Congressman-Elect Joe Walsh calling on a questionner at his McHenry West High School Town Hall meeting.
The “news” at Congressman-Elect Joe Walsh’s first post-election Town Hall meeting in McHenry County was that he would not vote for the compromise tax bill being considered in Congress.
But the take-away message was that constituents should expect a lot of opportunities to ask their Federal Representative tough questions and have dialogue on issues than has been the case with the woman he beat, Melissa Bean.
“There’s nothing more important than your Representative getting in front of the people all of the time answering any question without any aides around me,” he said at the beginning of the meeting.
“I intend to do this more than you’ll ever believe.”
Walsh intends not to settle in in Washington.
Upwards of 80 people turned out at McHenry West High School on the coldest night of this winter.
“I’m sleeping on my couch in my House office.”
The McHenry resident (he lives near the Drive-In) observed,
“Look, there’s a lot about Melissa Bean that bugged me and a lot about Phil Crane that bugged her.”
Walsh seemed to be referring to the lack of face-to-face contact that both Members of Congress had with their constituents.
“You can do telephone town halls and think that’s good enough.
"I can't compete against people with multiple families living in one house," compalined unemployed electrician/truck driver Andrew Stewart, seen on the right. His message to employers: "Hire legal people. We need the jobs." Joe Walsh picked up on his description of himself as "a simple guy." Walsh replied, "We need a hell of a lot more people like you in Washington." Beginning his words on immigration with the observation that America is the most compassionate country in the world, Walsh got passionate. "Damn it, secure the borders. Enforce the immigration laws. Hold business as accountable as we can." Stewart's number is 847-721-4962, if anyone has work.
“If I can’t stand before Republicans and Democrats and answer any question, I don’t deserved to be re-elected.”
Walsh said he purposely robo-called independents and Democrats.
“I want to hear what they say.”
“I don’t ever want to be in a meeting where people (all) agree with me,” were his last words.
Even though the turnout was less than the Fox Lake and Lake Zurich meetings, this one was by far the best. One problem that may have hurt the turnout was trying to find the room It was being held at the McHenry West High School according to the press release and ‘Warrior” email blast but the information did not include ‘auditorium’. After wandering around, Nick and I finally reached Helene who told us to go to the auditorium. Then, after asking two cleaning people who didn’t speak any English, we located a parent who got her student out of the gymnasium and even he had trouble locating the auditorium. Now, imagine if you were the public trying to locate the auditorium and had never been inside the (big) school before. It’s possible that a few dozen people may have simply given up looking for the meeting.
If interested, you can view the entire meeting, including watching Cal running around taking dozens of pictures at:
http://www.district116.org/2010/12/14/video-joe-walsh-at-mchenry-town-hall-meeting
The seating area is not well lit like the stage so the video had to be lightened considerably to see who was asking the questions. Enjoy!
Did not get a chance to attend this meeting, but glad to see Joe Walsh is sticking to his promise of being in touch with his new constituents.
Melissa Bean was completely out of touch.
Here’s a link for anyone who would like to see & listen to Joe’s final ‘listening tour’ meeting in Gurnee:
http://www.district116.org/2010/12/17/video-joe-walsh-at-gurnee-village-hall-meeting
Jobs lost to illegal immigrants and money dolled out to them continued to be a hot button issue. Glad to see that Joe will be on Homeland Security.
I wish Joe Walsh would stop his robo-calls. I even called his office to ask to be removed and I still get calls everyday! I had to block his numbers with my cell phone provider.