[April 13, 2006 Palatka, FL] Yesterday at the Town hall Meeting for Senator Bill Nelson, there were several questions and comments about the fuel prices and the effect the high prices would have on the economy. The Senator said that that was a major issue for him along with the threat of nuclearization of Iran. Most of his responses dealt with the U.S. being so dependent on oil and because of that dependency, being dependent on the countries that export the oil to us. His solutions were to use alternative fuels and engines as well as energy sources that do not use oil. He did not talk about the impact on the economy, other than to say that he has asked for the Pres. to get the oil companies to freeze their prices. (Which of course does nothing to help the economy.)

He also talked about the Medicare Rx plan and touched briefly on the subject of social security in response to a particular question. The next major subject he talked about at length was about the influence of certain industries (i.e. oil, car, pharmaceutical…) on getting some bills passed in congress. He mentioned that he has noticed the rigid ideology & the strong division between parties. Several people expressed their concern about the lobbyists and their money and amount of control they can exert over congress. Another concern was about the seeming inability for constituents to get their view and opinions to their elected officials. He responded by saying that what the people needed to do was to “chew” on their congressperson and to work hard at the next election.

I asked the next question. I asked him what he thought of the FairTax Act. I told him that I had sent several letters asking his position, but had yet to receive a reply. He asked what it was about, and didn’t show any recognition until after explaining that the FairTax would replace the income, payroll, gift, estate… taxes with a national sales tax. He agreed that the current tax system was complex and burdensome to the American people. I suggested that instead of revisions, a replacement was the only way to go. We need to scrap the whole thing and start new with the FairTax. The crowd was definitely enthusiastic about that concept. The Senator said he didn’t think that it could pass in the next few months. My response to that was for him to get behind it and take a stand on it. I also told him that I know of more and more Floridians that are making this THE issue upon which they will be voting on in the upcoming elections, and that we needed to know where he stood on this issue. He asked if I would keep a dialogue going with one of his Jacksonville assistants. We were assured that he has been sent a copy of the FairTax book. From his comments, he obviously hasn’t read it yet. I will be conversing the lady he referred me to at the meeting and we will see what happens.

What I need all of you FairTaxers to do is to back me up on my statement regarding his re-election. I’ve heard a lot of people saying that they will make this a single-issue election, but he was not worried at all about being re-elected. We need to show him that this we are serious about getting the FairTax passed. We all need to hit him hard about his stand on the FairTax and show him that we mean business.