Erika Wilhite
Published: January 9, 2006
At 9.45 am on Thursday, Jan. 11, Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) held a town hall meeting at Pensacola Junior College.
The meeting was relaxed and relatively informal. Nelson began by expressing his appreciation to those in attendance and his desire to connect with them on a personal level, saying he wanted to “look eyeball to eyeball, and hear from you – unvarnished – what’s on your mind.”
Questions posed to the senator ranged from queries about his view on the U.N.’s role in U.S. national politics to concerns about the threat digital broadcasting may pose to religious stations broadcasting on analog frequency.
A few questions dealt with pension reform for pilots working for United Airlines, and Nelson’s support of Senate Bill 65, which will extend airline pilot’s retirement age from 60 to 65. Nelson says he supports the increase wholeheartedly, asking rhetorically, “Why at age 60 should someone be forced to retire – because of age 60?”
Dorothy Robinson of Pensacola spoke on behalf of the Head Start program, which offers preparatory education for Pre-K students. Robinson asked that the senator support the program’s re-authorization. Nelson said that he believes that the program is “popular and successful” and is trying to stop efforts within the Senate to undercut its funding.
ACLU member Brian Warren voiced concerns about Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito’s record, specifically citing his former membership in Concerned Alumni of Princeton. Warren called Alito’s behavior in the senate hearings “evasive” and urged Nelson to vote against the nomination.
Other speakers echoed Warren’s concerns, but just as many disagreed and asked that Nelson vote, instead, in favor of Alito. Chuck Bolton of the Okaloosa Christian Coalition directly refuted Warren’s statements, praising Alito, and thanked Nelson for his fair and unbiased demeanor in the proceedings.
Nelson responded to both inquiries by stressing that he takes hi role in the confirmation proceedings very seriously. HE also said that he as set up a personal interview subsequent to the senate hearings, where he plans to speak with Alito one-on-one and “eyeball to eyeball”, and “get a feel” for his character.
Nelson said that he believes it’s important for nominees to possess a sense of humility, and that he doesn’t want “a judge who’s a know-it-all, who’s already made up their mind. so I take a lot of time when I interview these judicial applicants.”
But while much of the meeting centered on topics of national interest, several speakers focused on an important local issue; Escambia County’s toxic Superfund sites.
“There is simply no excuse for the EPA to let there be a mountain called Mount Dioxin,” said Nelson, referring to the site thus known because of its huge pile of contaminated, untreated waste, including dioxin (a chemical by product of many industrial processes).
The senator said that he has had “a running battle” with the EPA over the sites ever since Escambia County’s pollution problem was first brought to his attention by the Pensacola Chamber of Commerce five yeas ago, out of their concern that the pollution would affect local businesses.
Margaret Williams, a local activist who heads the neighborhood group Citizens Against Toxic Exposure (CATE) and has been battling the EPA, spoke about the urgent need to clean up these toxic sites so that future generations won’t have to fight to live in a clean environment.
Thursday’s meeting was one of several stops around the state; Nelson spoke with attendees for about an hour before traveling on to another town hall meeting in DeFuniak Springs, urging those with more questions to “follow” him, if need be, as he toured Florida.