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My not-so-great house call on Rep. Gerry Connolly (D)
AKA "Keep your hands off my health care, Congressman Connolly, and your staffer’s hands off my body!"
Last week, Rep. Michele Bachmann called on Americans to converge on Washington, D.C. on November 5th to protest the mammoth, destructive health care bill being pushed by Nancy Pelosi and her Democrat cohorts. She called it a “Congressional house call,” and asked that we visit our Representatives and let them know that we don’t want this crammed down our throats. I had the privilege of speaking to Ms. Bachmann yesterday, where she urged us to bring our video cameras and catch the responses on film. Great idea, right?
Flip recorder in hand, I headed down to the steps of the Capitol this morning. I met lots of wonderful patriots who had traveled from afar to be there. We heard from wonderful folks like Bachmann, Mark Levin, Tom Price, and actor Jon Voigt. I was excited to get started on my “house call” to my representative, Gerry Connolly, a Democrat. Mr. Connelly (also known in these parts as Congressman Cowardly) has avoided his constituents like H1N1. I had protested outside his ONE town hall meeting in August, where he lived up to his name and snuck in the back entrance to avoid us tea partiers. Since Mr. Connolly has been so elusive, I welcomed the chance to find out his position on Pelosi-care and to voice my ardent opposition to it.
Getting into the Cannon House Office Building was a breeze. Everyone was upbeat and ready to take part in a democratic exercise. My Flip camera and I made it through security without any questions. I took some video of the hallways, which were starting to fill up with everyday citizens like myself eager to talk to their elected officials. I finally found Cannon 327, office of Gerry Connolly. There were a few other constituents there, and we were asked by the very polite young staffers to fill out a form. SURPRISE! Gerry wasn’t there to greet us.
I did as asked and filled out the form, complete with my contact information and my views on the pending health care legislation. As I returned the form to the young staffer, I took out my Flip, started recording and asked him if someone from the office would appear on video and explain Congressman Connelly’s position. The staffer said I needed press credentials to videotape. I told him I was just an average citizen, not the media and had at no point been told (or seen a sign) that video cameras were not allowed. At this point, a man came out of an office and stood behind the staffer in a not so friendly way. When I questioned about the need for press credentials, this man came forward and demanded to know if I was a constituent of the 11th District, which I am and have been for more than 20 years. He insisted that I needed to have press credentials and very deliberately pushed his body — in an aggressive way — against my right arm, which was holding the camera. I was astonished that he had been so brazen and told him so. He then proceeded to threaten me with calling the police. I asked for his name several time, and the bully would only tell me “George.” Since I was standing at the front desk of the office, I found a stack of business cards and lo and behold, our bully is the Director of Communications for Rep. Gerry Connolly, one George Burke.
I was not able to get the whole thing on tape, as Mr. Burke intended when he decided to by physical with me. I did get this:
A house call to Gerry Connolly
As you can see, the young staffer was a bit nervous, but polite. George Burke, who can be seen behind the young man, is anything but. He immediately treated me — his EMPLOYER! — as his enemy. The camera stopped recording when Mr. Burke decided to physically stop it. Let me be clear (if I can borrow the President’s words), I am a female, making a call on a Representative by myself! George Burke, a man who surely knows better, treated me with the kind of arrogant disdain so typical of liberals. These Democrats on Capitol Hill have without question lost sight of the fact that are beholden to us, the American people. There are a many more George Burke’s out there, smugly sitting in their offices with nothing but contempt for us regular folk. This was a big wake up call for me about how truly ugly the Democrats are — and I still don’t know a thing about Congressman Gerry Connolly’s position on health care.
Last week, Rep. Michele Bachmann called on Americans to converge on Washington, D.C. on November 5th to protest the mammoth, destructive health care bill being pushed by Nancy Pelosi and her Democrat cohorts. She called it a “Congressional house call,” and asked that we visit our Representatives and let them know that we don’t want this crammed down our throats. I had the privilege of speaking to Ms. Bachmann yesterday, where she urged us to bring our video cameras and catch the responses on film. Great idea, right?
Flip recorder in hand, I headed down to the steps of the Capitol this morning. I met lots of wonderful patriots who had traveled from afar to be there. We heard from wonderful folks like Bachmann, Mark Levin, Tom Price, and actor Jon Voigt. I was excited to get started on my “house call” to my representative, Gerry Connolly, a Democrat. Mr. Connelly (also known in these parts as Congressman Cowardly) has avoided his constituents like H1N1. I had protested outside his ONE town hall meeting in August, where he lived up to his name and snuck in the back entrance to avoid us tea partiers. Since Mr. Connolly has been so elusive, I welcomed the chance to find out his position on Pelosi-care and to voice my ardent opposition to it.
Getting into the Cannon House Office Building was a breeze. Everyone was upbeat and ready to take part in a democratic exercise. My Flip camera and I made it through security without any questions. I took some video of the hallways, which were starting to fill up with everyday citizens like myself eager to talk to their elected officials. I finally found Cannon 327, office of Gerry Connolly. There were a few other constituents there, and we were asked by the very polite young staffers to fill out a form. SURPRISE! Gerry wasn’t there to greet us.
I did as asked and filled out the form, complete with my contact information and my views on the pending health care legislation. As I returned the form to the young staffer, I took out my Flip, started recording and asked him if someone from the office would appear on video and explain Congressman Connelly’s position. The staffer said I needed press credentials to videotape. I told him I was just an average citizen, not the media and had at no point been told (or seen a sign) that video cameras were not allowed. At this point, a man came out of an office and stood behind the staffer in a not so friendly way. When I questioned about the need for press credentials, this man came forward and demanded to know if I was a constituent of the 11th District, which I am and have been for more than 20 years. He insisted that I needed to have press credentials and very deliberately pushed his body — in an aggressive way — against my right arm, which was holding the camera. I was astonished that he had been so brazen and told him so. He then proceeded to threaten me with calling the police. I asked for his name several time, and the bully would only tell me “George.” Since I was standing at the front desk of the office, I found a stack of business cards and lo and behold, our bully is the Director of Communications for Rep. Gerry Connolly, one George Burke.
I was not able to get the whole thing on tape, as Mr. Burke intended when he decided to by physical with me. I did get this:
A house call to Gerry Connolly
As you can see, the young staffer was a bit nervous, but polite. George Burke, who can be seen behind the young man, is anything but. He immediately treated me — his EMPLOYER! — as his enemy. The camera stopped recording when Mr. Burke decided to physically stop it. Let me be clear (if I can borrow the President’s words), I am a female, making a call on a Representative by myself! George Burke, a man who surely knows better, treated me with the kind of arrogant disdain so typical of liberals. These Democrats on Capitol Hill have without question lost sight of the fact that are beholden to us, the American people. There are a many more George Burke’s out there, smugly sitting in their offices with nothing but contempt for us regular folk. This was a big wake up call for me about how truly ugly the Democrats are — and I still don’t know a thing about Congressman Gerry Connolly’s position on health care.
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Comment by Sue on November 5, 2009 at 5:26pm - Wow! Looks and sounds like George could be in a remake of the Sopranos! Corruptacrat!
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Comment by Laura on November 5, 2009 at 5:35pm - Teri sorry you went through that, I personally would have liked to have been there and backed you up, I would say that George Burke needs to be slapped around
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Comment by Teresa Smith on November 5, 2009 at 5:51pm
- Yep, George is a jackass. (Sounds like his boss is real jackass, too.)
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Comment by Stacie Haaga on November 5, 2009 at 6:04pm -
I wish I could have stayed for the actual house call to good old Gerry however it was nap time for us (both for me and my son!). I've done my share of lobbying as an employee with an ag trade association and I'm, unfortunately, not one bit surprised by the "welcome" you received. The scary thing is that these 20-somethings (and I, admittedly, am still barely in my 20's) with no life experience are running the show on the Hill!! They are the men behind the curtain, pulling all the strings and writing these laws. It's deeply disconcerting as they have no- zero - regard for their constituents. In my professional life we were rarely able to sit down with the Rep.'s themselves but were usually scheduled to meet with abrasive or despondent...
OH MY GOSH! As I was typing this I heard your story on WMAL - you go girl!!
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Comment by Patricia Mattison on November 5, 2009 at 6:27pm -
Well! If that doesn't beat all! If I had been there and about the time that he threatened to call the police on me, I would've sat down and said, "Go ahead, I'll wait for them to get here."
Rep. Gerry Connally, Democrat. Of which State? Everyone, remember that name--fire him in November 2010!
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Comment by Cynthia on November 5, 2009 at 6:36pm -
I'm sorry, Teri. I hope you and your video camera weren't hurt in the rudeness of that madman Burke.
What guts and courage you showed! Impressive!
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Comment by Beth Vann on November 5, 2009 at 6:42pm - we all need to vote him out, and I mean all of us, even those not in his state, we can contribute and email and fax with the best of them now due to Sue's lessons and when time comes we can take up arms, oops I mean computers against him!!!
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Comment by Gail Townsend on November 5, 2009 at 6:44pm -
How awful! I just saw this posted on twitter and wanted to let you know about it Teri ~ http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Congressional-staffer-denies-pushing-visitor-69326747.html
God bless you for all you do for us and this country.
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Comment by Laura on November 5, 2009 at 6:48pm
- I was thinking of sending burke a special message via fax and calling him out on bullying up on Teri.
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Comment by Stacy Mott (SGP) on November 5, 2009 at 7:05pm - It's funny. Though the video is not very long, it is long enough to discredit everything that Mr. Burke says in his statements on that Washington Examiner article.
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