Access To Barbara Boxer; For a Price

Joe Schoffstall | June 18, 2010
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Earlier this week, Sen. Barbara Boxer's (D-Calif.) campaign sent an e-mail to supporters informing them they can have access to the senator. But in order to have this luxury, one must first pay a price according to a Carly Fiorina Web site. For the small charge of $15 per month (for a year) you can get on the phone with Boxer. You cannot speak during these calls, but you can listen to her speak. This package includes four listening sessions per year. Supporters who were generous enough to donate $180 to the campaign up-front got an invitation to join her on a conference call on June 20. However, this is not the first time Boxer made people pay to have access to her. During the health care debate last summer, while other senators and congressmen across the country held open town hall events to the public, Boxer decided to go on a book tour. Did you want to get a seat and meet the senator? Well, if you did not purchase her book, you could not get a seat. No way around it. According to the August 12, 2009 article in the Marin Independent Journal Protesters Hound Sen. Boxer At Book Event":

“Wednesday night’s protesters gathered on the sidewalk outside the Marketplace shopping center where Book Passage is located, and also outside the bookstore’s entrance. Attendees of the event were required to purchase the book to get a seat inside, leading to an exchange between Boxer and James Urquhart of Santa Rosa that drew a round of laughter. ‘Your book is going in the trash as soon as I get home,’ Urquhart said. ‘Well, I’m glad you bought it,’ she retorted.”

I know first hand that Sen. Boxer is very difficult to get a straightforward answer from and is not the most accessible person in the world. I asked her--on two seperate occasions-- questions on global warming at the Capitol, and she did not answer either one of them. Perhaps if I donated $180 to her campaign, I could have gotten an answer. "Call Me Senator!" For nostalgic purposes, let's flash back to the "Call me Senator!" incident involving General Michael Walsh. After he repeatedly called her 'ma'am', which is military protocol mind you, she snarkily responded:

"You know, do me a favor. Can you say senator instead of ma'am? It's just a thing, I worked so hard to get the title, so I'd appreciate it."

  Or how about the power trip she went on towards Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) as Al Gore was testifying in front of congress on global warming?

  Boxer's elitist attitude seems to always get the best of her.  She recently made the outrageous statement that carbon is the 'greatest threat to national security". Maybe if she didn't open her mouth as much to let everyone know how high and mighty she is, she wouldn't be releasing such a 'dangerous pollutant'.

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