Yet another Private Tea Party
What are they saying that the district seniors and media can’t hear?
James Austin was one of the seniors who showed up at the event and was immediately denied entrance.
“I got a message on my answering machine about this meeting saying senior citizens should be particularly interested,” said Austin. “I thought there was going to be one heck of a crowd out there.”
Andy Schikel was also part of the group which was eventually forced off the campus by college security personnel.
Schikel says he and his wife received the same phone message as the other people who were forced to leave and said he simply wanted to question Amash on his voting record, which Schikel says “hurts the poor people of America.”
Schikel said, “It is private property, but someone said they didn’t have enough money for more room for more people because they only rented a small area.”
From the name tag list on the reception table it appeared that about a dozen people did not show up after registering but the extra space was still denied to both the non-registered seniors and the media. Saying they had ample time to register for the event she also denied access to anyone who did not register for the event, several Tea Party supporters were also turned away.
A couple of the organizers, upon hearing that reporters and constituents were being barred from the event, said there had to be some sort of mistake and apologized, saying they would remedy the situation by making sure they spoke with Rep. Amash as soon as he was available and urging him to answer questions.
But Lisa Dupont, an organizer with the Tea Party of West Michigan, said it was intentional to deny media access to the event.