First he schedules “listening sessions” in venues that have minimal capacity so hundreds were turned away at the door. His staff said the turnout was “unexpected”. We are given to believe that neither Rep. Kagen nor his staff had heard anything about massive turnouts across the county. They are either ignorant or contemptuous of 8th district voters.

I am not a registered Democrat or Republican. I attended the “listening session” in Green Bay on 3 August and was fortunate to have arrived early enough to be granted entrance (I sat on the floor). I recognized a number of local citizens but failed to see any Community Organizers.

I and the people around me were there because we thought “listening session” meant that Rep. Kagen actually intended to listen to his constituents. Unfortunately, Rep Kagen’s idea was that we were there to listen to him lecture us. Even more outrageous was the condescending and pandering manner in which he spoke. A lady near me commented that it sounded like a kindergarten teacher reasoning with 5-year olds. This did not sit well with the audience. People quickly became frustrated when it became apparent that Rep. Kagen was not there to listen. He handled it poorly.

The quote in the August 5th Press-Gazette article exposes Rep. Kagen as a political elitist: “There was a sufficient amount of anger there,” he said, “as if the referee made the wrong call in a Packer game. I don’t think the people of northeast Wisconsin would behave that way spontaneously.”
It is clear from this quote that Rep. Kagen believes his 8th district constituents would never question what he and the political elite are doing to us, our economy and our country. We are NOT the docile sheep that Rep. Kagen believes us to be. He has spent way too much time with the political elite in the rarified atmosphere of Washington D.C.
Congress rushed through the stimulus package and told us that quick passage would mean unemployment would not get above 8%. Unemployment is now 9.5% or higher in the 8th. Congress rushed through Cap & Trade that will further increase unemployment and dramatically increase energy costs for all of us. Now they want to rush through a health care scheme that the country cannot afford and destroy a medical care system that the vast majority of US citizens like.
Is it any wonder that people are replying with a resounding no?

I suspect that the majority of eighth district constituents will be looking for an alternative in 2010, I know I am. I will be watching your blog, and looking forward to reading about your policy positions.

On listening, right now I do not want you to listen to me. I do not want you to be able to tell me what you think I want to hear. I want to listen to you. I want to know who you are, what you think about what is right and wrong, good and bad, what your vision for our future is. I want to know enough about you to be able to predict how you will vote on any given issue.

I will be listening…..and voting.

Like I said, I am angry too. That’s why I am putting everything I do at risk to run for office. I hope that during this campaign I can set aside some of the emotion and really listen to people. Left and right, and try to make sure that even when we disagree we all leave with the thought that at least our opinions have been heard and just maybe some good ideas will come forward to help us balance the federal budget, reduce the debt and secure the futures of our children and grand children.

To your point about the congressman showing respect to the audience. Of course I agree with you. So what should our response be to that? Hopefully to make a change and support condidates in the future who will act consistent with the consitituents interests. I want to be that type of representative and I hope to earn your vote. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with me. I am listening.

I was also in Green Bay and under the circumstances I thought the crowd behavior was understandable. Kagens responses were typically evasive and sometimes downright inacurate. He was defending a bill that is an obvious assault on our liberties, which a growing majority of us do not approve of but which congress seems intent on forcing on us anyway.

The congressman is not doing a good job of representing his constituents, and they were doing their best to make that fact clear to him, I suspect however, that he did not get the point. Perhaps if the Congressman wants to be treated with more respect he should cause us to feel as though we are being respected.