Boyd Fields Questions at Lions Club

Congressman Allen Boyd (D-North Florida) addressed a meeting of the local Lions Club last week, answering questions with humor and some surprising directness.

Speaking to approximately 70 members of the Port St. Joe Lions Club, Boyd answered audience questions about the Blue Dogs, current Democratic presidential candidates, the water wars with Georgia, Florida's dangling delegates, the Iraq war, and economics.

Boyd began his speech by acknowledging Bobby Pickles' replacement on his staff. Pickles was Boyd's assistant for approximately a decade, leaving just recently to accept a job in the private sector.

Carter Johnson, a graduate of Bay High School, was introduced as his new assistant.

Boyd began his presentation with an explanation of the Blue Dogs, a Congressional committee of 47 men and women from across the nation who, as Boyd described it, offer suggestions for moving the nation forward. Boyd is the executive chair of the committee.

The common thread among the members, according to Boyd, is that each has rural areas in his or her district. Their focus is to maintain, strengthen and enhance the economy of the country, he said.

The Blue Dog topic prompted someone to ask Boyd who he thought was more a Blue Dog, Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton or Barak Obama.

Amid laughter, Boyd said he was not going to answer, that he saw the strengths and weaknesses of both candidates.

He made a point of saying that he was an "uncommitted super delegate," later giving his view on the stalemate surrounding the seating of Florida's delegates at the upcoming Democratic National Convention.

Boyd stated flatly, when asked what was going to happen with the delegates, that he did not know.

"The Florida legislature knew that the change was in violation [of the rules]," Boyd said, stating that he had told Howard Dean, chair of the Democratic National Committee, and Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), they had to work out the problem.

He added that he did not believe a re-vote was a good idea because Florida would not receive any help with it and there was "a pretty good chance of messing it up."

Boyd's recommendation to solve the problem was to "seat Florida's delegates partially on the [Jan. 29] election results, then seat the remainder."

On the issue of the water wars between Florida, Alabama and Georgia, Boyd said, "Unfortunately, we're afraid we're going back to the courts."

He reminded the gathering that when he was elected he set up a three-state program to deal with that same water issue, but that the program "fell apart" because there was no agreement reached.

Boyd said the latest round of talks among the governors of Florida, Georgia and Alabama were inconclusive because no conclusion had been reached during that first attempt. But, he added, the water war problem was receiving more attention in Washington now because of federal involvement with the dams on the Chattahoochee, Flint and Apalachicola Rivers.

Boyd acknowledged that Atlanta's need for water from the river was great, except for one thing, he said: in 1972 Florida began a long-term water management protocol through the five water management districts.

"What has Georgia done?" Boyd said to the crowd. "Nothing. They have no water supply management structure in place and operate with no regard to where they get their water.

"It is incumbent on the federal government to step in and take action, starting now," he said. "But where it will go, I don't know."

Three topics were raised whose answers depended, according to Boyd, on the outcome of the November presidential election.

He expressed his opinion that nothing would happen to solve the nation's health insurance crisis until a new president takes office; that a decision on retaining, augmenting or removing American troops from Iraq would not be made until a new administration takes over; and the issue of death taxes would also have to be decided after the new president is elected.

In describing his trip to Iraq last October, Boyd said Gen. Petraeus confirmed that U.S troops had done everything possible to train Iraqi forces to take control of their country, but Iraqi forces could not succeed without a government structure behind them.

"The rest is up to Iraq," Boyd, said, quoting Petraeus. "They must create a government, but they can't because of the divisive tribal culture."

Boyd said the U.S. was spending three billion dollars per week on the war effort. "That's tax dollars," he said. "Do you know where the government is getting that from? They're borrowing it from China. That's wrong, it's inherently wrong. But that's all going to change next year with a new president.

"It is incumbent on us to send money to support our troops while they are there, as long as they are there. We'll get this thing figured out with a new administration, but we've got to support the men right now."