Melissa Bean meeting reports

[Bruce Donnelly]

Now that Melissa Bean is finally doing some public appearances in the district, please share any blog reports, news coverage, or comments which you may have about them.

 

The "Town Watch" program was recently touted through her website to encourage citizens to show their commitment to community service and public safety.  Voters apparently must become watchdogs and alert each other if they want to have any chance to catch Melissa Bean this fall and question her about her activities as our Representative.

 

If you become aware of any Bean sightings, please report them promptly so that concerned voters will have an opportunity to catch her before she inflicts even more harm on us in Washington DC.

 

As you may recall, she avoided public appearances in the August 2009 recess, and has been hard to find ever since.  Her campaign and official websites, as well as her Facebook page, don't even mention future events here.  Like her tele-townhalls, she has been promoting her few recent public appearances by robocalls on short notice to create the illusion of being available to voters.

 

If people with serious questions actually show up, however, they are screened out, intimidated, or she evades the question, makes a hasty exit, or limits the scope of discussion to pushing her own narrative.  She isn't listening.  She lectures voters about what she thinks government is doing to help specific groups, but she won't take any questions about the collective harm which government is doing to all of us.  If we don't agree with her, then our views seem to be completely irrelevant.

 

As Fox News noted on August 17, candidates are complaining about alleged "video trackers", such as people who are hired by campaigns to try to catch their opponents saying or doing something embarrassing on video which can be used against them later, but that's not what is happening here.

 

It's ironic, however, since her campaign has sent "trackers" with video cameras to some of our meetings, and to other events with Joe Walsh this year.  That includes posting a YouTube video from a League of Women Voters forum in Barrington during the primary which was intended to be critical of Joe Walsh when it was circulated from September 2010.  By the LWV forum rules, which Melissa Bean has insisted upon in her own rare appearances, videos are not allowed.

 

Here's another report from one of the 40 attendees at the August 12 meeting in Round Lake.  Voters who took the time to meet Melissa Bean were not treated respectfully. They were lectured, and became frustrated when it became clear that it was a waste of time to even try to ask questions.

 

The Round Lake Area Public Library issued a statement after the event to clarify their understanding of the intended purpose, scope, and promotion of the meeting by Melissa Bean.  Rather than treat it as a campaign event or a public forum, she had asked the library for the use of their facilities to teach residents about "financial literacy" issues and new "consumer protections" which she has been touting recently as one of her accomplishments.  Did she have to pay a fee for the use of the meeting room, or for the services of library security staff, as is typically the case at other venues?

 

The library statement includes the transcript of the robocall which Melissa Bean used to promote the event to local residents.  As reported in past articles from prior campaigns, such robocalls and constituent events are not treated by Melissa Bean as campaign spending, but rather as part of her office budget (at taxpayer expense) like her periodic newsletters.  It's just a remarkable coincidence that these activities in the district occur so infrequently outside of election season.

 

Ordinary voters are just fed up with not being able to readily meet with Melissa Bean for years to express their concerns, and find that it isn't easy to track her down if they want to do so.  She avoided public appearances in her 2006 and 2008 re-electoin campaigns, and is doing so again.  That is ironic after she campaigned against Phil Crane in 2004 about being out of touch with the people of his district after 36 years in Washingon.  She quickly became even more out of touch.

 

This is not unique to Melissa Bean this year.  As the NRCC has noted in their recent "Where are the Dems" story, a very large number of Democrats in contested races are avoiding any town hall meetings in their districts this August.

 

Her first known meeting of the August recess was an August 4 meeting at the Ela library in Lake Zurich:

http://the912patriots.ning.com/profiles/blog/show?id=3651432%3ABlog... 

 

The Northwest Herald on August 14 reported another Bean sighting at the McHenry County EDC legislative breakfast, where the crowd was apparently not very receptive to her presentation.

http://www.nwherald.com/articles/2010/08/13/r_mp4tddngqommhnh8scvr3w/ 

 

The conservative McHenry County blog also helped to alert voters to her "financial literacy" lecture at the Shah Center in McHenry on August 4, and other events, even though her own website listed nothing for August.  We informed local voters in advance of these meetings - even though they were never reported on her websites or promoted through local media as far as we know.

 

See the comments below for more reports.  She has been spotted by frustrated voters at events at the Schaumburg and Round Lake libraries, but has been reluctant to answer voter questions.  Instead, her meetings have been staged like photo op presentations to limit the scope of discussion.  Rather than listen, she has lectured voters about how the new financial industry "reform" law and "consumer protections" are supposed to help us become more financially responsible with our own use of credit.  Hello?  Are we the ones who keep recklessly spending billions to impoverish future generations with trillions of dollars of debt?

 

Meanwhile, Congress just rushed back to Washington to pass another $26 billion bailout for states and unions.  Melissa Bean voted for the bailout.  It also included $9 billion in new taxes on businesses such as US manufacturers, including Illinois ones with operations overseas.

 

The Obama administration claims that the bill will save 140,000 teacher jobs, plus save more than 160,000 other government and private jobs because of Medicaid funding, but it looks as though that rosy projection includes 5700 teacher jobs in Illinois.  In the case of District 26 in Cary, which just laid off 75 teachers due to massive budget problems, there's no expectation that this funding will save any jobs at all.  Instead, Illinois may just use it to settle debts they already owe to the schools, but there may also be new federal strings attached to how such funds are used.  It will be interesting to see whether any teacher jobs at all in the 8th District are "saved" by this bailout.  Will Melissa Bean answer voter questions about this latest bailout, since she just voted for it?  Perhaps she can explain how spending another $26 billion serve the interests of her constituents?

 

See more on the "Thelma and Louise" spending policies which are driving our economy off a cliff.  As the McHenry County Blog notes, these programs keep transferring wealth elsewhere.

 

Meanwhile, what's with the conspicuous security presence at the library?  See the video.  Is she paranoid?  I don't know anybody who would want any harm to come to Bean.  We just want to vote her out of office this November, and in the interim we wish that she would stop treating voters so disrespectfully, and stop making our lives worse.  It's a bit late to change her ways now, but perhaps she can still vote and act more responsibly in her final weeks in office this fall, so that she can at least end her political career with dignity - like her friend Charlie Rangel, whose donations she still refuses to return.

 

Incidentally, as shown by the above video, Melissa Bean declared herself to be very concerned about having anyone doing a video of her meeting.  She expressed the view that this might inhibit open discussion of personal financial concerns.  What hypocrisy!  Does anybody else remember when she sent a staff member to videotape the health care forum which Joe Walsh did with our group in Barrington?  Rather than accept the invitation to show up and defend her vote on the healthcare law, she sent somebody to spy on our open public meeting, and we knew it because they had done the same thing at another forum, but we didn't insist that he leave.

 

This certainly seems inconsistent with her October 2008 campaign interviews and campaign ads, as available in the Videos section of this site to remind voters of what she said at that time.

 

Thanks to conservative blogger Michelle Malkin for noticing and calling attention to this story in her August 16, 2010 blog, and reminding voters of prior posts about Melissa Bean:

 

August 20, 2009 - Cone of Shame Award - with many comments about ducking voters and their questions through such tactics as tele-townhall calls which create the illusion of being available

 

August 16, 2009 - Pretty Sneaky, Congresswoman Bean - about the Lake Zurich "town hall" meeting which was changed to limit who would be allowed to attend so that it would just be Chamber members - and some people who showed up for the event were chased away

 

August 14, 2009 - Rep Melissa Bean charging $25 entrance fee to town hall - The issue wasn't the fee (typical for a Chamber breakfast) but rather the closed meeting at a time when voters had been trying for months to get her attention about their concerns and meet her in public.  Rather than hold an open meeting during the August recess, she just staged a few photo ops like this so that she could maintain the fiction of being available to voters through her taxpayer-funded newsletters.

 

Thanks as well to conservative talk radio host Dana Loesch in St. Louis for picking up the story in her blog as well as on her August 16 radio show, The Dana Show on FM NewsTalk 97.1

[Bruce Donnelly]

Here's a video report about a recent Melissa Bean meeting, followed by an interesting Newt Gingrich clip about the challenge we are all facing over the next few years.
http://the912patriots.ning.com/video/video/show?id=3651432%3AVideo%...

[Bruce Donnelly]

Melissa Bean's official website reports her rather different perspective on her activities in the district in July and August.

Meanwhile, she skipped the Barrington League of Women Voters candidate forum on September 25 without explanation or excuse, even though she was in the district for other events. She also skipped the Palatine area one on October 2 in Schaumburg, even though Congress was already adjourned for the election. Instead, her office put out a statement about how many teletownhalls she has done, and how many emails and newsletters she has broadcast at us over the last six years to defend her record. It also pointed out that she has agreed to do one LWV candidate forum on October 20 in Grayslake, organized by high school teachers and students. That's over a week after early voting begins. Voters deserve better from a Represesntative than such a limited appearance for a few minutes of general talking points and carefully screened questions.

[Bruce Donnelly]

For those unfamiliar with her history of using controlled "teletownhalls" to create the illusion of communication with voters (while basically broadcasting her own views at them) rather than public meetings to listen to voters, have a look at these links from 2009

http://marathonpundit.blogspot.com/2009/08/melissa-beans-cowardly-t...
http://lakecountyteaparty.com/2009/08/20/beans-tele-townhall/

[Bruce Donnelly]

Melissa Bean didn't show up tpdau for the candidate forum in Round Lake Beach - but 150 of her constituents did. She also skipped the recent Palatine area League of Women Voters forum in Schaumburg without explanation.

She didn't show up last Thursday at the "meet the candidates" event of the Lake Zurich Chamber of Commerce. The alleged reason is that Tea Party folks keep following her around and trying to ask her questions. If she had simply been more accessible and willing to listen and defend her voting record and explain her intentions to voters about pending legislation, voters probably wouldn't be getting so frustrated with her, and she might be treated more respectfully as a Representative.

She has another chance to show up on Monday at an event at McHenry County College in Crystal Lake. She has also been invited to another forum in Barrington - with no hecklers, disruptions, or protests allowed. It's "no holds barred", rather than softball or pre-screened questions as opportunities to recite talking points without being challenged.

If she isn't willing to stand up to reasonably well-informed voters, why should anyone - regardless of party preference - believe that she will stand up for our interests in Congress, particularly against the special interest groups in Washington and Wall Street which now largely fund her campaign? We deserve more than junk mail attacking her opponent with the usual smear tactics.

[Bruce Donnelly]

Publius Forum blog posted videos from the candidates forum in Round Lake Beach which Melissa Bean didn't attend. Joe Walsh and Bill Scheurer were there. The videos include voter questions which were directed at Melissa Bean.
http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/publius-forum/2010/10/where-is-wald...

[Bruce Donnelly]

Once again, Melissa Bean did not show up on October 17 at the candidates forum at Lake Barrington Shores or the one that we organized at the Barrington Park District field house.

Apparently the only opportunity that voters will have to ask her any questions this year will be when she takes a few questions at the League of Women Voters event in Grayslake on October 20, which is hosted by the high school teachers and students. Meanwhile, she has started to run attack ads on local TV stations against Joe Walsh - but refuses to face voters in public to answer for her own record and intentions. If she won't even face us, why should anyone trust her to look out for our interests in Washington DC, regardless of the policies you favor? Will she just be talking to her many special interest donors from outside of this district?: