US Rep Carol Shea-Porter Is A Disgrace

This is from the New Hampshire Union Leader. My congresswoman doesn’t believe people in her district that oppose her views are her constituents. This is typical of a liberal, you can’t disagree with them because they are sooo smart, they know what’s best. Your opinion means nothing to them, you are stupid, they are enlightened.

Critics Rap Shea-Porter Over Calls

By MICHAEL COUSINEAU

 New Hampshire Union Leader Staff

Stratham – Two Stratham women say they believe U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter was trying to silence her pro-war critics by calling them after they had written letters to newspapers criticizing the new congresswoman for hosting anti-war protesters at her Dover office last month.

 But the 1st District Democrat said she has phoned dozens of constitutents with family members serving in Iraq, regardless of their feelings about America’s continued military presence in Iraq. “It’s my job to listen,” she said. Allison Scamman, whose sister is an Army first lieutenant serving in Iraq, said Shea-Porter called her Tuesday and spoke for at least 20 minutes. “It was not a positive call,” Scamman said. “I felt that it was a phone call to intimidate me, to stop my freedom of speech.” A second woman, Gail Giarrusso, said she received a call from the congresswoman on Jan. 29, the same day she sent an e-mail taking issue with a Shea-Porter staffer who called her to complain about her critical letter that appeared in the Portsmouth Herald. Shea-Porter confirmed to the New Hampshire Sunday News that she had talked with the two women, but said she and her staff weren’t trying to intimidate anyone. “We all have our personal filters. The very fact that we call people of all different positions is we’re respecting them and listening to them,” she said in a phone interview from her Washington office Friday. “In the end, I can only vote one way. I can’t vote for both positions.” Scamman, a member of a group who greets troops stopping at Pease International Airport en route to and from Iraq, said she had called Shea-Porter’s office at least twice seeking answers days before speaking to the congresswoman. “I discussed the war with her and I said that every time she speaks out about the war, she’s causing the terrorists to help break the will of the American people and violence increases in Iraq and she’s putting my sister in harm’s way,” said Scamman, the daughter-in-law of former New Hampshire House Speaker Douglas Scamman. “And she told me, well, that’s too bad because she was elected by her constituents that were anti-war and that they were the ones that were voting her into office and she did not consider me a constituent … because I do support the war in Iraq and her door was closed to me as a constituent,” Scamman said. Shea-Porter, a freshman Democrat, said she did not say those things and remembers inviting at least one of the women to her office for cider, the same drink offered to the anti-war protesters at her Dover office Jan. 11. “I said a majority of Americans and a majority of New Hampshirites want us out of Iraq,” said Shea-Porter, who rode an anti-war tide into office last November. Giarrusso, also a “Pease greeter,” said she and the congresswoman disagreed over the war. “She basically was trying to convert me to her viewpoint, which was not going to happen,” said Giarrusso, who’s a friend of Scamman and whose nephew served two tours in Iraq. “We just viewed things too differently, so she said, ‘We’re just never going to agree.’” Shea-Porter said she has made “maybe a couple of dozen” calls to constituents who have written letters and have relatives serving in Iraq. “If it’s particularly poignant or moving, I pick up the phone and call them,” she said. “I think it’s important for them to hear from me directly, especially if there’s some anguish in the letter.” Shea-Porter said of the phone calls: “I hope that they help. I hope they understand I read their letters … and at a very minimum, I am very supportive of their servicemen and women.” The congresswoman said she has phoned people on both sides of the war. “I’ll call if they’re for me or against me,” she said. She said the “overwhelming majority” of letters her office has received have supported her war position. Shea-Porter said she didn’t believe she or her staff acted inappropriately. “I would have been delighted if my congressman before had called me and allowed me to express myself,” she said. “I just find it so ironic that people yell that Washington isn’t listening and here I am listening.” Scamman said her sister, Sarah Snyder, runs personnel services for all of Iraq in Balad and “they get mortared all the time.” She and Giarruso both voted last November for Shea-Porter’s opponent, incumbent Republican Jeb Bradley. Both said they were upset over the anti-war protesters in the congresswoman’s office. “Our family members are over serving in a war and I just don’t think a congresswoman or congressman should be serving war protesters,” Giarrusso said. “It’s disrespectful to our troops during a time of war. Shea-Porter, who was in Washington that day, said “everybody should have access” to her. “It’s right in the Constitution — the right to petition for redress,” she said. “I’m fulfilling my Constitutional duty by allowing everyone to come in and tell me their story,” she said.