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Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Montross), shown in Fredericksburg last month, fielded questions Tuesday in Montross. |
Members of the Tea Party faction of the Republican Party and questions about health care greeted Rep. Robert J. Wittman (R-Montross) at a gathering Tuesday night in his hometown.
"Where in the Constitution is government charged with protecting people's health?" asked Catherine T. Crabill, a maverick Republican who, despite being shunned by Wittman and state GOP leaders, came close last month to winning the seat Wittman once held in the House of Delegates.
"My frustration is that we don't want any government-run health care. The Constitution is the only thing that will save us from this death spiral that the country is in," Crabill said.
"Some elected officials are committing treason by not upholding their sacred oaths. Do you intend to uphold your oath of office and fight to make sure that your elected colleagues uphold theirs?" she asked Wittman, who promised he would.
"The federal government is gang-raping the people," said Mark Carpenter of Acorn, a Westmoreland County community--not the controversial Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.
"We're headed where the people will have no recourse but to take things into their own hands," said Carpenter.
"Mark, that's a good point," said the unflappable Wittman. "A lot of people don't feel connected with their elected representatives. As elected officials, we need to re-establish that connection, like we're doing here tonight."
Traffic jams delayed Wittman's arrival by 40 minutes at Tuesday night's gathering, attended by about 50 people at Washington & Lee High School. The session was sponsored by the Westmoreland County Civic Association, whose members are frequent critics of the Westmoreland County Board of Supervisors that was once chaired by Wittman.
While waiting for Wittman to arrive, WCCA President Kennon Morris recalled how Wittman left all the dishes unwashed after he lived one summer in Morris' apartment at Virginia Tech in the 1980s.
When Wittman finally showed up, an old friend from Montross yelled, "Hey, Rob, I'm over here! I seen you the other day on TV. You looked good, brother!"
But the homecoming atmosphere quickly grew serious as many of the 50 people in the audience questioned health care reform proposals now being debated in Washington.
Wittman, who voted against health reform in the House of Representatives, called the reform measures "very complex."
A Senate health reform bill is "a 2,000-page bill that's very difficult to navigate. I've tried, but I can't tell you what the health care system will look like if it's enacted. A lot of things will be left up to a variety of councils and commissions down the road. If it all goes through, the system as we know it will change, but we have a long way to go before this becomes law."
Wittman championed caps on medical malpractice damages as one way to lower health costs. He worried about proposed requirements for small businesses to offer health care insurance or pay penalties.
He also tempered his long-standing support of cleanup measures for the Chesapeake Bay by saying that concerns of farmers and home builders needed to be addressed. He said he opposed estate taxes. He rattled off statistics on issue after issue.
But the Tea Baggers weren't finished.
"As a member of the Republican Party, you pledged to support all the party's nominees, right?" asked Barbara Sherman of Kinsale.
"Right," said Wittman.
"But you chose to abandon the 99th House District by not supporting the Republican candidate [Catherine Crabill]. Why?"
"I chose not to endorse Catherine. That's all I'm going to say about it," said Wittman.
"Then you should read Revelations 3:15-16," Sherman said.
Sherman later pulled a Bible from her purse and opened it to the passage: "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth."
Sherman said the passage means: "If you can't take a stand, get out of the way."
She said, "Wittman took an oath to support Catherine Crabill and didn't uphold it. How am I to believe any other oath he takes? I want nothing to do with him."
Frank Delano: 804/761-4300
Email: fpdelano@gmail.com
