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Dachowski brings civility to the health care town hall

After attending Joe Sestak’s health care town hall in Philadelphia a few weeks ago, I was no stranger at seeing the signs “Healthcare Now,” which meant ACORN and MoveOn.org were in the audience. It also meant a contentious night with call-outs and raucous behavior was in store. And, for a candidate to announce his campaign in a crowd this rude and rowdy, I applaud Damian Dachowski for trying to bring a modicum of civility to the event, and for getting experts to talk to the rank-and-file about H.R. 3200, the Democrats’ emerging health care reform plan. [Full disclosure: I am helping Dachowski with his campaign.]

Dachowski announced at the Huntingdon Valley Public Library Community Room last Thursday that he is going to run for Congress and what he would like to bring to the 13th District—affordable health care.

“My concern is over who is going to control it and how,” said the 47-year-old Horsham dentist. The proposed health care reforms would have a devastating effect on our taxes, small businesses, health care providers, and most importantly, patients.”

The panel of health care professionals included Matthew Nichoals of Benefit Ideas Group of Jamison, Bucks County; Ana Puig of Doylestown; and Ed Thompson, president of Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Research Service of Horsham. They spoke about their expertise, and tried to extend courtesy to the ACORN and MoveOn.org individuals that peppered the pro-Dachowski crowd. One extremely rude man was staring at a piece of paper with about ten questions to ask.  It was obvious he was a “plant” from one of the organizations. He started to have altercations with those around him in the audience, and nasty words flew, along with a shock factor. I’ll leave it up to your imagination to wonder what his colorful and descriptive words were.

This crowd reminds me of October 2006, when I attended my first political debate in Doylestown at the Intelligencer offices for then-Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick against the relatively unknown Patrick Murphy. I was amazed at the number of Bucks County residents who showed up and were waiting 10-deep to get into the building. Having been involved in politics for only one year at this point, I still believed good would prevail and Fitzpatrick, with his love of Bucks County and all that he had done for his constituents, would emerge victorious. My naivete totally disappeared when I was informed those buses were from New York City and other non-Bucks County areas, obviously put there for the Democratic candidate, obviously not people who could vote in Bucks County, and obviously from a Democratic 527 group.

I am not saying all Democrats are nasty and rude. To the contrary, I have many, many Democratic friends, am married to one, and am friends with many Democratic elected officials at all levels. But when common grace and courtesy are forgotten and fanaticism is the rule of the day, for both the Republicans and the Democrats, nothing gets accomplished.

To our dismay, however, it appears that is now the way to win an election—at all costs!

For candidate Dachowski, I wish that his health care town hall could have been more like the Toomey-Sestak one, where the questions were thoughtful, respectful, but pointed, and common courtesy was present.

To quote Dom Giordano of WPHT The Big Talker 1210, “Yelling and call-outs may get you your 15 minutes, but emotional and measured dialogue will get you integrity. Slow and steady wins!”

Dachowski will put his all into this race. He believes in what he can bring to this area with his small-business acumen and desire to improve our lives. He takes the time to listen, to understand, to produce. People run for office for different reasons.  Dachowski’s is a unique reason. Suburban Snapshot asked him how and why—and here is his answer. “About a year ago, I had a long-time patient who told me he was having trouble getting a mortgage. I knew some people so I made a few phone calls, obviously to the right people. He called me a few weeks later thanking me that he was now able to get his mortgage. I thought that is what a public servant does—help people and solve problems. Guess you could say a seed was planted, and now I’m convinced more than ever that running for office is the right thing to do.

His only agenda is making things better for us in the13th District.

September 8, 2009 at 12:57 pm

--Beth Hegedus

Tags: Damian Dachowski, PA-13

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