More Arrogance and Disrespect From Washington
The 13th District Candidates’ Forum, hosted by the Brunswick Community, included Democrat Justin Wooden; and Republicans James Brihan, Bill Haney, Jim Hrubik, Jason Meade and Todd Sharkey. By most accounts the event was a success and a credit to the efforts of the Brunswick community.
“The moderators were great. I liked that they let the candidates ask each other questions. This kept it from being one big hug-fest with everyone agreeing on everything,” P. Bolyard – via meetup.com
Where was Betty Sutton that night? Absent as usual. Being absent from the district is nothing new…
LaPrensaToledo.com April 14, 2010
“Democrats Betty Sutton: Speaking on her behalf was Liz Walters, field representative, as Sutton did not attend the forum because she was needed in Washington, D.C. Incumbent Sutton is serving…“
This time, this story has a little twist. It started behind the scenes on the morning of April 21.
In an email sent to Brunswick Mayor Gary Werner, Jason Fink, Sutton’s Scheduler, announced that Congresswoman Sutton was unavailable and would be sending a proxy, Liz Walters, to read a prepared statement during the event.
In response to his email, Fink was told that the event was “a candidates’ forum, not a surrogates’ forum,” and organizers would not allow candidate representatives to read prepared statements during the event. Fink was also told that changing the forum’s format would be unfair to the participating candidates.
This response hit a nerve with Sutton’s staff, because a very short time later, aggressive phone calls were placed from Washington to Mayor Werner and Vice Mayor Patrick. In one call, Sutton’s Chief of Staff, Nichole Reynolds, said that she was upset with the forum policy and felt that the Mayor had not properly considered Sutton’s schedule when planning the event.
This is a good time to point out that planners of the event had contacted Sutton’s office not one, but twice, in the previous two months. Each time, they invited the congresswoman to participate in the forum. There was no response from Sutton’s office until the day of the event.
In a follow-up email, Nichole wrote: “We regret that you will not permit this [proxy speaker] to take place and allow the people to at least hear from their representative.”
That evening, one of Sutton’s representatives, who was in attendance, complained that Brunswick had made last minute changes concerning the use of surrogates. He went on to insinuate that the Mayor had poorly planned the event’s timing.
To make such accusations against the host was in poor taste. Brunswick made every effort to include Sutton in the event. What remains to be answered is why Sutton felt the sudden need to jump in the forum at the last moment. Why didn’t her office contact Brunswick sooner? If she is so concerned about the people hearing from their representative, she might consider spending some time in the district and actually talking to her constituents instead of leaving it to her assistants.
“The Mayor and Vice Mayor, Republican and Democrat, did an outstanding job with the event. It was quick, it was informative and original in its application. Obviously considerable forethought was put into this event, and I truly believe that this debate served the interests of civil discourse, the city of Brunswick and the 13th district as a whole. My hat’s off to the Mayor and Vice Mayor for their professionalism in the face of immature antics and tantrums!” – Justin Wooden
“This simply shows a shockingly arrogant lack of respect by the Party endorsed candidates to both the City of Brunswick and the voters of the 13th Congressional District. I am very disappointed in both.” – Jason Meade
THE EVENT – More intimidation
The forum began at 7PM with the candidate seated at the front of the room. Two seats were left empty, one each for Sutton and Ganley.
Some at the event felt security was higher than normal for such a small program and wondered if Police were expecting a problem. The Mayor’s office dismissed this and said Police were simply expecting a larger crowd.
About an hour into the forum, a noisy group of Sutton supporters entered the room. Each wearing a Betty Sutton campaign sticker and many wore clothing identifying themselves as union members. The group is believed to have come from a Democrat meeting held that evening at the nearby library.
One attendee reported that only moments before the Sutton Supporters entered the room, the congresswoman’s Field Representative, Elizabeth Walters took a phone call and walked out with Mark Derrick to where the Sutton supporters would latter enter.
“[They] showed up 3/4 of the way through the evening and loudly made their way into the room, some to seats in the front row. After a few minutes, most of them left, again, noisily. A couple of them stuck around to rant to members of the crowd about healthcare or whatever their issues were. It was very, very odd!” – P Bolyard – via meetup.com
“They came in with an attitude intent on intimidating everyone there.” – Tom Fenske.
In an orchestrated move, one of the Sutton supporters, wearing a UAW jacket, emerged from the crowd and moved to the front of the room. After a short period of standing, the man took a seat in the first row.
“He looked like he wanted a confrontation.” – Tom Fenske.*
“[He was] kind of menacing, sitting forward in his chair and shaking his head, glaring and making gagging gestures,” Steve S.
The man spent much of his time looking with hostility toward the Mayor and Vice Mayor. At one point, Mayor Werner had to gesture to this man to keep quiet after the man had shouted, “That’s just your opinion!” at one of the candidates.
At that time a Brunswick police officer quietly positioned himself between the man and the mayor. While the UAW man’s actions seemed quite deliberate and intent on disrupting the event, he failed to do so. The mayor didn’t miss a beat, and kept the forum moving smoothly to its conclusion.
Did Sutton’s staff call in these union thugs? Did they arrive with the intent of disrupting the event? There is certainly a resemblance to the pair of recent events where Sutton is known to have used unions to intimidate her opposition.
Connections aside, the big question remains: Where was Betty? Why hasn’t she been able to sit down with the public in the last two years for a face-to-face meeting? The excuse of having to be in DC for legislative work, does not explain her appalling absence for the last 4 years. Nor does it explain her ability to pop into the district for a press conference earlier this week, or as keynote speaker at the 24th Ohio Employee Ownership Conference on Friday April 30 at the Hilton Akron/Fairlawn.
Betty will not face the people in an open forum, and it is time for the congresswoman to say why.
Perhaps Jason Meade said it best, it is an “arrogant lack of respect.”
*revised 4-30-2010
