Posted at: 08/17/2009 11:17 PM | WHEC.com
Updated at: 08/18/2009 12:02 AM
By: Nikki Rudd

Massa: "I will vote adamantly against the interests of my district."

It's a statement that's making national headlines.

New York Congressman Eric Massa said, "I will vote adamantly against the interests of my district if I actually think what I am doing is going to help them."

Health care reform has been a heated battle across the country. The statement was made about Rep. Massa's choice to not vote for Obama's health care reform bill H.R. 3200. Massa's statements have some constituents outraged.

So did Massa make a massive mistake? You can judge for yourself. Here's a look at the comments he made over the weekend in Pittsburgh reported by the Washington Times:

MASSA: I'm not going to vote for 3200 as it's currently written. A, I will vote for a single payer option or a bill that does have a medicare coupled public option, which we don't have right now. If my town hall meetings turn into the same media frenzies and ridiculousness, because every time that happens we lose. We lose another three million people in America. They see that happening and negate us.

PARTICIPANT: It changes America.

MASSA: Every time that occurs. So what happens in my town hall meetings frankly is important because I am in one of the most right wing Republican districts in the country, and I'm not asking you guys to go back to wherever and send people to me. This is a generic statement of what can I do? Well, that's one thing we can do.

PARTICIPANT: So if we got your meetings to sixty forty, you'd vote....and there was single payer in a bill you would vote for it?

MASSA: Oh absolutely I would vote for single payer.

PARTICIPANT: If there was sixty forty sentiment in the room?

MASSA: Listen, I tell every audience I'm in favor of single payer.

PARTICIPANT: If there was eighty twenty in the room?

MASSA: If there was a single payer bill?

PARTICIPANT: And there was a single payer....

MASSA: I will vote for the single payer bill.

PARTICIPANT: Even if it meant you were being voted out of office?

MASSA: I will vote adamantly against the interests of my district if I actually think what I am doing is going to be helpful. I will vote against their opinion if I actually believe it will help them.

Monday night, Massa spoke one-on-one with News 10NBC and residents in Honeoye Falls. We asked the Congressman if he would have made those statements in his own district.
"Absolutely," he replied. "I'm saying it here now. I stand by my comments. I mean what I say, and I say what I mean. Being independent sometimes means not being popular."

The freshman Congressman didn't shy away from us or questions from the Honeoye Falls community.

"Today's a big brouhaha," Rep. Massa told a crowd of students at the Mendon Community Center. A big brew-haha over beliefs.

"Am I right or wrong?" asked Massa. "Should I go with the popular opinion? Or should I do what I actually believe is right?"

Massa also spoke at Monday night's Honeoye Falls Town Board meeting. But not everyone in town had kind words for the Congressman.

"I think he needs to listen to the people," said Denise Patchett of Honeoye Falls. "I can't believe he wouldn't do what the people want him to do. It seems like that's why he was voted to be where he is."

Even some students weren't afraid to voice their concern with the congressman. "I think the district is probably pretty frustrated," said HFL sophomore Maggie McGrane. "At some point you need to consider the popular vote considering you are as a Congressman, a representative of the people."

But others say it's about time someone started thinking outside the box. "I'm supportive of someone making good decisions for what he thinks will be best for us, not being a follower," said Mary Graham.

Massa says the pressure to vote for H.R. 3200 is overwhelming, especially in the Rochester area. But the Congressman says he knows something about health care. He's a cancer survivor and has been studying public health policy in America for a decade.

"If I actually think the bill won't help and it's popular to vote for it, I also have to stand firm," said Rep. Massa. "That's the job of leadership, not to go with the flow of the moment."

Massa is a Democrat in a highly Republican district. He won the 29th Congressional Seat in the 2008 race against then-Congressman Randy Kuhl by only two percentage points. He's up for re-election next year.

The Republican Mayor of Corning Tom Reed plans to run against Massa in 2010.
Reed said, "What the Congressman had to say is troubling to me. It's exactly why I'm running for Congress. I'm about listening to the each and every resident of this district, and I'd be proud to represent all of their interests in D.C."

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