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« Cronkite at West Point | Main | Residential limbo »

Jul 23, 2009

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Sue

I wasn't there and I don't know what happened, but I do know the building. Parking "several miles away" is hard to believe. There's local street parking off Cridland and the back of the building is practically in Cone Hospital's circular driveway on Elm Street which has lots of on-street parking. At least that part of the account is inaccurate. Can't speak to the rest of it but that part sounds somewhat embellished. However, I do know the building and it's nice space but if you're expecting big crowds with any regularity, it's not the right building for what Sen. Hagan does.

Mick

You dont seem to know the building too too well.

Andrew

Vernon must be losing his touch. So many words and not a single rant blaming the world's ails on gays, hispanics or women.

Roch101

Hyperbole aside, Vernon makes a good point.

Jeffrey Sykes

And all this happened without a "local right-wing blogger egging them on"?

Imagine that.

Steve Harrison

"The idea that a politician can make opposition go away by denying them an appointment is just not going to cut it."

Vernon, inconsistencies in your logic is just one of many reasons why voters are not likely to send you to Washington to represent. The definition for the word "appointment" is, in the context of this story, "an arrangement for a meeting". You know, two people communicating via phone or e-mail and agreeing on a specific time and place to meet? See, that's why the word "appointment" is very often accompanied by other words like "set" or "set up", because of the need for arranging and agreeing and such.

30 to 40 people showing up at an office does not an appointment make. A more precise (and polite) definition for that is "an unscheduled appearance of a large group of people". I'll leave out the less polite version for now.

I will speculate though, that if you had succeeded in your efforts to get elected to Congress, your staff would be very aware of the difference between scheduled and unscheduled appearances, and security guards would be hovering somewhere and expected to act.

If you want to dispute that, and make the claim that you would see anybody at any time, scheduled appointment or not, and you would drop whatever you were doing at the time to accommodate them, then let's hear it. If not, then stop the charade about poorly informed security guards and ignored constituents, because that's just one more of your embarrassing political antics.

Ed Cone

Vernon's account casts him and has group as victims of a politcal stiff-arm.

Yet he acknowledges that his group got access to office staff, and Hagan's people say it was the MoveOn folks wandering the halls with signs who irked other tenants and precipitated the ejections.

There's a reasonable question here: is Hagan's GSO office in the right place?

As Roch said, you just have to filter Vernon's version for dramatic license.

Sue

The Weaver-Park building that Sen. Hagan uses is a private building and her office is, I think, on the 2nd floor (could be mistaken about that). There are lawyers, foundations, businesses and some medical-related spaces so it's really disruptive to tenants if a fairly large (for the space) group wants to protest or simply gather. Perhaps she should consider a storefront in a strip mall (seriously) for easy access and parking. Anything in or near downtown will generate the same parking complaints (there's an obligation, I suppose, to enabling protestors' parking convenience).

Vernon Robinson

If I should be elected to Congress, I would rent office space in a location that accomodates the rights of citizens to peacefully petition their elected officials. No one expected Senator Hagan to drop what she was doing. Any elected official would have a staffer take the material and speak with those who had someething to say. That is not possible if the security guards are preventing citizens from coming to the office and threatening them with having their car towed.

Fec the Terrible

If you should be elected to Congress, I'll hunt my ham with a bird gun.

Steve Harrison

Fair enough, Vernon. And thanks for responding in person.

Now, my next question is: if "peacefully petitioning your elected official" was the purpose of your gathering, then what (in the Sam Hill) was this Tweet about:

"Counter rally sen kay hagans gboro office tomorrow noon july 23. Last time moveon.org tried to hold rally patriots mobbed them. See u ther"

Which actually brings up part of the un-polite definition I left out earlier, namely the word "mob".

This is too easy, and I get the sinking feeling that no matter what, I will come out of this debate in worse condition than Mr. Robinson. It's like fishing with a concussion grenade: it works really well, but if anybody sees you doing it, they just think you're a jerk. :/

Mick

OK. I am officially confused. Not that it really matters but...

Is Hagan's office on Green Valley Rd or in the Weaver Park Bldng off of Rlm and Cridland?

Roch101

Steve, picky, picky, picky. Mobbing, peacefully petitioning, what's the difference?

Steve Harrison

Quantity of calories burned? The number of stepped-on-toe injuries? The amount of animation used when the story is told later? The number of victims a single fart can encompass? Okay, I'm going to quit with that last one. That's gold. :)

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