My Point of View by Jennifer Vogt-Erickson

 

On July 9, a group of 100 mothers, grandmothers and children gathered at Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst’s Des Moines office to advocate for closing the detention camps on the southern border. They waited, and waited and waited to get a 15-minute phone call with Ernst.

They stayed for over six hours, changing diapers, feeding babies and spreading blankets on the office floor for their little ones to nap. They persisted for more than three hours past closing time, until Ernst finally agreed to a 30-minute phone call the following day. Dozens returned and spoke via speakerphone with the senator, repeating their demands to end the humanitarian crisis at the border.

It wasn’t a long time to wait compared to what mothers seeking asylum at the border are facing, and not as difficult or traumatic as being forcibly separated from their young children by Customs and Border Patrol agents, in whose custody their care may be up to other children.

A couple weeks before that, our congressman Jim Hagedorn’s staff blocked a group of about three dozen members of Indivisible, calling for similar action at his regional office in Mankato. Indivisible is a loosely-organized nationwide network that advocates for progressive causes and works to protect democracy against corporate influence and plutocracy (government by the wealthy). Citing group size, Hagedorn’s staff said only a small contingency of the group could come into the office for 15 minutes.

According to the group’s Facebook page, building employees (not Hagedorn staff) insisted on escorting the smaller group to Hagedorn’s office and then locked out the remaining group members. At some point, the building manager called the police, feeling that the assembly of several dozen adults and children were making other tenants “fearful.” The officer(s) who responded determined the group was doing nothing wrong.

Aside from the limitations Hagedorn’s own staff set, this is a total of three ways a privately owned business (The Brett’s Building) hindered access to an elected official. It’s up to the congressman to choose an office location that is accommodating to the public and to work with landlords on any issues that arise.

It doesn’t appear Hagedorn has done this in order to better serve his constituents. On the contrary, Hagedorn issued a letter on July 15 that he is banning members of Indivisible from his offices and events. He claims to Indivisible St. Peter/Greater Mankato that “one of your group’s leaders admitted to a member of my staff that your group is using visits to our district office to keep staff from attending to their other work.”

This is a weak excuse, to say the least. In any case, the leaders of Indivisible St. Peter/Greater Mankato deny making a statement like that, and, furthermore, that is not their aim.

Hagedorn’s decree is an unenforceable fit of pique, and the Mankato Free Press has deemed his ban an “overreach.” He seems to think his constituents who vocally disagree with him are a nuisance that he and his staff shouldn’t have to deal with.

In contrast, our former congressman Tim Walz’s staff met with members of the Tea Party who didn’t agree with Walz, but his staff always made time for Walz’s constituents who showed up at both regional offices. That was their job, and they did it without drama.

What is motivating parents to mobilize at this time? It is abhorrence to the camps themselves. Goodness knows mothers and fathers have other things to do, but sometimes we become aware of conditions occurring in our name that are so repugnant to our values it becomes a moral obligation to speak out and take the time to show up at protests and at our elected leaders’ offices.

Sen. Ernst at least finally came to the phone, one day later. Our representative sent a very different message. In effect, Hagedorn told his constituents he doesn’t want to be bothered with the issue they are asking him to address, and that his constituents are, in fact, the problem he’s trying to make disperse. We deserve better representation in the First District.

Jennifer Vogt-Erickson is a member of the Freeborn County DFL Party.