“May I suggest a good book today – and a GREAT Obamacare healthcare insurance plan??”
When I heard of the news that the American Library Association had pledged to support Obamacare registration efforts in public libraries, it occurred to me that this trade group, in collusion with the Obama Administration, had unilaterally decided to dragoon local government employees into a politicized Federal Government (and without paying for such time and effort, too). A tad incensed that my local library was going to expend time and efforts (and therefore, MONEY) into something no one had approved of during the Budget Season in my wee hamlet, I asked my three Town Selectmen (who run the town – there is no mayor. They would be City Councilors if in larger cities):
…I am rather skeptical that the Town of Gilford has allocated any funds for a line item such as “Librarian Obamacare Outreach” or I’m not thinking that any funds alloted for professional development would cover training in the 2,700 pages of the Obamacare bill nor the 20,000 pages (+) of resulting regulations in order to be such a resource to the general public:
…Libraries equipped with public computers and Internet access already serve as a bridge across the digital divide, so it made sense to get them involved, said Julie Bataille, spokeswoman for the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Is it the case that Gilford Library staff will have their time taken up with this activity?
And of the three, I did get responses:
One was quite straight forward:
I would not support such a move. But, keep in mind that there are library trustees that make an initial approval. I’d hope that the budget committee would take note of this kind of proposal as well.
John O.
The second didn’t quite answer my actual question: “Is it the case that Gilford Library staff will have their time taken up with this activity?”; he started by sidestepping:
My guess is that our staff is busy enough servicing the Gilford population who use the regular library services in ever increasing numbers. We will not be budgeting for additional staff to support this initiative unless forced to by the Democrats.
Kevin
No “no” or “yes”? I persisted:
…Your response “We will not be budgeting for additional staff to support this initiative unless forced to by the Democrats.” did not address my question. I asked whether or not Gilford Library staff will be using taxpayer supported time in supporting and helping to explain or sign up people for Obamacare?
…I would appreciate an answer as well to this rather plainly worded question.
and to his credit, he did more properly address it:
Skip,
As plain as I can make it:
We do not expect at this time that the library staff will be doing anything to help in the signup of Obamacare. They are not trained in the rules or the law. That being said, two other things come into play:
1. The Library Trustees oversee the library staff and
2. If a mandate comes from Washington that we are forced to follow (for some reason), then all bets are off.
While I appreciate your diligence on this issue, we do not have enough information on it at this time to give you the answer you want. Sorry.
Fair enough – so then it was time to go ask the Town of Gilford’s Library Trustees…to be continued.
