In response to Jennifer Vogt-Erickson’s My Point of View column, I would like to point out a few things as one of the high school students she mentions who was at the town hall. First, Jennifer stated Congressman Hagedorn has not supported any bipartisan legislation during his less than one year in Congress. This is egregiously false. Congressman Hagedorn was a co-author of a bill that passed the House with bipartisan support called the “Women’s Business Centers Improvements Act,” which was written with Democratic Congresswoman Sharice Davids of Kansas. Congressman Hagedorn also co-authored the “American Workforce Empowerment Act” with Democratic Congressman Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, which is currently on the backburner with impeachment being the Democratic House’s No. 1 priority, just like USMCA. Recently, Congressman Hagedorn also introduced the bipartisan House Resolution 677, “Supporting the goals and ideals of National Veterans Small Business Week” with Democratic Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado and Brad Schneider of Illinois. So, to claim that Congressman Hagedorn has not supported any bipartisan legislation is a flat-out lie. These are only three examples.

Also, Jennifer, when it comes to setting a better example for the five Albert Lea High schoolers (four out of five of whom were disgusted by the actions of disrupters at the town hall), I don’t think you can get much better than a congressman like Jim Hagedorn, who explains his stances on the issues with thought-through answers, who is not afraid to get in front of constituents and who keeps his promises word for word. Even the Austin Daily Herald Editorial Board, who in all honesty isn’t very fond of Republicans, wrote that the interruptions from protestors “immediately negates any good that can come from these town halls.” Jennifer, do you wish for our example to be the person that asked about the Pentagon report, who, when she heard an opposing viewpoint called everyone at the town hall idiots? Or, do you prefer that our example setter be the person at the front of the room recording Congressman Hagedorn who wouldn’t let the Congressman finish a single sentence without some sort of grunt or show of disapproval? Jennifer, I prefer my role model be an adult who acts like an adult, over someone who interrupts other people’s questions, yells across the room instead of having a civilized conversation and slips other people notes telling them what to say to Congressman Hagedorn (which I have seen at two town halls now, Freeborn and Mower).

Thank you, Jennifer, for expressing your opinion about who you think my role model should be, but I prefer to choose that myself.

Aaron Farris

Albert Lea