*** By Guest Blogger Lorraine Scanni ***

As the leader of the Staten Island New York Tea Party I have penned many editorial letters and just recently dashed one off to the local liberal propaganda rag that calls itself a newspaper. This letter comes with an interesting back story and an epilogue that I will share with you momentarily. First, the letter:

To the Editor:

In a recent Tom Wrobleski “Strictly Political” column, Congressman McMahon stated that based on meetings with Tea Party members and others, and by listening to his constituents at the Town Hall meeting, “What was very clear . . . and what I didn’t realize, is that there is a feeling that the government is too big. . .”

Really, Congressman?

That same day, an article appeared entitled “Not a Very Bright Idea.” It discusses energy legislation which mandates that as of 2012, incandescent light bulbs will be banned in the U.S. in favor of “environmentally friendly” compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL’s). While I do not begrudge someone the option to “choose” CFL’s, why is the government involved in this at all? Especially given that, as stated in the article, CFL’s cost more to produce, the light’s not as bright, the bulbs don’t fit many older lamps, are dangerous to dispose of, and provide no significant pay-off environmentally?

It’s just another example of big government intruding into our homes and lives.

Congressman, let’s not pretend that you don’t know what I’m talking about here – you know the government is excessively intrusive and expensive.

In the meantime, I’m stocking up on incandescent bulbs.

Lorraine Scanni

Now for the back story.

On a Friday in early October before he relented to finally have that much feared town hall, Congressman McMahon invited me to his office to participate in a conference on health care. Frank Santarpia and I called in the big guns (a doctor, a lawyer, a Wall Street banker, a plumber emeritus) and the six of us marched into the office and sat across a marble conference table from a gaggle of the best the Left has to offer: representatives from the SEIU, Organizing for America, MoveOn.org, the Working Families Party and a plain old Democrat. We discovered later that a couple of these “representatives” were plants who did not even live in the district. Up until that day I had never been in such close physical proximity to the enemy.

For two and a half hours we sat in that conference room and pounded away at each other with only small foam cups of water available upon request, while our Congressman, to his credit, sat back and just took it all in.  He asked pertinent questions of both sides, agreed on some points with us and agreed on some points with the other side. He laid the ground rules at the beginning – no personal attacks, though the folks on the other side of the table had a really hard time sticking to that rule.

I can’t quite recall when during the debate they threw the first pitch on this but one of them compared the right to government run health care and the use of taxpayer money for thus as the same as the sanitation department picking up your garbage.  After all, they argued, it is a case of “ensuring the general welfare”.  They all agreed in unison – yes, yes, good point!  Someone in our group - it might have been me - pointed out that while being a sanitation worker is an honest way to make a living, they also leave a litter of mess behind them as they go about their business of picking up our trash.

Eerie silence from the other side.

At the conclusion of the meeting we made it crystal clear to our Congressman:  no where in the Constitution is the government authorized to mandate the purchase of a service, government is a huge and intrusive enough, everything the government touches turns to crap, and the Socialist agenda coming out of DC is marching us towards the cliff and we are about to over.

It shocked me that a Congressman needed to hear these words but apparently he did because he asked us on more than one occasion to repeat these sentiments.

Now for the epilogue. Here’s a video of Congressman McMahon’s October town hall meeting:

The Sunday after the raucous town hall, I perused the web site of the local liberal rag to see what kind of spin the lefties would try to put on an event that clearly failed to portray Congressman McMahon in a positive light. There I found Tom Wrobleski’s blog and was struck by this quote from McMahon:

“What was very clear,” he said, “and what I didn’t realize, is that there’s a feeling that government is too big. It’s not Democrat versus Republican. It transcends party affiliation. Some of them are just as mad a George Bush as they are at Obama. There’s a very anti-, negative feeling about government.”

He didn’t realize this before we met with him?  He didn’t realize this before he got shouted down at the town hall?  An elected official stating he was shocked that regular folk may have a feeling that government was too big?

I guess you could say it was his light bulb moment.

That same day I came across the piece titled “Not a Very Bright Idea” describing energy legislation mandating the banning of incandescent light bulbs in favor of “environmentally friendly” compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL’s) by the year 2012. A couple of weeks later my response was published and it appears to have caused quite a stir!

I heard recently through the grapevine from more than a few people that the letter really struck a nerve with my Congressman, who apparently believes the point I was trying to make involved only light bulbs. He even remarked to someone that I was a little unhinged because of the last sentence of my letter, in which I refer to stocking up on light bulbs.  But no, it’s not about the light bulbs, Congressman.  It’s about the government creeping into our homes.  It’s about the expansion of the nanny-state.  It’s about freedom to choose.  It’s about the irrationality of banning light bulbs to save the planet.

My husband - known to friends and family as “McGyver” - starting purchasing them this summer.  Every time he goes to the store to buy even a gallon of milk, he buys a 4 pack of 75 watt light bulbs, which are now neatly stacked on a shelf in his basement tool room.  Last count was 642 bulbs.  On principle alone he refuses to purchase a CFL and I agree with him completely.

This is how we are fighting the battle in my house…me on the front lines and my husband behind the scenes, strengthening the fortress.