Protesters, Hecklers Greet Lungren in Elk Grove

Protesters at Lungren's Elk Grove townhall meeting. 

Congressman feels heat at townhall meeting

What a difference two years makes for members of the United States Congress.

Two years ago Democratic Congress members were greeted with agitated crowds as they returned to their home districts during the height of the health care reform debate in Washington D.C. This year Republicans are returning to their home districts to find similarly agitated constituents riled in the aftermath of the debt ceiling debate and the impending spending cuts.

Or at least Republican Dan Lungren found such an audience when he conducted a townhall meeting in Elk Grove tonight.

Lungren discusses the recent debt deal.

Outside the townhall meeting held at Elk Grove's Wackford Center, participants were greeted by about a dozen protesters with placards decrying Lungren and expressing concern over proposed cuts to programs such as Medicare. Liberal activist group MoveOn.org also was distributing information at the protest.

One protester was Tim Wyatt of Sacramento who said he was there to let Lungren know he was concerned with proposed cuts to social programs such as Medicare.

"Dan is in Washington and he is supposed to represent us," Wyatt said. "He needs to hear that we don't need to get rid of Medicare."

Once inside, over 200 people attended the meeting and after giving his opening remarks, Lungren conducted a question and answer session that was frequently interrupted by heckling. At one point a lady stood up and shouted at Lungren which resulted in her removal from the meeting. (see video below).

The frequent interruptions also spawned shouting matches between audience members. The frequent interruptions seemed to rattle Lungren who compared the shouting to the behavior of children.

"I have grandchildren that I teach to be polite," Lungren said.

One of the disruptions came after Lungren was asked by Frank Burton why taxpayer dollars should be given to subsidize oil companies. Lungren did not directly answer the question other that he would support closing tax loopholes if corporate taxes were lowered.

Lungren also defended California-based Chevron Oil noting that they are the largest private sector employer in the state. He also said that he supports more domestic oil exploration including drilling off the California coast.

In her comments to Lungren, Nell Ramta suggested noted that the federal debt ceiling had been repeatedly raised. "Why is it that such a fuss in now being made about it," she queried.

Lungren reiterated a point he made earlier in his presentation that Republican used the issue as leverage to force spending cuts.

Ramta followed up her question and suggested that spending needs to be ramped up and large scale projects such as the Work Public Administration during the Great Depression should be initiated. "We need to spend money to create jobs," she said.

Lungen dismissed the suggestion and went on to say that "I am not going to call it socialism." He then paraphrased former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher saying "She said the problem with socialism is you run out of money."

The congressman was also engaged by Sal Rotolo who questioned the wisdom of fair trade agreements and emphasized the importance of preserving manufacturing jobs

Lungren said agreed on the importance of manufacturing jobs but said that trade agreements open up foreign markets to American products which prompted Rotolo to rebut Lungren's assertion. "We are just taking advantage of their [cheap] labor," he said.

After the meeting concluded, Burton, whose questions about oil subsidies prompted several shouts and strong supportive applause, wryly noted Lungren's speaking skills. "I am a great admirer of his eloquence," he quipped.