MADISON, Wis. — New reporting from the La Crosse Tribune highlights how Derrick Van Orden continues to duck his own constituents. On Friday, Van Orden and event organizers hastily moved a planned town hall across town to a “private spot” to avoid members of the public who had attempted to RSVP and attend the event, hosted by the North La Crosse Business Association.
Van Orden’s latest attempt to duck his constituents came just a day after staff abruptly canceled a scheduled meeting with constituents in Eau Claire, accusing them of attempting to “ambush” him. Van Orden himself responded to his Eau Claire constituents with threats to have them arrested.
Time and again, Derrick Van Orden has demonstrated a refusal to show up anywhere people who disagree with him might gather—unless he is 100 percent certain they’ve packed up and gone home.
LA CROSSE TRIBUNE: US Rep. Van Orden draws fire over changes to constituent meetings
By Caden Perry
Constituents in Wisconsin’s 3rd congressional district have tried to meet with congressman Derrick Van Orden throughout the week after information about meetings he planned to attend spread widely.
Those meetings mostly did not happen, or took place behind closed doors.
Van Orden provided a key vote to pass the House Budget Resolution that advances President Donald Trump’s agenda.
While visiting Wisconsin after the vote, Van Orden scheduled a meeting with the North La Crosse Business Association for Friday afternoon at Pearl Street Brewery. According to Van Orden and Association officials, the event was supposed to be for Association members only.
However, the registration link was public on the group’s website and shared on social media, causing the organization to be inundated with registration requests. The meeting was relocated to a private spot, to the chagrin of a number of people who showed up at the brewery.
Van Orden staffers also canceled a planned meeting with Eau Claire constituents at the last minute Thursday. According to a statement the congressman’s staffers made to WQOW, the meeting was axed when Chippewa Valley Indivisible shared details about the meeting to the wider public. The event was advertised for only 24 people, but close to 100 showed up.
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Van Orden blamed outside groups for sharing details about his office’s planned meetings over the past week.
“There is a George Soros-funded group of agitators that have gone to multiple Republican congressional offices around the country as of late and they’re just disrupting proceedings so you can’t actually talk to your constituents,” Van Orden said. “I don’t represent George Soros. If any of these people want to come and crash our party, we’re just not going to tolerate it.”
The La Crosse and Vernon County Democratic Party organizations formed a demonstration outside the brewery where Van Orden initially planned to meet Friday with the North La Crosse Business Association.
“Derek Van Orden is just as much our Congressperson as he is people who are members of that group. To host open and public listening sessions, we have to do things like this,” said William Garcia, chair of the La Crosse County Democratic Party outside Pearl Street Brewery, surrounded by a group of about 20 people. “It’s not even about Republican and Democrat. It’s about listening to your constituents.”
At Van Orden’s private event, he addressed Garcia and the small crowd of La Crosse demonstrators.
“This was not our event. Mr. Garcia, once again, is muckraking because him and his radical left wing people in the La Crosse Democrat Party have nothing to offer anybody here policy-wise,” Van Orden said. “Does he have a job?”
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For some, the once-believed public meeting seemed like a rare chance to get in front of their elected congressman and ask questions about federal funding, potential Medicaid cuts and more administration changes.
La Crosse resident Joe Hammes did not attend the short-lived demonstration in La Crosse, but is one of those disappointed by Van Orden’s lack of communication to constituents. For Hammes, the poor communication itself is the issue he’s most concerned with.
“My specific resentment is that he is not accessible, that he does not seem to be aware of our district,” Hammes said. “I have had similar contacts with both Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Sen. Ron Johnson’s office. Both of their offices have been fairly good about getting back to me to varying degrees. I don’t always agree with what they say to me, but at least they’ve acknowledged my concerns. I at least have given the impression that their offices are well-run and well-managed.”
Hammes has been trying to get answers from Van Orden’s office on federal grant concerns since early January. He said he’s had one good interaction with a Van Orden staffer who told Hammes they were not sure about the status of federal grants and to stay in touch.
Other than that, Hammes said he’s been deferred to pester the congressman’s office via email with few responses.
Hammes tried to register for the La Crosse meeting Friday morning before Van Orden and Association officials confirmed the meeting was not open to the public.
“This event unfortunately confirms that he’s more concerned with the propaganda power of these meetings than actually dealing with his constituents’ concerns,” Hammes said. “I would love to be proven wrong, and I have engaged in a good faith effort to work with his office to try to come to find some solutions.”
