exchange, and they keep raising their rates, and people are having to choose between food and water.”
Garamendi suggested that Reams and other critics of the water supplier continue voicing their complaints to the California Public Utilities Commission.
