Congressman says constituents asking for a town hall are ‘enemies’ of democracy

Laurel Raymond/Think Progress

A group of Rep. Dana Rohrabacher’s (R-CA) constituents went to his office on Tuesday to deliver Valentine’s cards. They go every Tuesday now, asking Rohrabacher to hold a town hall meeting in his district.

But now, after a confused tussle in the hallway involving a 2-year old and a 71-year-old-woman, Rohrabacher is now accusing them of engaging in “political thuggery, pure and simple.”

The delegation is one of many grassroots groups around the country organizing around the Indivisible guide, which is a how-to manual for people looking to have a more effective voice in government. It was put together by former congressional staffers after Trump’s victory.

Like many of the other Indivisible groups, the Orange County Indivisible group has been met with scorn and accusations of not being ‘real’ constituents. For the past three weeks, at Rohrabacher’s office the door has been closed and locked, and they have slid their documentation underneath.

Two weeks ago, they were met with the police. And this Tuesday, as a 2-year-old girl slid a valentine under the door on Tuesday, one of Rohrabacher’s staffers opened it, hitting her in the head and knocking her to the ground.

According to local reporting, one of the constituents then grabbed the door and tugged on it, causing 71-year old district director Kathleen Staunton, who was on the other side of the door, to lose her footing and fall. A spokesman for Rohrabacher’s office told media that she later fell unconscious and had to go to the hospital.

In a video of the immediate aftermath, the little girl can be heard crying, as visiting constituents apologize, and one of them helps Rohrabacher’s staffer up. The door is then closed, and the group leaves.

Watch the video here.

“I don’t think anybody from either side was trying to hurt anybody,” the mother of the young girl told a local reporter.

According to Mike Lisenbery, one of the organizers of the Indivisible group, the group visiting Rohrabacher’s office was predominantly composed of older retired women. This account is born out in photographs of the group. The video shows that there were about 10 people in the hallway.

In his press release, however, Rohrabacher paints the incident as malicious and characterizes the activists as an unruly mob of thugs.

“I am outraged beyond words that protesters who mobbed my Huntington Beach office violently knocked down my faithful district director, Kathleen Staunton, causing her to be hospitalized,” Rohrabacher is quoted by saying.

“Though the protesters think of themselves as idealists, they engaged in political thuggery, pure and simple. These people do not want, as they’ve claimed, to hold a town hall meeting with me. These are unruly activists on whom the lessons of civility and democratic participation have been lost,” he continues. “These holier-than-thou obstructionists will be held responsible for this outrageous assault. They are exposing themselves for what they are — enemies of American self-government and democracy.”

Rohrabacher’s fiery response has flabbergasted his visitors, as did his one-sided depiction of the events. The only mention of the two-year-old is a passively-framed aside: “In the tumult, a two-year-old girl apparently brought along with the crowd was also hit by a swinging door.”

“Everybody is taken a little be aback by his staff, really not — not trying to assume any culpability for knocking the little girl to the ground and really blaming it on us,” Lisenbery told ThinkProgress. “His staff should have known what was going on outside the door because they have security cameras outside the door, and they’ve told us before they can see us on the cameras.”

“They are exposing themselves for what they are — enemies of American self-government and democracy.”

Rohrabacher posted his press release to his Facebook page. According to Lisenbery, any comments pushing back against his depiction of the events have been swiftly deleted, along with links to the video of the actual proceedings (embedded above).

“This is a very hamfisted attempt by him to spin the events in his favor,” said Lisenbery. “Calling people political thugs, calling people activists, when it’s a lot of adults, mostly retirees with a lot of time on their hands, who are engaged in political action for the first time in their lives — it’s offensive to the people he claims to represent.”

This isn’t the first time that Rohrabacher’s account has differed wildly from that of his constituents. In local media two weeks ago, his staff characterized the visitors as purposefully disruptive and from out-of-district — which the activists said was untrue on both counts.

While Rohrabacher’s response may seem hamfisted to those involved, his narrative is part of a long-running tactic of elevating small instances of violence in order to discredit larger movements. Right-wing commentators and lawmakers have long used isolated acts of violence to discredit the largely peaceful Black Lives Matter movement, for instance. And when protests in one city after Trump’s election victory turned violent, the massive outpouring of peaceful protests were then lumped in as of-a-kind.

In dismissing the activists, Rohrabacher is also echoing a common refrain among Republican congresspeople who are struggling to respond to newly politically active constituents in the aftermath of the presidential election.

In Tennessee, Rep. John Duncan (R) said he wouldn’t hold town halls for fear of “extremists, kooks, and radicals.” In Utah, Rep. Jason Chaffetz dismissed a particularly raucous town hall as “more of a paid attempt to bully and intimidate.” In Illinois, Rep. Peter Roskam snuck out the back door to avoid protesters, and a spokesman characterized them as “national groups” as opposed to local constituents.

And on the radio on Tuesday, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), even extended the logic to a justification for ignoring Democratic politicians.

“These are people who have brought in anarchists to destroy this town. Of whom 240-some where arrested, with the support of George Soros and the Democrat left. This is not a cooperative environment,” he told Boston Herald Radio.

There’s no evidence that George Soros is paying protesters. Anarchists did smash some windows in downtown D.C. during Trump’s inauguration, but they were not connected to political groups, nor to the hundreds of thousands of peaceful protesters who marched the next day at the Women’s March. Issa’s statistics are also misleading. The number Issa cites — which, in reality, is 229 — includes both the protesters and legal observers, journalists, and bystanders who were rounded up dragnet-style by the police.

Paul Ryan Mocks Senior Citizen Handcuffed At His Town Hall: ‘I Hope He’s Taking His Blood Pressure Medication’

By Marie Diamond/Think Progress

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI), the author of the House GOP plan to phase out Medicare, does not like it when constituents publicly challenge him. In fact, people who disagree with Ryan have a habit of getting arrested for it. A few weeks ago, several of Ryan’s unemployed constituents staged a peaceful sit-in at his Kenosha, Wisconsin office toprotest his unpopular decision not to hold any free public town halls during the August recess. These constituents didn’t think they should have to pay to ask their elected representative a question. Instead of meeting with them, Ryan’s staff called the police.

So it should come as no surprise that this week, three people who paid to see Ryan speak werearrested and charged with trespassing for protesting the event. One constituent, a 71-year-old retired plumber from Kenosha, Wisconsin, was handcuffed and pushed to the ground by security:

Video footage taken by an attendee at the event shows that one of them, Tom Nielsen, received particularly harsh treatment — he was pushed to the ground and handcuffed. Nielsen received an additional charge of resisting arrest.

Ryan was speaking Tuesday afternoon at the Whitnall Park Rotary Club. Protesters gathered both outside his event and inside, standing up and disrupting the congressman’s remarks.

According to Oak Creek Patch, as many as a dozen protesters were escorted out of the event. Another dozen or so left willingly.

Ryan seemed supremely undisturbed that a senior citizen worried about receiving the Medicare he’s paid into his whole life was treated so brutally. Indeed, Ryan made light of the arrest and quipped to the audience, “I hope he’s taking his blood pressure medication.”

Watch it, courtesy of Wisconsin Jobs Now:

Another woman was shown the door when she challenged Ryan’s claim that the jobs crisis is directly related to the debt crisis. “Our debt is out of control because of the tax cuts you’re giving,” she said. “Our unemployment in 2003 was 6.2% before the tax cuts went through. Now our unemployment rate is 9.1%. What are you doing to create jobs, Congressman?” Another woman was escorted out when she stood up while Ryan was speaking and said, “You won’t talk to us. How can we give our opinions when you refuse to talk to us?”

Ryan has consistently faced angry constituents at his events since his Medicare-killing budget became a top GOP priority. Tired of being publicly embarrassed by constituents who voice their disagreement and say his policies are hurting them, Ryan has resorted to increasingly harsh responses to deal with people who have the audacity to speak up at his events.

GOP Rep. Renacci Bars Cameras Used By People Who Don’t Agree With Him From His Town Hall

By Zaid Jilani/Think Progress

During the August recess, a number of conservative members of Congress have gone to great lengths to avoid being questioned by their constituents or holding town halls altogether. In Ohio, Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH) even had video cameras confiscated from his constituents so that they could not film what their congressman was saying.

Now, Rep. Jim Renacci (R-OH) is following Chabot’s lead. The Ohio congressman’s staffbarred a cameraman from the Democratic-allied American Bridge organization from filming a town hall in his district that took place yesterday:

Despite a nationwide controversy that erupted last week after Cincinnati GOP Rep. Steve Chabot refused to allow video cameras at a town hall meeting, organizers of a public meeting last night with Wadsworth GOP Rep. Jim Renacci followed suit by barring a Democratic organization’s cameraman from recording the event. The newly-established American Bridge 21st Century Super PAC has recorded speeches by public officials and political candidates around the nation, including events held by GOP U.S. Senate candidate Kevin Coughlin of Cuyahoga Falls, and Urbana area GOP Rep. Jim Jordan, who chairs the House Republican Study Committee. “We are making sure politicians are held to account for their record and the comments they make to their constituents,” said the group’s spokesman, Matthew Thornton.

While Renacci stopped American Bridge’s cameraman from filming, his staff did allow a woman to film at the event on behalf of him. The footage recorded by her shows Renacci’s staff stopping the American Bridge cameraman from using his video camera. Watch it:

Constituents Chide Freshman Rep. Herrera Beutler For Holding Zero Town Halls During August Recess

By Travis Waldron/Think Progress

Freshman Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA) has decided against holding public town halls during the August recess, instead choosing to hold community meetings at coffee shops throughout the district. The coffee meetings, however, have not been publicly listed on Herrera Beutler’s Congressional web site, nor has the schedule been made available for the press.

Herrera Beutler’s office claims five meetings have been held but that they aren’t listed publicly because “a coffee shop can only accommodate so many people.” But Herrera Beutler’s constituents are upset that she isn’t holding public town halls, The Columbian reports:

“I’d love to talk to her about the debt limit,” said Jan Watson, a high school teacher in Rochester. “I’d like to have her listen to people. In a town hall, when somebody asks a question and the person responds, you can get a real good fact check by the groans. That gives a real indication that your comment isn’t quite right or isn’t reflecting the community.”

Watson said she encourages her students to attend politicians’ town hall meetings so they can experience democracy up close.

“The real underlying reason this congressional district has not seen public meetings is that the congresswoman is aware enough of the real world to understand that Congress, in general, is not held in high esteem,” said Tom Shofner of Kalama in an email. “If we add to that her allegiance to the far right, … she just doesn’t feel at home any more in this area, I think.”

The only other meetings Herrera Beutler has held are telephone town halls, but constituents are not invited to call in to those. Instead, they receive a phone call on their home phones asking if they have a question. “If you are home and pick up the phone, you can participate,” Herrera Beutler’s spokesperson said. The representative, however, provides no notice for when the calls may come.

Herrera Beutler isn’t the only member of Congress to avoid town halls during recess, particularly as Republicans seek to avoid answering for the political brinksmanship that nearly caused the country’s default and led to a downgrade of America’s credit rating. Representatives have avoided scheduling events, only to relent under protest from constituents, while others have charged attendees to ask questions, banned recording devices, and put constituents who have asked questions before on a watch list.

Herrera Butler has only held two town halls since taking office in January, but her campaign assured The Columbian that more were coming. But as of the article’s publication, no future events have been scheduled.

CONSTITUENT SLAMS GOP REP. OVER ANTI-TAX PLEDGE: ‘WE ARE YOUR CONSITUENTS, NOT GROVER NORQUIST’

From Think Progress

The litany of Republican politicians willingly tethered to thedemands and direction of anti-tax activist Grover Norquist is no longer sitting well with Americans whooverwhelmingly support raising taxes on the wealthy to address the deficit. GOP freshman Rep. Chris Gibson (NY) faced a crowd of his constituents at a town hall in Millerton, New York Tuesday who demanded to know why he signed Norquist’s pledge barring any and all tax increases without consulting those he represents. “You didn’t sign this on my behalf. You didn’t ask me,” noted one constituent. “You didn’t ask me. We are your constituents, not Grover Norquist,” she added to resounding applause. Later quoting former GOP Sen. Alan Simpson who asked “Who is Grover Norquist the slave of,” the constituent asked Gibson, “By association, I would like to know who are you the slave of?” Watch it:

GOP lawmaker has Democrats’ cameras seized at town hall

By David Edwards/Raw Story

Security guards seized the cameras and cell phones of several Democrats at a “town hall” meeting featuring Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH) Monday.

While media organizations were allowed to record the event, a security guard collected recoding devices from certain audience members “to protect the privacy of constituents,” according to a Chabot spokesman.

ThinkProgress was able to film an iPhone being confiscated from Cincinnati Democrat David Little and a video camera being taken from former Democratic candidate Liz Ping.

“The officer was very nice about it; and we politely and cordially defended our right to record a public official speaking in public in a public building,” Little explained. “What are they afraid of?”

Later in the meeting, Chabot faced jeers from the audience over his vote to defund Planned Parenthood.

Watch this video from ThinkProgress, uploaded Aug. 23, 2011.

GOP Rep. Hultgren Draws Laughs At Town Hall With Plan To Beg, Not Require, Rich To Pay More Taxes

By Zaid Jilani/Think Progress

Earlier this week, Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-IL) held a town hall in Sandwich, Illinois, where constituents angrily denounced his right-wing policies. During one particularly amusing moment, Hultgren tried to defend his stand against raising taxes on the wealthy, drawing a round of laughs from the audience.

“I’m not out there trying to coddle anybody,” he defensively claimed. He then went on to explain that, instead of raising taxes on the wealthy, Congress could adopt a bill that would allow the rich to make voluntary donations to the Treasury and have them count as charitable contributions:

HULTGREN: I’m not out there trying to coddle anybody. In fact, I support a bill that allows the super rich if they want to give more money to the federal government it could be a charitable contribution.

(audience laughs)

HULTGREN: I think that makes sense! Use it as a charitable contribution.

Watch it:

Following an op-ed by billionaire Warren Buffet calling on Congress to raise taxes on the wealthy and accusing it of “coddling” the rich, many conservatives have reacted by lashing out at Buffet, demanding that he simply voluntarily pay more. Hultgren appears to be taking on this cry.

It’s unclear what bill exactly the congressman says he supports. ThinkProgress has contacted his office and is awaiting a reply

Millionaire GOP Congressman Tells Town Hall: ‘I Ain’t Wealthy…I Live Like The Rest Of You Folks’

By Lee Fang 



Speaking to a town hall audience last week, freshmen Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) cautioned his constituents against raising taxes on wealthy Americans. As he made his case, he meandered into an explanation of his own personal wealth, which he said was not particularly noteworthy, saying he was “just like the rest of you folks.” The small crowd was made up of police officers, public school teachers, a city council member, and about fifteen others from the Tusayan area:

GOSAR: In the last election I was labeled a millionaire. Seriously. I ain’t wealthy. I built my own house, I wouldn’t do it again. I own my building, I have a dental practice. I live just like the rest of you folks. It’s all on paper, it’s not in cash.

Watch it:


Reliable wealth data is unavailable for Arizona’s first congressional district, the vast, largely rural area represented by Gosar. However, the median income is about$32,900 — a far cry below Gosar’s approximate $174,000 a year gig as a member of Congress. As Gosar mentions, he also owns substantial real estate, including a building worth up to $1 million, a dental practice worth up to $500,000, an antique store worth up to $500,000, and other assets.

GOP Response To Town Hall Backlash: Ban Recording Devices And Censor Citizen Journalists

By Scott Keyes 

The premier political story of the past few months has been the Republican plan to dismantle Medicare and the resulting voter backlash. Intown halls across the country, voters are expressing their anger at the GOP priorities ofending Medicare, extending tax breaks for the wealthy, and protecting subsidies for oil companies.

ThinkProgress has reported extensively from town halls in Florida, Wisconsin, Arizona, and elsewhere. In addition, citizen journalists have attended town halls and reported about them online, allowing others who couldn’t attend in person to see the event.

However, some congressmen are concerned about what could happen if citizen journalists repost their town halls on the Internet. At least two members of Congress have taken extraordinary measures to shut down the spread of information.

ThinkProgress readers passed along the following photos, taken outside town halls held by Rep. Lou Barletta (R-PA) and Rep. Joe Heck (R-NV). Barletta specifically barred citizen journalists and other non-credentialed media from recording the event, while Heck took a more encompassing approach of “no recording devices” at all:

 

When Republicans won back the House in 2010, one of their central promises was “to make Congress more transparent.” However, when it comes to their own congressional events, the same standard apparently does not apply.

Indeed, with members like Lou Barletta and Joe Heck barring citizens from recording the events and preventing those who couldn’t attend from seeing what the congressmen had to say, one has to ask: what are they trying to hide?

UPDATEAt his town hall, Heck reportedly faced a rowdy crowd upset about his vote for the Medicare-ending House Republican budget. When pressed, he backed away from the plan a bit, saying, “I’m not saying it’s the best idea, but it’s the only one and the best being proposed now."

Rep. Webster Threatens To Kick Out Town Hall Constituent For Asking About Raising Corporate Taxes

By Scott Keyes

The town hall backlash that began last month over the Republican plan to end Medicare and extend tax breaks for the wealthy is showing no signs of abating.

Rep. Dan Webster (R-FL) encountered many angry constituents Tuesday night during a town hall meeting outside Orlando. Attendees repeatedly admonished Webster for his support of the Ryan budget and pleaded with him to do more to ensure corporations pay their fair share in taxes.

One such constituent was Falcon Taylor. She asked why he was ruling out any tax increases, noting that previous Republican presidents had balanced budgets by raising taxes along with lowering spending. Webster responded that the problem was future generations would end up footing the bill. Taylor instead encouraged Webster to help close the nation’s budget deficit by raising taxes on corporations, many of whom are currently paying little to nothing in corporate income taxes. Moving in towards Taylor’s seat, Webster threatened to have her removed from the town hall, telling her “you’re making a choice of whether you want to stay or not.” Two other constituents then walked out in protest:

TAYLOR: What I want to know is, we’ve been able to balance our budget before by raising taxes and lowering spending and we know this because Eisenhower did it, Ford did it, Reagan did it, Bush the first did it, they were all Republicans. I want to know who’s going to pay, who’s going to pay for this? Because I don’t think we should take away Social Security [sic] just because we’re under 55 and public education, we need public education. [Inaudible] That’s wrong.
WEBSTER: The problem is this. Who’s going to pay? Your children and your grandchildren. That’s who’s going to pay. If we continue on this, yes, can we fund a lot of things going up this line? Sure can. But just know, most of it’s borrowed money.
TAYLOR: You need to raise taxes on the corporations! [Inaudible] And stop the wars! Just stop all the warring.
WEBSTER: Just a minute. I can hear, everybody in here can hear. So you’re making a choice of whether you want to stay or not.
TAYLOR: Answer the question!
[Audience cheers] [Two men walk out in protest]

Watch it:

This is not Webster’s first encounter with voter revolt over he and his Republican colleagues’ priorities in Congress. Last month, Webster was one of the firstcongressmen to encounter a wave of anger following the Republican-led House’s approval of the Ryan plan to end Medicare and extend tax breaks for the wealthy. (The scene at his April town hall was described as “bedlam.”)

ThinkProgress spoke with Taylor following the town hall to get her reaction. She was saddened by his “typical Republican response” that encouraged spending cuts alone with no tax increases. Taylor went on to express her disappointment that she was threatened with removal for pushing the idea of increasing taxes on corporations:

UPDATEIf you record video of your representative’s town hall that you think we would be interested in, please let us know.