The Annoyed Army

This column is only partially about health care. It is really about Senator Charles Schumer. And my brother. It is a true story, but I heard it second hand...

My brother Jake is an upstate New York conservative. He is active in veteran's affairs and a big proponent of gun rights. He doesn't have much use for Senator Clinton, but the one he has really despised for years is Senator Chuck Schumer.

Some weeks back, Jake attended a hearing at the VA hospital in Canandaigua NY, that had been targeted to close.When he got to the hearing, there were 3,000 vets in attendance, and standing room only. Jake found a place to stand near the door, where he could see everything that was happening.

Many politicians spoke, including Senator Clinton, who managed to receive only polite applause at the beginning of her speech and practically no applause at the end. Jake said all the speeches by all the politicians were like campaign speeches: *I*, *I*, *I*. He said they all banged their own drums, but none of them spoke to the fact that an excellent hospital was about to close.

Suddenly the door near Jake opened, and in walked Senator Schumer, carrying a huge box. He made his way to the front of the room, and dropped the box on the table, and took the microphone from the man who was running the hearing. "Mr. Battaglia," the Senator said. "What the hell is going on here? All of my friends here (he waved his hand at all the vets in the room) and I want to know why you think you can close a hospital like this that has won awards for excellence, and for which thousands of vets depend!"

Then the Senator opened the box, and pulled out a stack of papers. "I have here petitions with 90,000 signatures of veterans who want to see this hospital remain open. These guys are friends of mine and we owe it to them to see that they have continued good health care. Closing this hospital is a huge mistake and my friends, the vets I represent, will fight to see that it stays open.

Then he said, "I am not planning to leave. I am going to go out in front of the hospital and meet with all of you; I will try to say hello to each one of you personally." (Hillary, meanwhile, was long gone, whisked away by her security people).

Senator Schumer then handed back the microphone and headed for the exit near my brother Jake. Jake said he stuck out his hand and said, "Senator Schumer, I have never voted for you in the past and I will never vote for you in the future, because I don't believe hardly anything you stand for, but I want to thank you for what you did today and tell you that on this issue, I am proud you are my Senator." Schumer asked him his name, and his military background, and Jake said he seemed in no hurry to leave. He then spent hours in the cold outside the building talking to all the vets who were there.

A few weeks later, Jake was at the hospital doing some volunteer work, and the volunteer coordinator said, "Well we have big news. The VA Administration has decided to leave the hospital open for now. We think Senator Schumer had a lot to do with that."

I guess that is the end of my story. Jake will still be an activist for vet's rights and he will never like Charles Schumer much. But for one day, their paths crossed and it made Jake see that sometimes the two sides can intersect for a brief time and good things might happen.

~Towanda~