On a blustery, damp Monday morning at the Grange Hall, U.S. Senator Scott Brown lamented the similarly dreary state of affairs in Washington, D.C.

“I too have been disgusted by the government’s complete lack of accountability to its citizens,” he said at yesterday’s appearance in West Tisbury as part of his three week “jobs tour” throughout the commonwealth, which he has represented in the senate since January last year. The event ended unexpectedly when a member of the audience was stricken with a medical emergency.

But Mr. Brown began his talk with an appeal for cooperation.

“As a Massachusetts Republican I’m used to working across party lines, it’s not a big deal,” he said. “In Washington, somewhere along the lines it broke down. People are already in election mode. But know also as you’re reading the newspaper there are people of goodwill on both sides. . . We have an opportunity to work together right now.”

Mr. Brown is up for reelection in 2012.

He said his desire to work across the aisle was inspired by his predecessor whose portrait hangs in his office.

“One thing I always remembered about Ted Kennedy is that even if you didn’t agree with him, if you were a person of goodwill and walked in the door and wanted to work on a problem with him, he would keep an open mind and he would work with you,” he said.

While last week’s debt ceiling bill has found few admirers on either side of the political spectrum, Mr. Brown was not bashful about owning what he sees as a pragmatic compromise.

“I wanted to make sure that it wasn’t a Democratic or Republican bill but a bipartisan, bicameral bill that the President would actually sign, and that’s what we gave him,” he said.

Mr. Brown was on the Vineyard nominally to talk about jobs — he billed his appearance at the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber of Commerce breakfast as a Jobs and Tourism Summit — and in doing so he pushed for a more hands-off approach from the Patrick administration on Beacon Hill. In Mr. Brown’s estimation, meddlesome bureaucrats pose a singular threat to the Massachusetts economy and he was critical of two recent developments that he said threatened to stifle small businesses: one, an advisory from the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission that required small Massachusetts brewers to obtain 50 per cent of their hops from local sources, a move that was rescinded last week, and the other a statement from Lt. Gov. Tim Murray suggesting a possible increase in the gas tax, a message from which the Patrick administration has since distanced itself.

“It’s a wet blanket over businesses,” Mr. Brown said. “I’ve been visiting mom-and-pop businesses around the commonwealth and the number one issue is the lack of certainty and stability. What new rule or regulation from unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats are going to spring up?”

Mr. Brown, who recently joined the senate tourism caucus, touted the Vineyard’s tourism industry and acknowledged that the President’s visit may provide a bump. But, he said, the state can do more to boost the home-grown industry than lure presidential getaways.

“One fifth of Massachusetts jobs in June are in tourism and we [in federal government] need to make sure businesses can get the proper visas for folks who want to come in and work,” he told a fairly full house.

Keeping it local, Mr. Brown also touted an amendment to the Marine Mammal Protection Act he introduced late last month that would more than double the penalties (from $20,000 to $50,000) for harming the animals after a spate of seal killings on the Cape this year.

“It’s just not right,” he said.

As Mr. Brown was discussing the state’s leading role in medical technology — Massachusetts is home to some 260 medical device companies — a medical emergency unfolded in the audience as an elderly woman collapsed in her chair. Others scrambled to assist the woman and Mr. Brown knelt beside her. After a considerable wait, members of the Tri-Town Ambulance arrived. Mr. Brown approached the woman’s husband, who fumbled to apologize for disrupting the event.

“Just make sure you take care of your wife,” Mr. Brown said.