Swastika Defaces Sign At Scott's Smyrna Offices

SMYRNA, Ga. -- U.S. Rep. David Scott (D-13th), described as a fiscally conservative "Blue Dog" Democrat, found a swastika painted on the sign outside his Smyrna office Tuesday morning.

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Scott said the Nazi symbol was spray painted sometime between Monday night and Tuesday morning. The U.S. Capitol Police are investigating it as a hate crime.

Scott, a moderate who represents a largely white district in suburban Atlanta, has drawn fire from conservatives for confronting health care protesters who disrupted a town hall meeting in Douglasville last week.

Scott said the meeting was set up to discuss a proposed highway that would destroy several minority-owned homes and businesses.



Scott Speaks Out After Confrontation

ATLANTA -- A heated exchange between US Rep. David Scott (D-13th) and Dr. Brian Hill first aired by 11Alive News on Friday has now been seen around the country.

11Alive News repeatedly asked Scott for interviews both before and after the story aired. Monday afternoon, Scott sat down with 11Alive's Jaye Watson.

Scott said he was unhappy with the station's coverage of the story.

"I have great respect for Channel 11. I love Channel 11. Matter of fact, I gave my first TV interview back in 1974 with Wes Sarginson," Scott said. "I've got great friends there -- they know David Scott. That's why I was so shocked when they did this interview and used those clips. They weren't there to cover that. The reporter wasn't there. They went back and got this tape and came and edited and cut it up to be what they wanted it to be."

Scott is right that 11Alive interviewed him before the Douglasville transportation meeting, but the station did not stay to cover the entire meeting. 11Alive obtained a copy of the four-hour tape afterwards and aired portions of it Friday.

Scott says what the station failed to report was the hours-long build up to the confrontation.

"The people were consistently interrupting the people from DOT," Scott said. "Interrupted the meeting, shouting, scuffles outside. This was no nice doctor coming in and asking a question that David Scott had to speak strongly to."

Dr. Brian Hill asked Scott a healthcare-related question at the meeting that took several minutes to ask.

"The first question that comes out of his mouth, 'Why did you vote for this?'" Scott said. "Wait a minute -- I didn't vote for anything. We haven't had it to vote on."

What you didn't see in our original report was the three minutes Scott spent answering the doctor's question before he raised his voice.

Watson asked Scott, "In hindsight, seeing those clips, did you lose your temper?"

"No, I did not lose my temper. I was very firm and I talked very firm -- and if you looked at that, my words were there. I didn't bite my tongue about it. I was very, very disturbed with him," Scott said.

But Scott is even more disturbed about mail he has received in the days since the story aired.

Scott held up a sheet of paper to Watson that had a picture of President Obama on it, his face made to look like the joker in Batman, a swastika on his forehead. Then he read what it said.

"They address it to n----- David Scott, 'You were, you are, and you shall forever be, a n-----'," Scott said, reading from the letter. "I got this in the mail today. Somewhere underneath this, bubbling up, is the ugly viscissitudes of racism. We should be proud we have an African American president and celebrating him willing to take on the difficult issue of healthcare, an issue that reflects 19 percent of our economy. Here we are in Congress trying to grapple with an almost impossible task -- almost two improbables together, bring the cost of healthcare down while expanding the coverage of it. That is a difficult assignment and it should not be relegated to these mobs of people who will come and hijack a meeting, and you expect me not to stand up to that and not to show that we're not intimidated?"

Scott is hosting a health fair and healthcare forum at which he will do questions and answers on the topic of healthcare reform.

It will be held on Saturday from 10 am to 2 pm at Mundy's Mill High School in Jonesboro.

For more information on the event, contact Scott's office at http://www.davidscott.house.gov/ .



US Rep. Scott's Town Hall Meeting Confrontation

DOUGLASVILLE, Ga. -- U.S. Rep. David Scott (D-13th) was involved in what many called an embarrassing display of losing his temper at a town hall meeting in Douglasville last weekend.

In the meeting, Scott lost his temper and began yelling at a crowd that included two people who came forward during the question-and-answer portion of the meeting to ask Scott about his stance on the health care plan proposed by the White House and being debated on Capitol Hill.

The city of Douglasville taped the event and you can see Scott become increasingly agitated after a question about health care.

At one point he chastized some in the crowd for "hijacking" the meeting.

11Alive News has found the Douglas County doctor who posed one of the questions. Dr. Brian E. Hill, a urologist, said he simply wanted to know Congressman Scott's stance on government-provided insurance.

"I did not go to a meeting to create any problem. I simply have real questions about the quality of health care my patients are going to get not just now, but down the line," Hill said.

Members of Congress and Senators have been confronted in town hall meetings nationwide by constuents who are expressing anger about the upcoming vote on the proposed health care legislation.

Some say political groups are now recruiting individuals to purposely disrupt such meetings and gatherings. Dr. Hill said he's hardly a political plant.

"We depend on our congressmen and congresswomen to really do what's right for us and represent our views. I just don't see that happening. We have a right to ask tough questions directly to them and have them answer them. That's how politics is supposed to work. They should answer to their constituents," said Hill.

The meeting was originally set up to talk about the relocation project of Hwy. 92 in Douglasville, but toward the end of the four-hour session the crowd was told they could ask questions about other things.

Dr. Hill was the second person in the meeting to address the Congressman with a question about health care.