A Meeting with U.S. Rep. John Rutherford

By IM Member Philip 'Tiger' May

Last week, after months of requests, I was finally able to have a brief meeting with Rep. John Rutherford. I was very pleased and fortunate to be joined by three dynamic & insightful voices from the district - Rhona DiCamillo, VP of the Jax League of Women Voters, Carol of the Beaches Activists Movement and Karen of Indivisible Mandarin.

I began by asking if we could make either an audio and/or video recording of the meeting and he refused, stating that this is "private meeting between us". While I considered pushing back and stating that no, this should be a public meeting between our elected official and his constituents, I chose not to do, feeling it would make the encounter more contentious.

Over the course of about 30 minutes, we discussed a variety of topics. To our minimal surprise, we found much of his 'factual information' to be decidedly faulty and overtly partisan. Rhona expressed concerns about the 'Save Act' and its impact on voter registration requirements and asked if he had discussed the proposed legislation with local supervisors of election. He had not and maintained that with the implementation of the new 'Real ID' mandate in May (gold star in the upper right corner), this would suffice for 'proof of citizenship' and that no other documentation would be needed. Rhona's subsequent research found that this was not the case and additional proof would likely be needed.

He was pressed on budgetary issues and how the DOGE efforts and proposed tax cuts could possibly be achieved without reductions in social security and Medicare/Medicaid. Karen described the situation of neighbors who care for a chronically ill child and depend on Medicaid to cover her medications. She told him the parents could be faced with selling their house to pay for her drugs if their daughter loses her Medicaid coverage. He stated categorically that he would strongly oppose any cuts to those programs. However, he did not disavow the possibility of changing eligibility requirements - a de facto backdoor method of program reductions.

Other issues included the current chaotic economic environment and Trump's erratic & capricious application of tariffs, and the administration's blatant disregard and contempt for due process and the rule of law. He supports the tariffs and the hard-line stance of trying to reduce our trade deficit, but was extremely weak on facts supporting such drastic tactics, especially when imposed on our closest allies and trading partners. And as expected, he towed the party line and stated that the rule of law was being followed, and Trump's actions were constitutional. When pressed on Abrego Garcia's deportation with no due process, he claimed that he was, in fact, given due process, but could not cite a hearing date or court appearance (since 2019) that was held prior to his rendition to El Salvador.

Carol shared a summary of comments made by his constituents at the recent "Empty Chair" Town Hall Meeting and encouraged him to listen to the concerns articulated by seniors, veterans, the disabled and others about cuts to programs and threats to our democracy.

As we wrapped up the discussion, I told him that my WWII combat-wounded father would be spinning in his grave if he knew that the United States had opposed all of our European allies and sided with Russia, China and N. Korea in a UN vote attempting to formally acknowledged that Russia was solely to blame for the invasion of Ukraine. His response was silence. I asked him lastly to consider - as a practicing devout Catholic - if he was morally at peace with Trump's unethical, transactional approach to governing. I did not expect or receive an answer.

Although I don't think we moved his ideological or policy needle in any material way, I believe it was still worthwhile and a positive experience. We must keep up the fight and continue to convey our feedback on the destruction and divisiveness of Trump's policies and the GOP's enthusiastic acquiescence. Hopefully, as his poll numbers continue to plummet, Republican leaders' fealty to Trump will begin to erode, and possibly move them incrementally back to the middle, back to sanity.