Brent Batten: Collier Democratic leader gets ear-full at health-care forum

Posted September 12, 2009 at 7:15 p.m.

Steve Hemping isn’t a Congressman.

But he plays one on TV. Or at least in the video of Wednesday’s Tweet Town Hall on health-care reform.

Hemping, the chairman of the Collier County Democratic Executive Committee, filled the role that Democratic representatives and senators had been playing at town hall meetings across the country in August — that of defender of Democrats’ plans to a skeptical, unreceptive audience.

And he isn’t even getting paid to do it.

Hemping, who has a background in human resources management, said he asked to be included on the panel when he saw that the lineup of experts included state Rep. Matt Hudson, R-Naples, and two doctors. “I just felt, when I saw who was going to be on the town hall, a different perspective needed to be offered.â€