U.S Rep. Julia Brownley Visits Moorpark

It\’s Your Backyard Ventura County

By George Miller

… Engages constituents on Obamacare, budget, spending, jobs, infrastructure, student loans, aid to businesses, “Congressional inaction,” government. corruption& civil liberties

Moorpark- 8-27-13- The Congresswoman visited the Moorpark Chamber of Commerce on High St. to meet with constituents. She has been stopping by in what appears to be carefully engineered low key, one–on-one, small group encounters.  The good news, people can unload what’s on their mind in a non-threatening environment.  The bad news, everyone else can’t hear the exchangeand this format doesn’t lend itself to video recording. That might be by design, to avoid the embarrassing townhall debacles experienced by Democrats and Republicans alike.

Some people were just there to say hello and thank you, keep up the good work. With Moorpark being a more Conservative city, some visitors were not, for the most part, in agreement with what’s going on in DC. 

For example, Tom Snyder (left), an Operations Director for an NGO (Non Government Organization), complained about excessive compensation for government employees- higher than the private sector, big government corruption, especially with the IRS, which he said illegally prevented some organizations from raising money and doing their jobs. He lamented the Senate blocking needed House bills. He said “cut taxes and spending” and that “we need more pro-life Conservatives.”

Local businessman Michael Cameron Williams (above), CEO of Camrea Creations, a Christian entertainment company, had a very different point of view.  He protested “futile” House attempts to repeal Obamacare, saying,  “a waste of time. The Senate would block it and President Obama would never sign it.”   He wants to see the Jobs bill and Senate immigration bill passed.  Williams was interested to hear the concerns of other local people. He also sought advice from Brownley on how to get funding for his enterprise, not necessarily government money, he answered when asked to clarify.

Obamacare was also a topic of discussion, with those objecting to it and those trying to figure out its workings.

Mr. and Mrs. Eddie Byrn were concerned about the immigration bill, amnesty (opposed), excessive spending, administration blocking the needed Keystone Pipeline. Mr. Byrn told Citizensjournal.us that he opposed attacking Syria and outlined why Obama has no legal right to be in office, let alone commit crimes after he got there. He stated that access to Obama’s college and other records is still being withheld. He was also heard expressing his concerns to Sheriff Dean (below, with Mr./Ms. Byrn)  about unconstitutional gun control. The Sheriff said studies had established that gun control/restrictions don’t necessarily reduce gun violence. He also said said he thought the pending gun legislation may outlaw “assault weapons,” but probably wouldn’t affect ownership of handguns. A look at pending legislation says maybe not. We later interviewd Sherriff Dean, which willappear in a Citizensjournal.us  article soon.

Sharon Miller, Moorpark College Associated Students Advisor, was alarmed about the huge student loan debt some people are burdened with and sought loan forgiveness provisions.  Citizensjournal.us asked her what the college tuition rate was. She answered about $45 ($46 per Moorpark College) per credit, with an average course load of 14 credits. She mentioned that various activity fees, books and living expenses make it much tougher for students, even though it can be somewhat alleviated by Pell grants and other financial assistance. Moorpark College Business Office confirmed those figures and added that book costs can range from $100 to much more per term, depending on the subject.  Keep in mind these rates are heavily subsidized by the taxpayer.

Kim Simons (below, with Brownley), President of Moorpark Kiwanis and Chamber of Commerce member said she had nothing personally pressing to address with Brownley, but is concerned about Moorpark struggling financially due the “crisis,” with industries cutting back or leaving. She added that Moorpark is an outlying quiet community, so its visibility is low.

There were about 40+ people there at the peak, including Sheriff Dean, who had a line of people waiting to speak to him.

Many folks seemed as interested in networking with each other as with the Congresswoman.  City officials were in attendance, along with Chamber of Commerce, Kiwanis and Rotary dignitaries. There were several Brownley aides there, from the Thousand Oaks and Oxnard field offices. Thomas Nelson, who seemed to be well-known to the Brownley staff, was concerned about civil/Bill-of-Rights violations, 4^th Amendment, warrantless searches, NSA spying, Clapper appointment, Amash amendment, etc.  He mentioned the “I” word (impeachment) in relation to Obama.  Brownley listened but was not in agreement on most of his points. Brownley said she was “huge” on civil liberties, but they disagreed as to whether her positions supported that fully. He later told Citizensjournal.us that he was a big supporter of civil liberties and was on the political left. He is concerned about multiple Presidents’ war crimes.

George Miller is a “retired” operations management consultant, active in civic affairs, living in Oxnard.