Today I went to a “Coffee Hour” meeting with Congressman Tim Walberg. Congressman Walberg represents the district that I belong to – the 7th district of Michigan. The meeting was held in the fifth floor of the Jackson Tower building in a room with about 100 seats. By the time the meeting started these seats were filled and about another twenty people were standing on each side of the large conference room. We were encouraged to fill out large comment cards that had space for our personal details (email address – street address etc.) and our question(s). I put two questions on mine concerning the Congressman’s recent vote supporting AHCA (TrumpCare)
I’ll confess right from the beginning that I like Mr. Walberg. I have met him before and he is to all appearances a humble, sincere man who believes that his faith (Tim is a former pastor) guides his actions and that despite the corrupting atmosphere of Washington he is still who he was when he first was elected. There are many who disagree with this – including me. Tim doesn’t rock the boat and has never to my recollection opposed Paul Ryan or John Boehnor. He doesn’t fear us nor does he mind that he is disliked so strongly.
The crowd was majority anti Walberg or at least anti AHCA, many had placards with Disagree written on them, other signs read Shame, Single Payer or Fix ACA. Questions ranged from health care to Trump – Russia. Walberg answered most questions put to him, although anyone who’s watched Republicans speak on these topics could have predicted his answers. One question he avoided (or just didn’t have an answer for) was “would he support a independent investigation into Trump – Russia ties.”
Every question submitted to him was answered skillfully and when one of his points triggered responses from the crowd he either raised his voice slightly to continue speaking or stopped talking until he had regained the floor. He only responded directly once to a shouted question, in all other moments he answered only the submitted questions.
The crowd broke out into chants at different times drowning out the Congressman. I joined in on some of these chants. It was fun. Like eating a bowl of ice cream for dinner is fun. At one point about ten or fifteen people stood up and held their signs above their heads. These folks remained standing until the meeting was over.
I haven’t been to one of these type events in a long time so I don’t know if it was typical or not. It sure seemed like a lot of people were energized and determined to oppose Walberg.
The Democrats need that determination because Tim Walberg is a formidable opponent – anyone trying to remove him from office must first acknowledge Walberg’s skills and put someone up who has the same qualities. Tim knows the company line and he is VERY good at following the script.
Democrats beware, intellectual smart asses will not defeat this man.