An Open Rosh Hashanah Challenge to Andrew Romanoff

(This is my personal opinion only. I do not speak for any organization or office with which I am affiliated.)

Dear Andrew Romanoff,

I used to believe in you, Former Speaker of the House, Andrew Romanoff. Really I did...and I want to again. I cried when Gov. Bill Ritter picked Michael Bennet for US Senate.  Ask my friends.

If you really want my vote, and the votes of other regular Coloradoans like me, you would not be resting on your laurels on what you did when you were in office at the state level. Where have you been since you left?

If you really care about my sister, the preschool teacher who has never been able to afford health care insurance at any point during her adult life, despite the fact she works eleven hours a day, why haven't we seen you at one of the (approximately) fifty town halls, rallies, protests, meetings, or other events my friends and I have been to this past five months on health care reform? Other legislators like Bennet, Perlmutter, Kefalas, Kagan, Williams, Ryden, both Carrolls (Morgan and Terrance) were there. Even hiding-from-the-sunlight Senator Udall was at one of them. State Rep. Daniel Kagan was at many of them. It's not like he didn't have better things to do, either. He was in office at the time.

How many did we see you at Andrew? ZERO. ZIP. Nada. Where were you while we fought for the lives of 45,000 Americans who die every year because they don't have adequate health care (per a new study referenced by msnbc just last night)? Where were you during the past 8 months you could have been leading this charge for no political gain? Seriously, Mr. Romanoff, where were you?

Some of my friends and I didn't take a vacation this year because of people like my brother. Dean is an independent home contractor in Michigan who cannot afford health care for his very painful diverticulitis and hernia. Instead, my friends and I went to rallies all summer, fighting for my brother Dean, and the tens of millions of other Americans like him. The thought that one rally, one phone bank, one town hall counter-protest might somehow effect a deciding vote was enough for us to not go on my vacation this year. My brother has two small children and may lose his home soon, because he has to pay for his son's health care for a congenital issue that couldn't wait. My brother will be driving to CO soon to do a kitchen remodel, doubled over in pain, so he can drive back to northern Michigan just to pay his rent, so his babies won't be living on the street. Did you take a vacation this summer, Andrew? He didn't. Many of us regular middle class Americans who care about getting federal health care legislation passed didn't, or couldn't -- for both financial and moral reasons.

Candidate Romanoff -- I believed in you; you let us down on the fight for federal health care finance reform so far, but it is not too late for you to do something about it now.

By the way, guess who was there most of the time these past 8 months, fighting with us on health care insurance reform? MICHAEL BENNET. If he wasn't there personally, he always sent his best staffers, even on the days when he only had two of them. Yeah, you know the guy -- Ritter's pick. I may not like how he got into office, but I love the way he delivered on something that will mean life or death for some of my family members. I love the way he has delivered for my aging parents who cannot afford the co-pays on my Dad's 13 post-cancer surgery medications.

Check my photos on facebook. I am glad I chronicled the last six months of health care reform events in Colorado. I am sad to say the only place I saw you was at a fundraising dinner in Arapahoe County. Check my photos. It's in there, too. And yes, I did tell you I was one of your strongest supporters when I saw you, but that was before I knew you would be throwing your hat into the ring now, after letting the rest of us in Colorado carry the torch on federal health care reform without you. I honestly thought you would do something first to show us why you deserve to play on the big stage. Spend a little time volunteering for Organizing for America in your free time? Nope, haven't seen you there, either. (Apparently, neither has Barack Obama...)

Prove me wrong, Andrew. Get Wade Norris or Cary Kennedy or Cindy Lowery or your County Chairs and Officers, or any one of your other high visibility supporters to run some phone banks, rallies, town halls, or other events while we are on the home stretch on health care reform. Have them take on Max Baucus - show us what you can really do. Throw your passion and your legions of supporters behind this one like Senator Michael Bennet and his bare-bones staff have in 64 counties these past 8 months, banging his fist down on tables and saying, "Health Care Insurance Reform is a moral obligation".

Stand up to tea-party protesters for all of my unemployed friends who cannot afford their COBRA premiums, or for whom unemployment is about to run out, who will soon join the 14,000 people per week in America who lose their health care insurance. Senator Bennet took on an ambush of many of them in Highlands Ranch at David Canter's house. Check my facebook photo albums. It's in there.
This isn't a state level fight, Mr. Romanoff --- this is federal, this is big time. Show us what you can do on the big stage. WHEN I SEE AS MANY ROMANOFF SHIRTS AT PHONE BANKS FOR HEALTH CARE REFORM as I have Bennet shirts over the last 8 months, I'll document all of it with my inexpensive camera, like I have all the others. Go ahead; make up for the last 8 months, where the only place full-time health care reform activists like my friends and I have seen you is a formal fundraising dinner in Arapahoe County.

My camera is ready, Mr. Speaker. Please prove me wrong. We dare you - me and family and my friends. I wouldn't offer you a challenge if I didn't think you were up to it. I think you are definitely up to it.
Oh, by the way, there are numerous health care insurance reform events this weekend (details below). I know it is Rosh Hashanah, but maybe some of your supporters won't be celebrating it like you and I will be. (I am taking a day off to pray for my parents, my brother, my sister and about 45 million other people's family members.)

As yet undecided voter,

Nancy Cronk

P.S. L'Shanah Tovah - May you be inscribed for a peaceful, prosperous, compassionate and EFFECTIVE New Year.
(This is my personal opinion only. I do not speak for any organization or office with which I am affiliated.)
Health Care Reform Events for Saturday, September 19, 2009:

#1: Littleton: Donovan O'Dell, Community Organizer. Two shifts: 10:00 am and 1:00 pm. Location: Upper Ridgewood Park (The name on the park sign has been changed to Charley Emley Park), 2301 W Briarwood Avenue, Corner of Prince St. & W Briarwood Ave., Littleton, CO 80120. Contact Donovan directly for more info at littletondems.dpo@gmail.com
#2 Aurora: Joseph Soto, OFA Intern, Organizer. Time: 10:00 - 1:00 pm. Location: Bicentennial Park, 13655 E. Alameda Ave, Aurora CO.
#3 Denver: Walk into the Colorado Dems Party HQ office on Santa Fe. Ask for a walk-list and get to work. For other locations and times, contact your county Organizing for America leaders, Democratic Party Chairs, or call the Dem HQ for more info.