[Editor's Note: This article was originally posted on Friday afternoon. We're bouncing it up to keep it front and center.]

This article is by Russ Caditz-Peck

Yesterday, under the golden geodesic dome of the Walla Walla Community College gymnasium—"Home of the Warriors!"—over 500 constituents gathered for Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers' (R-WA, 5) town hall on health care reform. Cowboys boots, floral patterns and tennis ball-capped walkers filled the bleachers as Walla Walla's over-65 set came out in force, largely to support McMorris Rodgers' conservative position.

The parade of senior citizens heading into the gym was greeted by thirty demonstrators, including members of the Walla Walla County Democrats. The college-aged group was gathered around the entrance chanting support for Democratic bills that overhaul the health care system and include a public option that would compete with private insurers. Holding signs with slogans such as "Public is Patriotic" and "Job Loss should not be Fatal," demonstrators were met with head-shaking and name-calling ("ya'll ain't nothing but Soviets.") But there were no counter-protests or—as has been the case this summer—citizens exercising their Second Amendment rights .



From the dais inside the gym, McMorris Rodgers—the highest ranking Republican woman in the House (she's the Vice Chair of the GOP House caucus)—acknowledged a need for reform, but voiced strong opposition to the Democratic-sponsored bills in the House. In her opening remarks, Rep. McMorris Rodgers said a public option would result in "over 100 million people forced off a private health insurance plan," lead to "rationed care," and "jeopardize the doctor-patient relationship."



Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, photo by Russ Caditz-Peck

While questions from the audience divided fairly evenly between supporters and opponents of her position, the applause remained predictably one-sided in a county that Sen. John McCain won with nearly 60 percent on the vote in 2008. Anti-tax tea party organizers passed out literature both inside and outside the event, and McMorris Rogders earned some of her loudest cheers by challenging the notion that millions lack access to health care, repeating President George Bush's infamous soundbite "[anyone] can still get care if you go to an emergency room."



McMorris Rodgers struggled with the first question from the audience, though, stumbling over a polite yet confidant 70-something woman's question of whether "health care is a right or a privilege." After searching for an answer for several seconds, Rep. McMorris Rodgers dodged it, and simply said: "All Americans should have health insurance."

To her credit, like Tacoma-suburban Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA, 9) earlier this week ,  McMorris Rodgers maintained a civil Q&A session despite the contentious topic. With a genial sense of humor, McMorris Rogers commended one rambling questioner for offering "possibly good insights," and despite sporadic jeering from her conservative fan base in the crowd, she encouraged supporters of the Democrats' plan to state their opinions.

She also took advantage of the partisan room—recommending that a scooter-bound, elderly Obama-skeptic who voiced concerns about "elder euthanasia" (or the end-of-life counseling that Sarah Palin recently referred to as "death panels") join her to lobby the nation's capital.

Rodgers did not correct the woman's bad info.

To clarify, there is no panel in any version of the bills in Congress to create a "death panel" or promote "elder ethanasia." Palin was referring to a provision that would allow Medicare to reimburse doctors' appointments to discuss living wills and other end-of-life issues with their physicians. This measure is supported by the AARP and the appointments were completely optional.

Asked about the exchange on "Death panels," McMorris Rogers spokesperson Destry Henderson told PubliCola: "I'm not sure where that came from. The Congresswoman is concerned that a government panel has the power to determine your health care. You're going to have to ask Sarah Palin about the death panels."

Throughout the afternoon, McMorris Rodgers repeatedly hit on two of her priorities: The need for a wide-variety of options, from small businesses creating "association insurance plans" to individual plans that "you can take from job to job" across state lines, and the need to keep government's share of the health insurance market minimal citing programs such Medicare's tendency to to underpay health care providers.

(Her criticism is this: If insurance payments to docotors decrease under a public payment scheme, they'll have to jack rates on private plans  to make up the difference—increasing the rates of private insurance—and patients won't be able to afford choice in health care.)

Despite her opposition to a public plan, she did say, "it is appropriate that there would be a safety net made available to all Americans." McMorris Rodgers also highlighted a bill she cosponsored with Rep. Smith  to promote the use of electronic health care records.

Jim Barnett—a tough looking, blue jean-wearing, 40-something constituent from Walla Walla who attended with his wife to support a public option—was skeptical of the McMorris Rodgers, saying, "all she knows is what [Glenn] Beck, says what [Sean] Hannity says, but she needs to hear what people under 65 need."

Will Canine, a student activist at Whitman College, pointed out that "McMorris Rodgers' interests clearly lie with her insurance company donors." McMorris Rogders' top donors for the 2008 election include  Blue Cross/Blue Shield and the National Association of Retail Drugists.

McMorris Rogders' top twenty donors since her election to the House in 2005 include the American Medical Association and Blue Cross/Blue Shield, who have each donated over $20,000 towards her reelection campaigns.

Her top donor is the anti-tax Club for Growth, at just under $90,000 in contributions. The Club for Growth made news recently by launching a $1.2 million campaign to "highlight the dangers of government-run health care" through television ads that many have called misleading .

McMorris Rodgers' spokesman Destry Henderson told PubliCola McMorris Rodgers' goal was to, "fix what we have rather than start something brand new." And he repeated her call for private sector solutions saying the plan should "break down state borders so small business can band together to create association plans."

A local organizer of the last spring's anti-tax Tea Parties offered a stronger stance, stating multiple times, "this bill needs to die."