Thursday, August 21, 2008

economic roundtable with congressman schiff


we interrupt the planned bike trip photos with some photo-journalism. last night i had the opportunity to attend a forum on economics hosted by my congressman, adam schiff at the senior center in town. it was an interesting experience to see how people reacted to their elected official and the economic experts that were assembled for the event. the recent closure of pasadena's own indymac bank has had a huge impact on this community, as seen by the huge line of people who rose during the question and answer period (photo below). democracy in action. wonderful stuff.

9 comments:

Petrea Burchard said...

Oh, good for you for going. I tendenc to like Schiff and his work in Congress, though no one's perfect. I barrage him with my opinions via email.

Petrea Burchard said...

*tend* to like

ben wideman said...

Ya, he sounded good in person. I like that his e-mail updates include surveys to get a feel for what people care about.

He had a great comment about the upcoming election - "there are two exceptional candidates running, one obviously better than the other". Very nice.

Anonymous said...

brw, i agree they all sound good in person. Not as good in voting records.

I dunno why so many of these politicians became attys. They would have done a much better job in the acting profession. Maybe it's easier to get rich in politics compared to acting.

ben wideman said...

Well said life observer! The sense that you are doing good for your fellow human has to be part of the incentive I guess...

Laurie Allee said...

This is great insider stuff, Ben. Thanks for posting it!

ben wideman said...

Thanks Laurie, it was kind of fun to be a part of something like this.

Jane Hards Photography said...

If only I could do the same here. Marvellous to see the democratic process at work.

ben wideman said...

Things are a little different on the Isle of Man?