Constituent: “I really expected this to be a give and take… but there was no give.”
Town halls are designed for members of Congress to hear from their constituents in order to better represent them… or so thought the Minnesotans attending a meeting hosted by Congressman Jim Hagedorn on Friday night. Instead, participants left the event disappointed, saying their representative “played the party puppet,” “declined to learn more about issues,” and “votes in a very hard-right manner” that does not represent the purple district.
Hagedorn’s refusal to engage with those who disagree with him is nothing new. Last week he chided a constituent on Facebook, saying, “Go post your opinions on your own page. I’m using my campaign page to express my views…”
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Sandy Kvenvold, who walked out of the meeting at one point after Hagedorn’s response to her question, said she was disappointed to see that the congressman seemed to have what she described as “padded answers” already prepared that he responded to questions with.
“Instead of being a legislator, he played the party puppet,” Kvenvold said.
…“I really expected this to be a give and take,” she said. “I know there were going to be differences of opinions, but there was no give.”
Lynne Lent, who moved to Albert Lea in December, said she was disappointed Hagedorn declined to learn more about issues such as climate change when she went up to him after the meeting and offered to provide him more information.
“He said, ‘No, I believe what I believe,’” Lent said.
“That’s really not what a representative should do,” she added.
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ANCHOR: Minnesota state representative, Jim Hagedorn, is making waves on his town hall tour. The lawmaker did not shy away from sharing his hard-right views on topics ranging from gun control to immigration and climate change at a town hall in Albert Lea last night. Constituents of all views and opinions are coming out to make their voices heard to their representative. This is what some had to say.
CONSTITUENT: He barely won this election. He represents at most 50 percent. 50 percent of the people did not vote for him and don’t agree with him and yet he votes in a very hard-right manner.
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