Last week when Rep. Tim Griffin (R-Ark.) was back home in Little Rock for a campaign fundraiser, he was met by more than a dozen local activists from Arkansas Community Organizations (ACO).
They wanted to know that since he voted for the Republican budget that privatizes Medicare and guts Medicaid, if he supported recently introduced legislation by Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) that would privatize Social Security. Max Brantley on the Arkansas Blog points out that:
Griffin said in 2010 that he didn’t support privatized Social Security, but since he’s voted to privatize Medicare, demonstrators were interested in getting a new commitment on Social Security from the Republican congressman from Little Rock.
ACO’s Neil Sealy told Brantley that two members of the group—David Arellanes, a retired Southwestern Bell employee, and Albany Bailey, president of the United Steelworkers (USW) local for the Bryant area, went inside to:
deliver a letter to Griffin that called on him to meet with all of the people in his district and to oppose efforts to weaken Social Security by raising the retirement age and creating private accounts. Said Sealy: “The two met with Mr. Griffin and a nervous staff member. They reported that Mr. Griffin said that he opposed the SAFE Act sponsored by Rep. Sessions.”
Write that down.
They will.
On Blue Arkansas, ARDem has a take on Griffin’s surprising response.
Maybe after his Medicare/Medicaid vote he realizes he can’t get away with another vote like this? Or maybe he’s just blowing smoke.
Either way, Arkansans will hold him accountable.
