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Republican candidate David Harmer has challenged Democratic Congressman Jerry McNerney of Pleasanton to a series of “town hall” meetings in the 11th Congressional District.
Harmer, an attorney and businessman who lives in San Ramon, ran unsuccessfully last year as the Republican nominee for the House of Representatives in the 10th congressional district special election, which Democrat John Garamendi won.
A graduate of Brigham Young University’s law school, Harmer worked as counsel to a subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.
McNerney is seeking re-election to a third term as the 11th District’s congressman.
In a letter delivered to McNerney’s campaign headquarters Friday, Harmer proposed that the two candidates participate in meetings in Pleasanton, Danville, Lodi, Manteca, Tracy and Morgan Hill. The proposed timeline includes three town halls in September, and three in October.
“This is not a debate,” Harmer said. “The point here is to foster discussion about our respective plans for the district.”
“Jerry McNerney has been adamant in his support for Nancy Pelosi and Barak Obama’s big-government agenda,” he added. “On the other hand, I believe in Ronald Reagan’s vision for a smaller, more efficient government that fosters a healthy free-market economy. These forums will give voters the opportunity to hear and understand the differences between McNerney’s record and Reagan’s vision, and I strongly urge Jerry McNerney to join me in this venture.”
Harmer’s campaign manager Cameron Wilkinson said McNerney has been criticized since his government healthcare vote of avoiding town hall meetings.
“This gives McNerney an opportunity to get back outside of the Beltway and join David Harmer for informative discussions with the voters,” Wilkinson said. “The point is not to debate, but instead to connect with the constituents and let them know that their elected officials are interested in being transparent about their policies.”
Wilkinson said the Harmer team is awaiting McNerney’s response.
Jessica, Did we read the same article?
quoted:
But Paramedics Plus chief executive Tony Myers said that he would hire locally and would retain all the paramedics who currently work for AMR, as long as they pass a drug test.
Supervisor Scott Haggerty said, “I don’t want to see one of them (current AMR paramedics) unemployed.”
Haggerty said he would “hold their feet to the fire” and would be “really p…ed off if I’m deceived.”
Myers said, “We’ll keep our promises and our commitments.”
Ambulance Torres reporting for duty! tee hee hee, tee hee hee…
I am afraid that we may just see history repeat itself. Has anyone looked into the disaster that happened to the residents of Monterey? Another company won the bid process by undercutting the AMR competition. Looked good on paper, but just years later, the county had to ask AMR to come back and provide services again. The new provider ran out of money and resources to be able to continue service to it’s community. In the mean time, employees were looking at losing jobs due to lay offs and not being “hired” by the new company. They were displaced as best as possible into other areas of AMR as to not be unemployed. And only because of AMR’s size and national structure (money too) they were able to come back and meet the demand of the county that had just voted against them. Good luck to the employees of AMR. Good luck sleeping to the supervisors of the county if this goes bad and history repeats itself. I would hate to have that weight on my shoulders.
Paramedics Plus has been endorsed by the union NEMSA and has agreed to keep all EMTs and Paramedics at their current salary.. AMR has not been holding up their end of the Union contract. I.E.: They are expecting employees to go entire 12 hour shifts without meal breaks.. I welcome PP with open arms and hope they make it in Alameda County..
Also! You cannot compare them with WestMed as WM was a very VERY small company with VERY limited resources.. PP has the 911 contract in many counties throughout the country and has proven they can maintain it.. Do some research before you knock PP or any other company..
Thank you County Supervisors for a much needed change!
MyersFoe,
The fire departments have wanted Amr out for some time. The transporting departments have wondered why the fire departments as a whole will not go after the entire county and transport themselves. If you want to look at politics then there would be a lot of leverage if that occurred. To have 2/3 (ems, fire & police) of the 911 pie would go a long way.
If P+ is unable to staff their ambulances like that of Amr then they will push back and make their voices heard. The transporting departments have been forced to come up with policies that state that their last ambulance will not be forced to run Amr calls . Why? Amr can not handle their current contract. Berkeley, Albany, Piedmont and Alameda have their own areas that they are responsible to cover and provide service. One can not expect that Albany and Piedmont can keep sending their only paramedic ambulance out of their city to run Amrs calls.
If you look at Contra Costa County you will notice that San Ramon and MOFD DO NOT send their ambulances to cover Amrs calls. Why? Who would then run their calls?
Helping each other out is one thing but to do a job for a company that has a contract but fails to full fill it on a daily basis can not and will not continue.
SMH,
Amr might be losing the 911 contract to P+ but Amr will still in Alameda county providing Basic life support service (emt). Not all of Amr’s emts work on a paramedic ambulance.
With that being said P+ will not be offering basic life support service to start. Their emts will be working on the paramedic ambulance with a paramedic. The only way P+ would not hire one of us would be if we failed their new employee drug test. Would you want a user not only driving lights and siren but also providing emergency care to your loved ones?
One other option is that fellow Amr employees can check and see if another county that Amr provides service is in need of an emt or a paramedic. One example would be Contra Costa County, different counties but same union contract. If Contra Costa has an opening then we can put in for a transfer.
as a medic for ALCO, I desire not to change companies. Supervisor Haggarty says it is a simple switching patches. Many disagree. We and our former incarnations have served for 40 yrs. Many of us not only I may see problems with AMR but the county and hospitals also share blame. We are literally held just short hostage. Hospitals believe that if they keep the units there no more will come and bring patients to an already crowded inpatient system. PP will expierence the same thing and do it with less units.
you will see
Paramedics plus by their own admission at the Board of Sups meeting is a non-profit company.They said they are not in alameda county to make money.They said that anyone who prefers not to pay for ambulance transport does’nt have to and that they would dismiss the bill.That’s very nice of them,sounds like something we should all take them up on.Free is always the best price.
Harmer is clearly the more experienced candidate. He has run for Congress three times in three districts in two states. How many politicians can make such a claim? Gotta love Harmer’s traveling road show.
Harmer should not even be considered as our Rep. HE DOES NOT LIVE IN DISTRICT !!. We have a fine Congressman in Jerry McNerney who is working hard for us in District 11. Jerry lives in and understands the important issues for all of us in the District 11. Jerry does a great job in Washington D.C. and at the same time has been out in the district on a very regular basis.
Chet,
Ha! And McNerney lives IN the district, yet DOESN’T represent his constituents! No townhalls, votes 95% with Pelosi, while this district is nearly 40% conservative!
Your democrat talking points are very weak and are not fooling anyone with a brain.
I am sure your 40% conservatives in the district have loved the hard work and the passed and signed bills that Jerry has delivered for our soldiers, veterans and families in District 11. Jerry has made this a very large and important part of his work. This is one of the reasons several major Republicans in District 11 have endorsed Jerry in this election.
Christy, Garimendi didn’t live in HIS district when YOU elected him ! ! Is that called hypocrisy ? Fact is, your theatrics are meaningless, since intelligent, informed voters KNOW you do not HAVE to live in the district! ….a few blocks away is JUST FINE ! Ooops, I forgot, your team campaigns TO and lies TO the people you count as your voters….the MORE UNinformed, the better ! FOUR long years of Jerry without ONE original thought is more than enough of Pelosi’s ECHO ! !
Voters were smart to reject HARMer in district 10 and should do the same here in district 11. Maybe HARMer can then move on to try to run in district 12, 13, or 14…
Mr Harmer is a fine elder in our ward. He is what every politician should strive to be. He has REAL values. We are very proud of him
AMR has a fine reputation. It must be cost cutting. Heaven only knows the quality we will get from the EMTs.
However, most likely many of the current EMTs will be hired and, if history repeats itself, at lower wages.
I will be writing Miley and Haggerty.