Congressman Dennis Moore
As a convenient service to his constituents, Congressman Dennis Moore holds community office hours at various locations, including a grocery store in Olathe today. This gives voters an unusual opportunity to talk directly to him about anything of interest.
Constituents checked-in and were given a number to wait in line to talk to Congressman Moore one-on-one.
Some of those waiting discovered friends who had similar questions for Congressman Moore. So, small groups worked out permission from Congressman Moore’s staff to discuss these issues with him in small groups of 2-4, which should have saved time for Congressman Moore.
But about 30 minutes after Mr. Moore started talking to his constituents, protesters appeared on the patio outside the grocery store eatery where Congressman Moore was meeting with constituents.
These protesters should have realized the grocery store was private property and they should have respected the private property rights of the store by getting permission before they started their protest.
Dennis Moore Points to Protest Signs at Olathe grocery store
Congressman Moore stopped his one-on-one conversations with constituents and told those waiting in line the store had asked him to leave to remedy the problem with the protesters.
Those still waiting for Congressman Moore were disappointed. He had talked to almost 20 individuals, but that was only about half of those who had signed up.
Congressman Moore said his staff would personally contact all those waiting to talk to him, and if possible, arrange for future meetings with them.
Many waiting to talk to Congressman Moore were sympathetic to the anti-stimulus signs, but felt the protesters should not have used private property for their free-speech expression. So, oddly the protesters kept several with similar interests from talking to Congressman Moore.
I had teamed with two others and our plan was to discuss three issues with Congressman Moore (stimulus/pork, energy policy/taxes, FOCA/human embryonic stem cells), but that will need to wait for another day.
Tags: Congressman Dennis Moore, Protest
This is not the objective of the tea party movement. Some went their to speak personally to Dennis Moore about the grievances they have with him to further our cause, to sit down and have a personal chat with him, to pursuade him to see that his votes will not benefit his constituents. The people who did this did nothing more than make them selves look like Fred Phelps, Code Pink, MoveOn and other tin hat wearin, kool-aid drinking far left antagonizers. If they wanted to protest they should have stayed on the public sidewalks out front, If you don’t know that you can not go on private property and protest and you don’t know the law or choose to break the law I say stay away from any of the tea parties or calls for action.
While I wasn’t there, I don’t see where these “protesters” disrupted anything and weren’t anything but courteous. They weren’t protesting [the grocery store] they were there to help ensure that their public elected official was very aware of their dismay with his latest votes. While it may be a good faith effort for Congressman Moore to meet constituents on “private” property as an outreach or convenience as a PUBLIC official he should understand the inconvenience and dilemma he evidently is putting on a private business by his presence in an “official” capacity (to meet with his constituents). If [the grocery storey] or Mr Moore didn’t like it than perhaps he should stay on public property or his office to conduct business where well-meaning but uninformed or confused constituent protesters won’t be confused.
[Editor's note: The store name was edited out of this posting and the original article to respect the wishes of that store.]
No child ever learned to walk without alot of ‘fits and starts’ and many of us now taking our long overdue babysteps into the political process are going to make errors and fall on our butts now and then, too. DON’T GET SCARED OFF FROM BEING INVOLVED! But realize we need to learn and adapt to be most effective. “Be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves.” Learn from those with more experience, and STAY ENGAGED!
I think this assessment is off base.
And what in the world did you hope to accomplish by sitting down “…to discuss three issues with Congressman Moore (stimulus/pork, energy policy/taxes, FOCA/human embryonic stem cells)…”? Do you think that anything you could say would possibly change his position on any of these items? If so, then perhaps you are the “child” referred to by JaneLovesJesus.
I strongly suggest that you check out Congressman Moore’s website. He is not posting his official government email address. I asked his office why there is no link to his “house.gov” email address and the office refused to give an answer. It seems that the official site is a little overwhelmed so he is not making it public. Keep in mind we are pay for that. I think that Congressman Moore needs to get use to backing up his vote. He also needs to be aware that the people in the 3rd Congressional district are not near as passive as they use to be. We shouldn’t be scared off and businesses who allow Dennis to use their facilities should know that a much more informed crowd is going to be there.