A Vote for More Substance

As I’m sure you’re aware, Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) on the evening of March 28 to speak at last month’s installment of the Experience and Enjoy College Park Tour (EECPT). If you missed Hoyer’s speech, though, don’t worry. You didn’t miss all that much.

I know: that makes me sound like a jerk, and I don’t mean to. For the record, I’ve been to a few of installments of the EECPT since they began in August and I’ve never found them to be a waste of time. At each one, I’ve eaten good food, enjoyed the company of good people, and I usually learn a thing or two about what was happening in local, county, or state government. To that end, I find the EECPT to be one of the best things that’s happened in College Park for a long time.

In addition, I think it was pretty nice of Hoyer to come to Seven Seas and speak to city residents. Obviously, he’s a busy guy and he certainly could have blown us off for some other event. The fact that he didn’t means something.

Still, his speech left me wanting.

As a Prince George’s County native and University of Maryland alumnus, Hoyer (as you might expect) spoke of his “love” for the university, his “focus” on Maryland’s 5th Congressional District, and what he hoped to accomplish in the current congressional term.

As The Diamondback put it:

“… his speech, which lasted about 25 minutes, Hoyer outlined his humble beginnings, high hopes for the future of the university and its surrounding community and three main goals for the rest of his congressional term: how to succeed in America, tax reform and conquering the nation’s deficit.”

So what was wrong with this? To put it bluntly, I would have preferred to hear less about how Hoyer was inspired by Sen. John F. Kennedy’s address at Cole Field House, and more about the deficit and how his “Make It in America” initiative would be realized. For example, he mentioned the need for policy reforms and simplifying the tax code, but didn’t say what he thought needed to be changed.

Time for more than three questions during the Q&A period would have been nice, too. After all, it’s not every day that people get to be in the same room with one of their congressional representatives

Am I asking too much? Maybe. I confess that I didn’t go to Seven Seas expecting an in-depth policy discussion or an hour-long Q&A session. That said, should he ever come back, though, I hope we get fewer anecdotes and more substance.

Smith is a resident of north College Park. He blogs (occasionally) at www.ncpinformant.com