Return Of The Angry Town Halls
It’s not so comfortable when the shoe is on the other foot, eh Republicans? In this case, Republican State Senator Leah Vukmir and Republican Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner ended the Town Hall after only 27 minutes because a large and unfriendly crowd. The room was absolutely full, with a large continent in the hallway (see the video) and they didn’t even have to be bused in by the Koch brothers.
U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner shut down Monday night’s town hall meeting in Wauwatosa early because the overflow crowd was more interested in talking about the state budget bills with Republican host state Sen. Leah Vukmir, attendees said.
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Wauwatosa resident Ryan Stoltz said Sensenbrenner “swung his gavel anytime someone from the crowd voiced dismay. He threatened to end the meeting anytime the crowd applauded, got too noisy for his liking or talked out of turn. It was crazy how he wouldn’t listen to anyone.”
Stoltz, a teachers union member, showed up at the Wauwatosa Public Library for the meeting because he has not received replies to voicemails and e-mails to his elected officials. They contact residents for support when they campaign, so he expects the same when they’re in office, he said.
Specifically, he wanted some insight into what impact Gov. Scott Walker’s proposals to decrease school funding and limit collective bargaining for public employees would have on the Wauwatosa School District.
When Vukmir said that workers would not be losing collective bargaining rights, the jeers started, he said. After another raucous reaction by the crowd, the meeting ended — 27 minutes after it started.
The video of part of the Town Hall is below. I found it difficult to hear but you can see the size of the crowd and hear what happens when Vukmir ends the meeting early – the room breaks out in cries of “Shame!”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFflNLSKorw&sns=em[/youtube]
It was an obvious attempt by a group of unruly and angry constituents (mostly union) to yell, scream and intimidate. It was a typical pre-planned protest. It was embarrassing for the average attendee who merely wanted to hear what was going on locally and nationally via their political representatives at this town hall.
It would be wise for all Republican officholders in Wisconsin to hold similar town hall meetings and then record the bad behavior.
The grassroots pressure appears to be working:
Perhaps, Newshound, you should get your own house in order.
But it is noticed how angry town halls are the best thing ever when your tea party buddies are leading the charge. (BTW, we loved, loved, loved crazy Eileen. She was the gift that just kept giving!)
I gotta say I agree with Pandora here….the tea baggery was out of control and with racist signs and angry rhetoric. It was all very ugly. Crazy Eileen is just that literally….and the baggers followed her lead…that’s gotta tell you somethi g. At least this nion crowd had no racist signs…were not questiing birthcertificates and have a right to petition the government for redress of grievences….
From Huffington Post – The Huffington Post heard from R.V., who attended the town hall meeting and wrote in with a fuller account of the event, stressing that the crowd became upset only after it felt like the legislators weren’t listening to attendees’ concerns:
“The town hall was full of Walker supporters, and dissenters. And it was not unruly, it was just loud when the crowd was mistreated and terribly disrespected. It started out that way, and the Congressman and Senator were both rude from the start, assuming a battle would take place, and refusing, from the top, to use a microphone.
[W]e were not protestors; we were constituents who were told we’d have a meeting/conversation with out representatives. That’s not what it was, and that was not the crowd’s fault. They responded to what they were handed, and loudly disagreed at times.
As far as Sensenbrenner goes, he was grumpy from minute one, but turned on us when a questioner asked him about his relationship to oil companies and how we could trust that our tax payer dollars would be cared for if this were the case. That is where the change [in tone] took place. That is where the story should be.
The protestors were outside, yelling, the rest of the constituents were inside, wanting answers to their questions and receiving token talking points that too often had nothing to do with what they asked—that was the jeering, because we were being played and lied to. (Both reps made inaccurate statements and were being held accountable for that!)”
And Sensenbrenner applauded the unruly town hall meetings from 2009 and 2010.
@Newshound-GYHOOYA- How can you possibly discern from this picture, or the video, these were “mostly union”? The crowd looks like it is made up of middle class working people to me.
And they didn’t scream or yell until that PUSSY “No Sense” Sensenbrenner adjourned the meeting when people couldn’t get ANSWERS from either legislator. Because they HAVE NO SENSIBLE answers! Even then they just yelled SHAME,SHAME!
And SHAMED they should be.
Democracy sometimes gets testy.Witness the TEABAGGERS PROTESTS!!!!
WGFTGIGFTG, cheese-dick.
Yea, get all those Rethugs to have meetings. Makes it easier to sign people up to RECALL them.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
It came from the interview on national tv by state sen. Leah Vukmir that night, that’s where.
Btw, the birther lady (I’m assuming that’s who is in the above ‘link’) is an idiot.