Rob Mitchell treated concerned Bucks County citizens to pizza as they waited for hours to hear Rep. Patrick Murphy make a rare public appearance at a town hall – an event that Murphy didn’t actually intend to attend!

About 70 people showed up on Tuesday night to the Quakertown Boro Hall in response to a flurry of e-mails triggered by a Murphy robo-call.  Notorious for dodging public appearances, Murphy’s call invited supporters to meet with him individually in Boro Hall at 6PM since Murphy doesn’t have any regular presence in Upper Bucks County.  A flurry of e-mails between Bucks citizens followed, and inquiries to Boro Hall confirmed that Murphy had scheduled a town hall.  70 people showed up expecting to see Rep Murphy answer questions about wildly unpopular votes on TARP, the stimulus, the budget, Cap & Trade, and his public option-laden health bill.

To everyone’s disappointment, Murphy’s staffers told attendees that the Congressman would only meet people individually not as a group.  When we expressed our frustration, they relented and agreed that we could meet with him in small groups.  People entered Boro Hall around 5:30.

Once in Boro hall, Congressman Murphy briefly met with a small group as they waited for more people to arrive.  Concerned citizens asked why he supported a health care bill that most of the country opposes.  Others asked whether, if he and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi were re-elected, he would vote for her again as Speaker.  At first he dodged the question, saying that he doesn’t like hypothetical questions, but when pressed he acknowledged that he would vote for Pelosi again.

As more people arrived, the people who wanted Murphy to speak in public agreed as a courtesy to allow people who wanted individual appointments to meet with the Congressmen first, even though many of the group members had arrived first.  They were assured that the Congressman would be brief and the group would not be kept waiting long.

Another broken promise.

Congressman Murphy began seeing people around 6 PM.  At first, there were about a half dozen people on the list of individual appointees.  However, Murphy’s staffers continued to bump late arrivals ahead of the crowd.  One hour passed.  Then another.  Some people left the room to pick up children from sports events.  Others went out for a bite to eat.  Most stayed, not wanting to miss a rare opportunity to question Murphy.  Of those who stepped out, most returned, only to wait longer.  Hungry and frustrated, Rob Mitchell ordered out for 8 pizzas and a few liters of soda to feed the crowd while they waited.

After close to three hours of waiting, Congressman Murphy finally emerged to address the 50 or so people who remained.  He started with a campaign speech that defended his votes and tried to sell the unpopular health care legislation to a disbelieving crowd.  Frustrated that he wouldn’t stop talking and just listen to questions, people called for an end to his filibuster so he could hear from constituents.

Falling back on his tired “Blue Dog” claim, Murphy said he fulfilled his promise to vote for a “deficit neutral” bill.  He faced many people who pointed out the incredulity of that claim, yet clung to the CBO report that opined the bill could actually reduce deficit spending ten years into the future.  People derided that analysis for including 10 years of taxes to pay for 6 years of benefits, and they pointed out CBO’s pitiful record for underestimating all prior entitlement programs in the past.  Rob specifically challenged Murphy that he was being disingenuous by claiming deficit neutrality while at the same time touting his role in working to reverse scheduled Medicare cuts for physician reimbursements – cuts that the CBO depended upon in its projection that the bill would save money – and the reversal of which would necessarily break the “deficit neutral” pledge.

The well-informed crowd also challenged Rep Murphy on issues including Cap & Trade, terrorism, and the constitutionality of the government taking over the health care industry.  Murphy spoke.  People listened.  And they weren’t impressed.  But at least they got a slice of pizza on the way out the door.