Like more than 50 others, I was refused entry to the town hall meeting of Rep. Patrick McHenry [10th Congressional District] on Wednesday, Aug. 1, due to the deliberately poor planning of McHenry’s team. This letter is directed for him as well as my fellow District 10 residents.
By way of background, I have a child in elementary school who wants to be a dentist. Her education will cost well over $100,000, and the cost of establishing a practice often surpasses $250,000. Tuition rates never stop rising, and they’re outpacing inflation. That burden is too large for her to take on by herself or for us to fund.
We would like to save for her, but GOP budgets force us to take a hard look at our future. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which McHenry supported, will force Social Security to significantly reduce benefits, by more than 20 percent, in 2034 with cuts to Medicare required even sooner. The proposed House GOP 2019 budget shortens that timeline for cuts. Accordingly, we can’t count on Social Security and Medicare, the systems we’re paying into right now, to pay out for us. This forces us to choose between saving for our own retirement and saving for our child’s education.
We need a twofold approach to this disaster. [McHenry’s] opponent, David Wilson Brown, has committed to working for debt-free college education. Brown also committed to keeping Social Security and Medicare intact. Each of Brown’s proposals will put middle- and lower-class families in significantly better positions than they are now. Will you, my current representative, commit to doing the same? If not, I hope that others in my situation will reach the same conclusion I have, which is that we must show up at the polls on Nov. 6 to vote for David Wilson Brown.
Disappointed in Buncombe County,
― Rebecca Crandall
Asheville
Editor’s note: Xpress contacted Rep. McHenry’s Washington office about the letter writer’s complaint about his recent town hall meeting at the Riceville Community Center, and we received the following response from his spokesman, Jeff Butler: “Since he was first elected, Congressman McHenry has committed to holding annual town hall meetings for each county in his district, and after holding six this year, he’s now hosted over 100 town hall meetings during his tenure. The congressman and his staff make every effort to hold these town hall meetings at times and locations that are convenient for his constituents to attend. At the specific town hall meeting the writer references, Congressman McHenry took questions for nearly two and a half hours. While some attendees were initially not allowed in due to the building being at its capacity under the fire code, all those who remained in line were ultimately able to enter and participate.”
Information about McHenry’s position on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 can be found at avl.mx/587.
LOL college tuition is going up because government guarantees the loans. When uncle sugar pays and it’s a certainty, dontcha think colleges are going to fleece it? They outpace inflation in their fees and you think they are in the right for doing so? How about cutting back on those multi million dollar sports programs? Or six figuure salaries? Oh no, you want to burden the middle class with even more garbage and cronyism. LOL you people are totally oblivious to it. Or in denial. And assume free college will like lead to better education lulz. Is that the same results we’re seeing in public schools? No, merely because you can’t get rid of the worthless teachers, the system is centrally controlled, it wastes money, it has zilch ability to improvise new methods of teaching, and on top of it doesn’t want any competition. Save the middle class my ass.
Representative McHenry had an opportunity to plan for more than one Town Hall in Buncombe County, as he did in the other counties he represents, but he chose to only hold one here. The hall was filled to capacity and there were people who were not able to get in due to the turnout. It is interesting that his spokesperson made it appear as though Buncombe County voters were given equal access to the candidate as everyone else. Davie Wilson Brown is not afraid to face ALL of District 10 voters, because his positions on health care, education, the environment, etc. align more with the needs of the people he would represent,; and that’s because his donors are the very same people. I agree, it is our duty as citizens of this country to show up in November, vote, and expect those who go to Washington on our behalf to work for US.
LOL he’s not going to come into this county, which winter vote for him anyway, and convince people of anything.
“The congressman and his staff make every effort to hold these town hall meetings at times and locations that are convenient for his constituents to attend.”
So, 10am on a Wednesday in Riceville, never ever entering Asheville city limits even though his district extends all the way west to Louisiana Avenue.
We all know the score: McHenry hates having to represent Buncombe, Buncombe mostly hates having its political voice carved up to keep both him and Meadows in office, because even the county’s conservatives don’t matter the way they did when WNC had a single coherent district. That’s not going to change until the state gets independent redistricting.
LOL the county has more issues than McHenry, Is has a crisis of criminals in its own government.
Pretzel logic at its finest. We get it: you’d prefer Asheville and Buncombe to be governed by grumpy men who never set foot in the place.
No, that’s the outsiders that control the local cronies.
the letter writer should realize that her little girl will probably change her mind about her life’s ambition several times … ‘why be a dentist when I can be an artist or a dancer?’ … anything could happen.