Congressman gets earful from constituents at Oxford town hall event

Aug. 11--U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Saks, faced a room full of constituents at a town hall meeting in Oxford on Thursday, and had good news for some there concerned over the push to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

"I think we have to admit that. It's over," Rogers told attendees of the attempt this year to repeal former President Barack Obama's signature health care overhaul. Rogers made the comments at the start of the event, during which he discussed recent and pending legislation.

Rogers said lawmakers will now move on to tax reform, and in even that, he said, Republicans likely won't get all they want.

Speaking of the push to repeal the ACA, widely known as Obamacare, Rogers said the last effort in Congress, which he called "a shell" of a bill was meant to head off what he said were 223 percent insurance premium increases in Alabama caused by the Affordable Care Act. Rogers said the bill was headed in the right direction until Sen. John. McCain, R-Ariz., "put a knife into the heart of health care and killed it." That line drew applause from several in the audience of 140 or so.

Rogers earlier on Thursday held a similar meeting in Opelika. The two events were the first such town hall-type events the congressman has held this year.

But if Rogers hoped his preemptive talk about health care and an end to attempts this year to repeal the ACA, would assuage those in the crowd angry at Republicans who supported the push, his hopes were quickly dashed. Several asked questions about Rogers' support of the effort.

Pam Howard of Jacksonville said she has health insurance through the Affordable Care Act, but went without health insurance years ago while she and her husband started their own business. She got sick and they lost their home due to medical bills, Howard said, and "now I have a preexisting medical condition, so I want you to know when you're voting on those bills you're affecting my life."

Howard also asked about her and others' concerns about the solvency of Social Security benefits.

Rogers said that when Social Security benefits were created, people lived shorter lives, and that the program was never meant to provide long-term retirement money.

"People are living into their 70s, 80s and 90s ...We have to be adult about that, or it won't be there for anybody," Rogers said.

Turning to Trump

Rufus Kinney of Jacksonville asked Rogers why he hasn't spoken out about what he described as President Donald Trump's rude behavior toward women, the handicapped and his incessant tweeting.

Rogers said that his demeanor is different than the president's, but that "I have to admit. He resonated with people. He connected in a way that not many people in our country's history have connected with the population."

Asked by one man about chances of returning more work to the Anniston Army Depot, Rogers said he thinks "the future is bright for the depot."

Lawmakers recently approved a $34 billion increase in military spending, he said, which could mean more work for the depot, which repairs and refurbishes military vehicles and weapons.

Asked by another attendee about his stance on transgender troops serving in the military, Rogers said that he supports transgendered people who want to serve, but that he doesn't agree with the government paying for medical procedures for people who choses to transition genders. He said a person who enlists and asks to do so can't be deployed during the two-year process and "it's incredibly expensive."

"That's what Donald Trump was talking about when he did his announcement," Rogers said of Trump's announcement in July that he was reinstating a ban on transgender persons serving in the military. Rogers' statement that Trump only intended to ban those seeking gender transition treatment while in the military drew outcries from several in the audience of "No," "It's not," and "That's not what he said."

"That's what he was talking about," Rogers said. "I'm not going to argue."

A confrontation

The town hall meeting took a turn after David Land of Oxford asked Rogers about campaign contributions he said came from former Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard to Rogers' wife's campaign for a judicial seat. Beth Rogers was elected a Calhoun County District Court judge in 2010. Hubbard was convicted in June 2016 on 12 felony violations of state ethics law, and was sentenced to four years in prison and eight on probation.

Land prefaced his question by telling Rogers, "it's going to get your hackles up, I assure you" before asking how Rogers could give money to Hubbard, who he said then gave money to Rogers' wife "to facilitate her election." Land said he has contacted the state Ethics Commission over the matter.

Beth Rogers' 2010 campaign finance filings show $20,000 in total contributions from "Friends of Mike Hubbard."

Rogers said that Hubbard is "one of my closest friends" and is also a friend of Rogers' wife.

"And he gave her money because we're friends ... so you keep my wife out of this and be a man or we'll take it outside," Rogers said.

That drew applause from several in the audience. Land stood, and was urged by some in the audience to sit down. He took his seat after Oxford police Chief Bill Partridge spoke to him.

After the meeting, Land said he filed a complaint with Oxford police because of Rogers' remarks. Land, who walked with a cane, said he was injured in Bosnia while serving in the U.S. military.

North Korea and more meetings

Answering a question from another attendee on escalating tensions between the U.S. and North Korea, Rogers said he's less worried about North Korea reaching the western portions of the U.S. with a nuclear missile as he is that South Korea or Japan will be targeted.

Karen Barwick of Pell City, who managed the campaign of Rogers' Democratic opponent, Jesse Smith, asked Rogers if he would hold more town hall meetings to hear concerns from constituents.

Rogers said that he has staff working throughout his district who know what people want and need, and that the argument that he needs to hold town hall meetings to learn that "is laughable."

Glen Browder, a political science professor at Jacksonville State University who held Rogers' seat as a Democrat from 1989 to 1997, moderated the event. He attempted to end it a few minutes after the scheduled 4:30 p.m. conclusion, but Rogers asked for three more questions.

The last speaker didn't ask a question, but critiqued Rogers' votes on health care.

Frank Cobb, a Piedmont councilman, said that in 2002 he was diagnosed with throat cancer, and that former Gov. Robert Bentley declined to allow the state to establish its own Affordable Care Act marketplace or expand Medicaid.

"And you were right there with him," Cobb said, adding that people voted Rogers into office because "you told people you were going to help them, but you ain't doing that now."

Staff writer Eddie Burkhalter: 256-235-3562. On Twitter @Burkhalter_Star.

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