Rep. Betsy Markey, a Democrat from Colorado’s 4th District, held a discussion with constituents at Colorado State University in Fort Collins this morning. Perhaps 120 to 150 people formed a line outside, waiting their turn to enter the small forum in the CSU Lory Student Center. Only about 30-35 people were allowed inside at a time. As each group finished they left through one door while the next group enter through another. This controlled access may have had more to do with the comparative calmness of the event than the handout Markey staffers offered each participant waiting in line outside.

Titled “GEORGE WASHINGTON’S (AND CONGRESSWOMAN MARKEY’S) RULES OF CIVILITY,” the handout states, “We respect everyone’s right to express their First Amendment rights,” but asks, “that all participants agree to abide by some ground rules, helpfully provided by one of our Founding Fathers.”

Eight of the first President’s 111 Rules are then listed, each followed by Markey’s interpretation of how it applies to the current health care reform debate. For example, the first rule reads as follows:

Washington: Every Action done in Company, ought to be with Some Sign of Respect, to those that are Present.
Markey: Respect one another. Don’t yell at people. Don’t hold a sign in front of someone’s face. You may not agree with what they say, but everybody deserves a right to speak.”

The only major disruption came when a middle-aged woman apparently decided not to wait for her turn to come inside and walked into the forum and shouted, “Mam!” to get The Congresswoman’s attention. Campus police immediately removed her to an the adjacent hallway where she complained that since CSU is a state college the public has the right to go where they want when they want while in the school grounds. This leap of logic failed to convince the police officers who had removed her from the forum. Their cuffs remained on their belts, however and the disruptive woman was later observed leaving the premises under her own power.

For Congresswoman Markey the decision to limit the three hour discussion to small groups meant having to answer the same questions over and over. She emphasized her belief in the need to reform America’s health care system. She broke with President Obama and the leaders of her party in emphasizing the need for Congress to move slowly and methodically on what she called an extremely complex issue. Markey said she would not have supported the current bill had it come up for a vote, saying it needed much work, especially to lower its staggering cost, before it could be considered workable.

Markey plans to hold nine more of what she is calling her “Congress on Your Corner” sessions in the coming days.