See below for multiple accounts of people who were kicked out Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA07)’s “Open House” last night for absolutely no good reason. As the person who contacted me about this wrote:
“My husband and I were invited to Dave Brat’s open house last night, by email. We registered and received tickets. We were admitted but then almost immediately intercepted and asked to leave. After stating we did nothing wrong and didn’t even utter a negative word, they called the police in from outside to remove us…What I understand about the event is that there were at least three others (including a member of the clergy) that experienced the exact same thing.”
Now, here’s another account (bolding added by me for emphasis).
On July 19th, I received an email invitation to attend the Open House for Dave Brat on July 27th. As Mr. Brat has been unreachable, both my husband and I felt that this would be a good opportunity to meet and chat with him for a few seconds.
For me, having him understand that, for me, the ACA has been a lifesaver was very important. I’ve had an irregular heart beat my entire life. In the 30+ years I ran social service agencies, I was always covered by the insurance I purchased for all employees. As such, I didn’t expect to find it virtually impossible to get insurance when I retired at age 55 in 2011. My husband, who owns his own insurance company, was also covered under my policy.
While on COBRA, I contacted each and every health insurance company in our area. We could afford to pay whatever price they wanted, but no group would cover us as we both were older adults with pre-existing conditions. Thankfully, we did not have any major events until “Obamacare” became a reality. Because of our income, we had no subsidy, but that was fine with us. We have been blessed. I don’t begrudge anyone who needs the subsidy either. As the world’s wealthiest country we need to make sure everyone is covered. In 2016, all of this changed when my heart condition became so bad I couldn’t climb stairs or walk without becoming winded. Over 85% of my heart beats were irregular!
The great doctors at VCU in Richmond performed cryosurgery on me and the results were outstanding. All of the expenses, except for about $3000 were paid for by our ACA (Obamacare) policy. Consequently, I have become a great proponent of this program and have been deeply distressed to see how the GOP has been undermining it at every opportunity.
So, my husband and I set out to visit Mr. Brat at his open house to explain how important the pre-existing condition clause was to people like us, to children born with disabilities, to mother’s who have had difficult pregnancies, to older people struggling with regular problems like high cholesterol or high blood pressure.
My husband is a very conservative man who actually voted for Mr. Brat in the past. We were not expecting any problems nor were we planning on causing any. We have two children who are military officers and we even have season tickets to the Navy Midshipmen games!
When we arrived, we found that they didn’t have a name tag for us at the door, but upon showing our tickets which we received from Congressman Dave Brat’s office, we were given hand written tags and shown in. Upon entering, we were quiet and respectful and I even chatted with a man that I had encountered on Facebook.
Within minutes, we were accosted by one of Mr. Brat’s staff who asked us to “talk to her outside”. I knew they were asking us to leave and suggested that I would do so, but that I wanted 30 seconds to simply tell Dave the story I related above. Another woman met us and told us to go and pointed to a security badge on her belt. We told them we had been invited and ticketed and had made absolutely no trouble. What was the problem? Was Dave incapable of hearing from constituents who would be hurt by his policies?
They then proceeded to call in the police who were outside the door. We explained to them as well we had been invited and ticketed but they told us they would be required to arrest us if we didn’t voluntarily leave. Since it was not our intention to cause trouble, we left. The police were very nice, letting us know that they did not agree with the stand that had been taken but they were required to do so “as the owner of the building could rescind an invitation at any time”.
It appears our congressman is too frightened to talk to his constituents. It appears he does not want to talk with anyone who disagrees with him. As he has not held a town hall in over 400 days, it is clear he doesn’t want to represent all of his district, but only those that agree with his stands. The 7th district is turning blue. My husband and my votes have cancelled each other’s out for years.
Because of his actions last night, there will now be a plus 2 for Abigail Spanberger this fall!
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And another:
Last night my wife and I attended Congressman Dave Brat gathering in Glen Allen. We applied for and received tickets in both of our names for the event. When we arrived and showed the tickets at the door there were not pre-printed name tags for us, so they had us handwrite our name tags and we were allowed to enter.
It was crowded so we made our way slowly in. As I was wearing a Navy shirt and stand out above the crowd due to my height, I believe Dave Brat waved to me. I mention this to my wife and why I mention it here as these were the only words either of us spoke until we were confronted by one of Mr. Brat’s staff who asked to speak with us…..outside. I told her that I could hear her just fine, so why not speak here? She insisted we “go outside” and I insisted we talk there. Soon another woman, flashing some sort of badge, join her and the dialogue continued. Soon two County Sheriff Deputies made their way to our group and told us we had to leave. No reason was given by the Brat staff, nor did the deputies feel they needed to provide a reason.
I am a very conservative person and voted for Mr Brat, so needless to say he is my Congressman. There were people there, other Brat supporters who recognized my wife, who witnessed the entire episode. Several even used their cell phones to record the scene. Strangely enough, the Brat staff member who initially confronted us did not want me to record the moment on my cell phone and held her clip board in front of the lens.
There are Brat supporters on social media who do not believe I am conservative or voted for Mr Brat and applaud he fact we were “kicked out” of an event that we held tickets for, in our own names and issued by the Brat organization. We were admitted to the event.
Since they apparently had our names on some sort of “list” one has to wonder if they wanted to create some sort of public incident which they could use for their own purposes.
We left as asked, albeit slowly, talking to the officers as we did. As we were walking out other attendees called out to my wife and when she turned to acknowledge them, it seemed to agitate those who wanted us out and they insisted we be pushed along faster by the officers.
In closing, I wish to acknowledge the two officers who were very professional and sympathetic to our position that we were there with invitations and that as citizens of the district Mr. Brat represented us and therefore works for us.
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And yet another:
This constituent got kicked out of @DaveBratVA7th @RepDaveBrat event for No good reason ? pic.twitter.com/22PSSAkAAi
— faircitygurl ?????? (@faircitygurl) July 28, 2018
And another…including cupcakes! LOL
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