Our freshman Congressman, Jack Bergman, (Michigan 1st District) continued to deny his constituents open town hall meetings by instead meeting with individuals who paid $20 to attend Chamber of Commerce sponsored luncheons. Several local members of Indivisible Michigan — 1st District — managed to get inside the Petoskey event and reported on the meeting. Meanwhile, I was outside with about 100 constituents from at least 10 Northern Michigan counties. For those of you who don’t know who we are, the Michigan 1st District is the second largest congressional district east of the Mississippi River. The entire Upper Peninsula of Michigan is included as well as 16 counties in the northern lower peninsula. We also contain the second longest shoreline of any district in the United States. So, yeah, we’re really pretty, got lots of water, woods and lighthouses and stuff.
It was a tad nippy yesterday, about 34 degrees, but with the wind off Little Traverse Bay, the wind chill was below freezing. Yet, we persisted. Gathering across from the event site, we respectfully stood with our homemade signs, introduced ourselves (hey — shout out to that nice couple from Leelanau County — loved your signs) and attempted a few hearty chants. Using a megaphone and employing my old cheerleading skills, I started out with “What Do We Want? - Town Halls! — When Do We Want ‘em? — Now!” Someone else took over while I got some coffee and we were uplifted by the many drivers who honked their horns and gave us thumbs up signs.
The local head of the Chamber even greeted some of the protesters and handed out city maps to encourage them to stay in town after our little party and enjoy the shopping and dining pleasures of our charming burg. (Actually a large group was meeting up after the event at a very fine establishment once frequented by Ernest Hemingway to warm up, chow down on good eats and share stories.) I thought that was actually pretty nice of him, until I heard what happened inside the luncheon.
A participant who attended the event, reported that the person introducing Congressman Bergman, joked about passing out city maps to the protesters outside and as he told the audience, “told them to pack up and go shopping.” He then proceeded to warn the attendees about not tolerating any outbursts, not speaking over each other and admonishing the group to be respectful. A uniformed police officer was seated nearby. The Chamber leader went on to say that many questions had been submitted in advance and the Congressman would be addressing 5-6 of them. No other questions from the floor would be allowed. The Congressman then took the podium and gave a short talk on how he was just getting up and running but had “a lot going on in here,” as he pointed to his head (maybe he has a very good brain, like our President). A Chamber employee lobbed him the pre-packaged softball questions, which he proceeded to either dodge or go off on a tangent having nothing to do with the original question. I was able to watch a brief video provided by our local newspaper and this seemed pretty accurate.
Meanwhile, out in the cold...someone texted from inside the venue that a white van had backed up to a rear door and the Congressman was loaded up and gone. Alas, no meet and greet for those of us who stood for more than two hours hoping to get at least a chance to say...”Jack! Do Your Job!”