Shouting overwhelms Kagen forum on health care

At least fifty people hoping to attend a listening session of U.S. Rep Steve Kagen Monday night could not find a seat.
Advertisement

Congressional staff stopped people from entering the auditorium at the Brown County Central Library in Green Bay when its seating filled with 300 people. Attendants who could not get a seat in the auditorium found a spot to stand in the compact lobby and listened to the event through speakers.

The vast majority of people attending the event appeared to come in protest of the health-care legislation, and they repeatedly disrupted the event by shouting.

The crowd’s size and vocal frustration grabbed the attention of Green Bay police, who arrived soon after the event began to keep the peace. Capt. Rick Demro said no one was arrested.

Kagen never battled the crowd’s volume, but voiced his concerns several times about its attitude.

“You can talk, but I can’t listen to 100 people at the same time,” he said. “This is not a shouting contest. This should be a discussion.”

If the event were a shouting match, the mob won. Kagen tried talking about the health-care bill, but the roaring chants deafened his attempts. Several elderly people covered their ears and grimaced at the level of noise.

Kagen’s message — when audible — focused on a health-care system that values a competitive market of insurance providers and consumer choice.

“The question is, do you support government-run health care? The answer is, no, I do not. I support a marketplace,” he said.

Most of the crowd’s screams for three-quarters of the evening were incomprehensible. In the last half hour, the listening session calmed — respectively speaking — and Kagen engaged in a more organized conversation.

Sharon Guyette of De Pere stood up from a piano bench — every other seat in the auditorium was taken — and tried to explain the room’s frustration.”We are scared and when we get scared, we get angry,” she said. “We sit back here (in Wisconsin) and we have no control.”

Congressional staff told the crowd Kagen would schedule a second visit to Green Bay.
Click here to read the full story.