2/15/10 State Senator Dan Debicella Wants Greenwich Resident And Congressman Jim Himes To Apologize For Calling Constituents “Nuts”

State Senator Dan Debicella Calls for Apology

Congressman Jim Himes (CT-04) last week appeared at the Last Drop Coffee Shop in Monroe, and according to the Monroe Courier said of his recent town hall meetings on healthcare: “I don’t know if ‘circus’ was the right word, but they were nuts.”

Today State Senator Dan Debicella asked Congressman Himes to apologize to the thousands of people who came to the town hall meetings to express their thoughts on the direction of healthcare reform. “These meetings were not circuses, and the people who attended were not nuts. Congressman Himes asked people for their opinions, and they came out in droves to express themselves,” said Debicella.

“We need a return to civil discourse in our country,” said Debicella. “Republicans and Democrats need to be able to talk to each other—not call each other names when they disagree. Congressman Himes should not be disparaging to those who disagree with his positions.”

Thousands of people attended a series of town hall meetings last Summer and Fall in towns ranging from Greenwich to Norwalk to Bridgeport. At each of these meetings, Congressman Himes reiterated his support for the “public option” and increased role of government in healthcare. He recently said in the Norwalk Hour that he would vote for either the public option or the Senate bill “just to get something done”, even though he admits the public option is not popular and the Senate bill contains ethically questionable deals to gain votes from certain Senators.

“Both the town hall meetings and recent polls show that Fairfield County is opposed to increasing the role of government in our healthcare decisions,” said Debicella. “People believe there is a better way—to focus on those items that both Democrats and Republicans agree on. Congress should scrap the current bills and pass one with reforms that everyone agrees will reduce costs.” Debicella said these ideas included preventing insurance companies from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions, allowing interstate competition between insurance companies, creating incentives for preventative medicine, enabling high-deductible policies for young people, and developing electronic medical records.

But Debicella said regardless of one’s opinion on the healthcare proposals before Congress, everyone should be respectful of the debate. “Congressman Himes may disagree with the majority of his constituents, but that is no reason to denigrate their opinions by calling names.”