On Wednesday, July 6, Senator Bill Nelson held a Town Hall Meeting in Fort Myers.  The meeting was conducted in the attractive Corbin Auditorium at Edison College.  Most of the 194 seats were taken.

The crowd started gathering at 8 am and welcomed Senator Nelson warmly when he arrived at 9 to start the meeting.  Edison College President Bob Jones welcomed Senator Nelson to the campus and introduced him.

Bill started off by addressing several current topics.

The first was his concern over the Kelo decision in which the Supreme Court did not overturn the City of New London, CT, use of eminent domain to acquire private property to support building a Pfizer research center.  It was deemed to be in the public interest under state law and not in conflict with the constitution.  This was a 5-4 decision.  This has been viewed by many, including him, as a serious attack on private property.  He said that one action being considered is to forbid the use of federal funds for any such development.  (Ed. Note: There is a school of thought that the Court punted on this decision.  There are so many similar instances that the Court did not want to open them all up.  Therefore, they ruled the states knew what was considered a public use and that was enough.)

The second issue he addressed was I75 here in Southwest Florida.  He agreed that I75 was sometimes a "parking lot."  He assured us that with initial funding support from local sources that the omnibus highway bill would provide the funds necessary.

The third issue he noted was the Babcock ranch acquisition.  He hoped to obtain some symbolic federal funding help with its acquisition which he recognized was a one-time environmental opportunity.  He is trying to obtain such funding through contacts with several committees as they prepare their authorizations.  He is optimistic.

He then proceeded to address questions from the audience.

I noted some comments which I thought were revealing.

He noted the current attention being paid to the nominee to replace Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.  He was contacted the day before by the White House counsel's office regarding his views (does this pass for consultation with the Senate?).  He told the counsel's office that he wanted a candidate who was open-minded, who hadn't already made up their mind on everything, who was even-handed, and who had a "judicial temperament."  He thought a justice like O'Connor was just what was needed.

With regard to immigration, he recognizes the problem we have with 6 to 8 million illegal aliens working mostly on our farms.  He noted that portions of our border with Mexico were crossed by huge numbers of illegals each day.  I believe he supports some form of legalized status for such people but he does not support blanket amnesty.

When the question of gasoline prices and oil consumption was raised, he noted what he would do if he were president ("And I'm NOT running for president!").  He would immediately demand a bill from Congress which would mandate technologically practical increases in the fuel efficiency of automobiles sold in America.  He would insist on wider use of ethanol.  Since energy is consumed to create ethanol, he would add sources.  He noted that prairie grass was a possible source to provide ethanol with much less energy cost than corn.  He would also encourage hybrid vehicles.  He would also insist that the hybrids be modified to permit recharges from the electrical grid.  He believed this strategy would significantly reduce our fuel consumption.

During his discussion of our situation in Iraq, he noted that his support had been based on clear statements that Iraq presented a real current threat.  He particularly cited a story about an Iraqi plan to build drones to be flown from freighters off the east coast with chemical and/or biological weapons.  He learned later that this piece of intelligence had been rejected by Air Force Intelligence who knew lots about drones.  Had he known of their objection he would have been more suspicious of the case being made.  In any event, we are now there and must have a successful outcome.  He believes that, if we were to fail or pull out without a stable Iraq, that other states in the area would be overcome by the Al Qaeda.  In particular, he thinks that the Saudis would be overthrown.  This would make our access to their oil uncertain.  (Ed. Note:  If they really are so much at risk, why aren't they helping us more?  Remember, they paid a large part of the cost of the Kuwait war.)

Another item high on his list is protecting the eastern Gulf of Mexico off the western coast of Florida from oil development.  Long standing agreements have put this area off-limits to both exploration and drilling.  He and Sen. Martinez have been able to beat down an approach which would have made Louisiana responsible for the area.  Bill even began a filibuster to stave off that action.  However, there is now a provision in the energy bill which would 'inventory' the oil and gas resources in the area.  This would be funded up to $1billion and include seismic exploration of the area using explosive charges.  Bill suggests that, since there is no economical oil or gas there, an inventory is a waste of funds.  It also breaks the agreement which has protected the area for years.

Healthcare was another issue.  He noted the need exists for a local veterans' hospital.  He did note the commitment of the Senate to veterans' medicine when an emergency appropriation of $1.5billion was made almost overnight when it was revealed that the Veterans' Administration failed to provide for the huge growth in rehabilitation cases as a result of the Iraq war.  There was some discussion of the problems the uninsured and other healthcare delivery problems.  He did advise that if a single payer system could be construed to be socialized medicine it was a non-starter.  It appears that healthcare is still a tough nut to crack.

A question which didn't get answered in the time available was the status of social security legislation.  Maybe we can get that one some other time.

Conclusion:  This was an excellent session from my standpoint.  I thought that the questions were generally well answered and revealed that Bill was familiar with the issues.  I do think that the crowd could have kept him busy with questions for at least a couple of more hours.  Maybe next year, but Bill was off to Town Meetings in Moore Haven and Okeechobee with an overnight at Sebring. 

Senator Bill Nelson certainly deserves our active support to assure his reelection in 2006.

Bill was well served by his local coordinator, Stacy Smith.  She did a good job of getting the session together.  The venue was excellent and the event ran smoothly.