> So he instead fills the room with campaign contributors.

> This administration is even more secret than the previous.  The whole
> transparency claim was bullshit and you know it.

> Bill

> http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/03/27/obama_town_hall_questi...

> Obama Town Hall Questioners Were Campaign Backers

> Updated 7:02 p.m.
> By Garance Franke-Ruta

> President Obama has promised to change the way the government does
> business, but in at least one respect he is taking a page from the
> Bush playbook, stocking his town hall Thursday with supporters whose
> soft -- though far from planted -- questions provided openings to
> discuss his preferred message of the day.

> Obama has said, "I think it's important to engage your critics ...
> because not only will you occasionally change their mind but, more
> importantly, sometimes they will change your mind," White House Press
> Secretary Robert Gibbs recounted to The Post's Lois Romano in an
> interview Wednesday.

> But while the online question portion of the White House town hall was
> open to any member of the public with an Internet connection, the five
> fully identified questioners called on randomly by the president in
> the East Room were anything but a diverse lot. They included: a member
> of the pro-Obama Service Employees International Union, a member of
> the Democratic National Committee who campaigned for Obama among
> Hispanics during the primary; a former Democratic candidate for
> Virginia state delegate who endorsed Obama last fall in an op-ed in
> the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star; and a Virginia businessman who was
> a donor to Obama's campaign in 2008.

> Here are their stories:

> 1. Sergio Salmeron: Self-description at the White House: "My name is
> Sergio Salmeron. I want to find out about health care."

> Salmeron became engaged with the Obama campaign early in 2008, writing
> on his blog at my.barackobama.com, "We need to mobilize towards
> changing the trend of '2 to 1 Latinos favoring Hillary over Barack.'
> Let's make a resolute commitment... Let's put the facts on the table,
> ask the questions, until we understand how this all applies to us.
> Then strategize [sic] to get the word out to Latinos in America, who
> want change as much as everyone else."

> He was a volunteer canvasser for the campaign, he told The Post, and
> did voter registration work and translated materials for the campaign,
> as well. A partner at Global Paradigm Strategies, Salmeron is
> volunteer "member of the Democratic National Committee" and continues
> to be active with the Obama campaign's successor, Organizing for
> America, which is how he got the White House invite, he said.

> "I got a call from this woman who has been working with me for the
> pledge drive," he said, referring to the Organizing for America drive
> on behalf of the president's budget proposal. "You know, we're trying
> to get support out for the president's agenda."

> 2. Tom Sawner: Self-description: "Sir, I'm Tom Sawner. I'm a service-
> disabled veteran, small-business owner in Arlington, Virginia. My
> company, Educational Options, works with public schools."

> According to Federal Election Commission records, Sawner made a $250
> donation to Obama's campaign on Oct. 27, 2008. He also, as he noted
> Thursday, served as an adviser on Obama's educational platform
> committee. He said he was invited to the White House town hall through
> the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Small Business Executive Council.

> Sawner's no stranger to the White House, either; he attended President
> Bush's Feb. 2008 signing ceremony for that year's economic stimulus
> package -- another Chamber of Commerce invite. And in April 2008, he
> even became an anecdote in one of Bush's speeches.

> "And I met a guy named Tom Sawner," the 43rd president said at a small
> business summit. "Now, he's an old fighter pilot, which means there's
> no wall he can [sic] run through. He's a doer, an achiever, and he's
> got him a small business called Educational Options."

> But the event with Obama, Sawner said, "was a whole different look and
> feel" than the one with Bush. "This is a president who is into
> openness." And he didn't know he was going to be able to ask a
> question until he got to the forum, he said.

> 3. Carlos Del Toro: Self-description: "My name is Carlos Del Toro. I
> served in the Navy for 26 years, retired four years ago, and started a
> small business."

> In 2007, Del Toro stood as a Democratic candidate for the Virginia
> House of Delegates, but did not win. A supporter of Hillary Rodham
> Clinton in the Democratic presidential primaries, he backed Obama
> against McCain in the general, endorsing him in an Oct. 24, 2008 op-ed
> in the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star.

> "As a Virginia small-business owner, veteran, and Latino, I'm voting
> for Sen. Barack Obama for the same reasons as millions of other
> Americans: because I believe this country desperately needs change.
> Obama will change our economic policies to help middle-class families,
> promote the growth of small businesses, and increase funding for
> veterans' affairs, so no member of our armed services goes without the
> medical treatment he or she needs and deserves," he wrote.

> In 2008, he donated $2,750 to Virginia Democratic candidates for
> office, according to the Center for Responsive Politics; in 2006, he
> gave $1000 to the campaign of now Sen. Jim Webb (Va.), FEC records
> show.

> He also has ties to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Small Business
> Council.

> 4. Linda Bock: "My name is Linda Bock and I'm a registered nurse just
> in Prince George's County, Maryland -- been there 34 years at a free
> senior health center. And I'm here with my fellow nurses from SEIU."

> Bock, along with her chapter of the SEIU and her son and daughter,
> helped campaign and canvass for Obama, she said. After Obama was
> elected, she wrote in the Landover, Md., 1199 SEIU nurses' newsletter:
> "Now we have our work cut out for us -to hold our elected officials
> accountable. And I hope they hold us accountable too. We all have work
> to do to make the changes needed to restore our reputation, to heal
> the wounds of war, to repair our earth and regulate its resources;
> and, to secure our economic future. It will take sacrifice and
> service. It will take prayer and the grace of God. Now we have hope.
> We have President-elect Barack Obama. God bless America."

> Her invite to the White House came through the Nurse Alliance
> Leadership Council, she said. And like Sawner, she didn't know until
> she got to the forum that it was open to the in real life
> participants. "I did not think we would be able to ask any questions,"
> she said. "I wasn't personally anticipating being chosen to ask
> anything. We knew that the Web portion was people already lined up."

> 5. Bonnee L. Breese: "Hi, Mr. President. Thank you so very much for
> having me, a public school teacher from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
> here to be with you.
> THE PRESIDENT: What's your name?
> Q Bonnee Breese.
> THE PRESIDENT: Good to see you, Bonnee.
> Q Thank you. I'm from Overbrook High School. I have to say that,
> because I know all the children are watching. (Laughter.)"

> Breese has not donated a reportable amount to Obama, according to the
> FEC. She is a member of the 11,626-person Pennsylvania for Obama page
> on Facebook.

> A supporter of the president's -- "Of course!" she said -- Breese was
> invited to the meeting through the American Federation of Teachers
> union. She sits on the executive board of the Philadelphia Federation
> of Teachers, Local 3, she said, and is known in her area for being
> politically engaged.

> The sixth in-person presidential questioner, "Ellie" from Maryland,
> did not give her surname. The White House did not respond to a request
> for it, but noted there were roughly 100 people in the audience.

> "The audience was composed of approximately 100 people, including
> teachers, nurses, small business owners, and community leaders -- and
> the virtual audience of thousands across the country who have
> submitted questions online," said White House spokesman Nicholas S.
> Shapiro. "The White House reached out to a number of community groups
> and the chamber of commerce and those groups invited their folks to
> come and participate."