Real contact with your congressman

Well, I got to hold Ben Chandler's feet to the fire.

Last Saturday, he attended the rally the Greater Lexington Democratic Women’s Club held. We wound up next to each other in the hot dog line, and I took him to task for his vote in favor of HR 3313, the ‘Marriage Protection Act’. He basically said that he had to keep his seat – it was a trap the GOP was trying to set for Dems – and that 90% of his contacts had asked him to vote the way he did. I said, ‘Those people weren’t going to vote for you anyway; they’re voting Republican.”

His answer: “If 90% of the people don’t vote for me, I’m not going to get elected.”

The so-called 90% are rabid fundies, who don’t represent most of the voters out there. Most of the voters I have met while canvassing are clueless about anti-gay initiatives, and wouldn't call or write their congressman unless their nuts were in a vise. The fundamentalists aren't going to vote for Republican-lite Democrats when they can have the real thing, so all he did was upset part of his own natural voter base.

Ben Chandler seems to think these fundamentalists do represent the majority of voters. He said he wasn’t interested in sponsoring anything like 'friend of the straight people' Dan Mongiardo did, but I am not very comforted in the thought that if he really is sympathetic, he's too chickensh*t to do what's right. The gay community will probably sit out the vote on his seat in November, just like they're planning to do with 'Dr. Dan', and Chandler may lose because of it. The race is that close.

The next day, I discovered that not only had we held up the hot dog line, but I’d called him ‘dude’ at least 8 times….

Making friends and influencing people,

Sarah G