Kansas Congressman Roger Marshall took to American Family Radio on May 12, 2017, to explain that most of the problems in his town halls were caused by people who were “paid protestors” and were UnAmerican.
Marhall’s assessment boiled down to this quote: “We still salute the flag. We still pray when we get the chance. We pray before ball games. And Wamego was the exception.”
The implication that Wamego residents are in some ways bad people didn’t sit well with attendees.
Roger Marshall just slandered me in the press. He did the same to almost everyone in attendance at his recent town hall meeting in Wamego. Speaking to American Family Radio on May 12, Marshall accused us of not being from his district and said we were paid to be at the event.
I wasn’t paid to attend. I’m a poor graduate student that sacrificed time out of my own work and spent several days researching my question because I thought talking to my representative would be helpful. But when I asked it, he rolled his eyes at me and then made false accusations about me to the media. I knew most of the people in the room – they were not paid and they have been living in his district for years, as I have.
Far worse, Marshall also stated that those who disagree with his politics are not true Americans or true Christians. Speaking of conservatives, he said, “We still salute the flag. We still pray when we get the chance. We pray before ball games. And Wamego was the exception.”
This is a disgusting accusation. I love America. I love the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. But those of us in attendance that night believe that living in a free society means that we can see a doctor when we are sick and dying. We believe that Jesus taught that the poor and the sick should be taken care of, regardless of how that might impact corporate profits.
But Marshall cannot handle this. He went to public media and made false, disparaging accusations about me and many of his own constituents. This is unacceptable behavior. This is not what a public servant does. Marshall clearly has no sense of responsibility to those the represents and has proven himself to be an immoral disgrace to the dignity of his office.
MIKE HANKINS, Manhattan
Mike Hankins wasn’t alone in his anger, Sage A. TeBeest, the Democratic district chair who resides in Wamego, also sent her thoughts along to the congressman. Marshall had noted that there were a lot of “Out of state plates” in attendence, contending that the attendees were all paid or not his constituents. He forgets something: Wamego is close to nearby Fort Riley military base, and Sage TeBeest lets have it.
The reason out of town constituents attended the Wamego town hall was because it was one of only two town halls you did not schedule in early morning weekday hours. The vast majority of your constituents have jobs and are unable to take leave to voice their concerns during those morning town halls. So they traveled, meaning it was vitally important for you to hear their voices and concerns, which you seem to be dismissing. It is not their fault you attempted to minimize your interactions by strategic scheduling. It backfired because instead of one or two upset constituents, you had an entire room full.
As a spouse of a veteran who was stationed at Ft. Riley let me educate you about the possibility of having home of record (out-of-state) license plates on vehicles by many of the military families in our area. So unless you are saying our military families who live in our district don't deserve the right to be heard you can stop trying to make it a conspiracy theory that your town hall was taken over by outsiders.
Despite Marshall’s claim that out of staters drove in to be by paid entities to harass his town hall, he could have looked forty miles to the west, where the base at Fort Riley houses serving men and women. Occam’s razor makes it far more likely the out of state plates were by families of those serving in our military or students who have located to Kansas thanks to nearby Kansas State University.
I eagerly await Representative Marshall to attend an event in Fort Riley and explain to them he doesn’t think they salute the flag or care about the country. I don’t think it will go over particularly well.
