Will House of Representatives Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D. Md. 5th) find a way to duck out of a ribbon cutting and leave the public with unanswered questions on Friday when he shows up in Lexington Park to cut the ribbon at 3 pm at the corner of Coral Place for digging up Great Mills Road to build a fancy brick median strip?Hoyer was heckled and booed three weeks ago in Utica, New York when he appeared with a freshman Democrat in that district to push for high speed trains. Oddly enough, Hoyer has done little thus far to advance commuter rail in his own district but promised ST. MARY'S TODAY to look at Nashville's system, which is the most low cost start up commuter rail operation in the nation.
Hoyer's confrontation with several New Yorkers who were asking questions about the Obama Administration drive to create a new national health care plan at the same time that Medicare and the Postal Service, two examples of government efficiency cited by the President in recent speeches, are going broke, made national news.
Hoyer, usually unflappable and quick on his feet was photographed lecturing a citizen with his finger pointing at the man. Three days later Hoyer held a healthcare roundtable at Calvert Memorial Hospital which was closed to the public, according to a press release from his office.
Hoyer was asked by ST. MARY'S TODAY why he was afraid to meet with his constituents and he said that the closed meeting was at the request of doctors at the hospital.
After Hoyer's secret meeting, he flew off to Israel for a week with 8 Congressmen on a junket which he said was paid for by the Israel-American Foundation.
Congressman Hoyer's office announced last Friday that he has scheduled a single Town Hall for Health Care at Northlake High School on Tuesday, Sept. 1 at 6 pm. The meeting location will only hold 1,000 people and the school parking lot is not available until 5 pm.
With Hoyer's district spanning all of Charles, Calvert, St. Mary's and most of P.G. County outside of the beltway, it is conceivable that he may be able to hear from about 30 people in the time allotted. If he bloviates on the three or four different Democrat plans presently bouncing around Capitol Hill, he may use up half the time set aside for this event himself.
Given Hoyer's availability for various occasions in the district, with the closed to the public meeting in Prince Frederick and this single event in Waldorf next week, it is clear that the public may have to hunt the congressman down and get questions in at other public events.
But he'll still be reelected, and probably by a wide margin. People who worry about reelection aren't as arrogant as he is.