Sen.Boxer, meet Meg Powell Herston--a CA constituent--and MY niece!! (OK, Marg & Jack, take another Powell Bow!!!!!) How cool is this? The Satchwill-Kaplan-Yashoff connections/Obama sitings in DC seem to be contagious! Here's what Meg reported about meeting Barbara:
I was VERY impressed with her. She's even more classy, smart,articulate, assertive, thoughtful, et cetera than I thought she was going to be... and I had some pretty high expectations.. :)
It was a town hall meeting with about 50 other people, so all I got to say to her directly was a big THANK YOU.. but I did make sure to sit front and center. She had a lot to say about the stimulus package and how the CA state government (in general) needs to get their act together!!! She wants to get the money out ASAP to on-the-ground infrastructure projects, but is worried about the state government and their stubborn partisanship. I appreciated how she discussed green energy and rebulding infrastructure as the new mobilizing factor that is going to help us band together and get out of this economic mess...
Quite an experience this week. I met Congressmen Blumenhauer (Oregon) also, who is everyone's favorite alternative transportation advocate. All of my productive meetings were with congressional staff though ... we're just trying to get the message out that communities need the stimulus money for infrastructure, and we needed it yesterday..
Anyways, my feet hurt from wandering the halls of the House & Senate office buildings, and walking all over downtown DC... but I'm feeling extremely optimistic about the stimulus and recovery. No pain, no gain, right??
