Activists target GOP congress members

Some have never been politically active, like 56-year-old Patti Jo Kiraly of Aliso Viejo. Others are lifelong activists, like Costa Mesa’s Linda Clough, 80. They are Democrats and independents and even some Republicans. There are men but more women; working people and retirees, most middle-aged and older.

They parade to GOP Congressional offices in Orange County each week, as many as a hundred at a time, fueled by worries over President Donald Trump’s policies and appointments, his temperament and competence.

They’re demanding their voices be heard, insistently calling for town hall meetings with their Congress members. And they’re turning the county into a key battleground of a national resistance movement aimed at blunting ambitions of the new administration.

“I’m terrified by where Trump is taking this country,” said Placentia’s Debra Brunner, a 48-year-old speech pathologist who, like many, lists health-care coverage, deportations and the travel ban among immediate concerns.

The movement materialized virtually overnight.

The Women’s March, the day after Trump’s inauguration, attracted hundreds of thousands nationwide and an estimated 20,000 in downtown Santa Ana. That energy has continued unabated, following a strategy outlined online by the anti-Trump project “Indivisible” and attracting a host of individuals and interest groups.

“We’ve never seen this before,” said Raphael Sonenshein, who heads Cal State Los Angeles’ Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs. “It bypassed the traditional media and organization models. The tea party movement didn’t get moving this quickly. Opposition to the Iraq War, to the Vietnam War didn’t mobilize this quickly.

“I think people underestimated the impact Trump would have on the general population.”

The 23-page online Indivisible Guide, put together by progressive former congressional staffers, analyzes the tea party’s successes against Barack Obama and details how to use those lessons against Trump. It explains how to get the attention of congressional representatives and provides tools for organizing by congressional district.

That’s especially taken hold in Orange County, where there are Indivisible groups in the four GOP congressional districts – each with scheduled weekly visits to the members’ local offices.

The groups also have specially arranged visits, such as Valentine’s Day stops at three of the offices where cards were delivered asking for town halls. Sample: “Town Hall Meeting! Quit Stalin and just say yes.” The pink-and-red card was fringed with hearts and featured a photo of former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.

So far, none of the four – Reps. Ed Royce, Dana Rohrabacher, Mimi Walters and Darrell Issa – has consented to a town hall. But the county is attracting national attention and the pressure from Trump foes shows no sign of diminishing.

All four were reelected in November – but their districts all favored Hillary Clinton for president. There are just 23 such split-vote districts nationwide and all are being targeted by the deep-pocketed Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

“Orange County is really the front line,” said UC Irvine sociologist David Meyer, author of “The Politics of Protest: Social Movements in America." “This is where the future of ‘#resistance’ is going to be written.”

AstroTurf?

Fred Whitaker, chairman of the Orange County GOP, is among many Republicans who dismiss the Indivisible-based movement as a manufactured product of Democratic insiders.

“It’s more of a professional operation, more AstroTurf than grassroots,” Whitaker said. “I think our (Congress) members are smart enough to know that these people don’t represent their districts.”

Meyer called such dismissals “ridiculous.”

“That’s a real common thing to say about protesters you don’t like,” Meyer said. “They said that about the Tea Party.”

Meyer and Sonenshein agree that while there are professional organizers and special interests involved, grassroots activists are fueling the nationwide effort.

“Indivisible is right in the middle between a massive grassroots movement and the hidebound Democratic establishment in Washington,” Sonenshein said. “They’re smart. They’re making a very unique contribution.”

Beside Indivisible activists, participants in the protest movement include Planned Parenthood, immigrant-rights groups and environmentalists. Additionally, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is funding state parties to hire organizers in targeted congressional districts and those organizers often coordinate with local grassroots activists.

“Certainly, if we hear about protests happening, we’re going to shine a light on them,” said Robin Swanson, spokesperson for the California Democratic Party. “When people call and ask what they can do, we point them in the right direction. But the fire is coming from the grassroots.”

Well-heeled labor unions are also getting in on the action. Service Employees International Union, the nation’s largest union with 2.2 million members, has scheduled a town hall for Feb. 21 in Vista with the hope that Issa will accept its invitation to appear.

That event is being coordinated with a dozen other groups, including Indivisible, Planned Parenthood, three other unions and several community groups.

Town hall dilemma

Orange County’s GOP Congress members are unlikely to find encouragement to hold town halls if they consider recent events sponsored by Republican colleagues elsewhere in the country.

Among the most publicized of the contentious affairs was that of Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, on Feb. 9.

“Several police officers stood near the stage while Chaffetz spoke, his words often drowned out by booing and shouting from people who filled nearly all of the 1,000 seats in the auditorium,” according to a Washington Post account. “More officers were outside the school, controlling the large crowd that did not get in.”

Concerns with unruly crowds weren’t cited by spokespersons for Orange County’s four Republican members, but they emphasized other ways constituents could make their voice heard.

Issa’s office said he could not make the union event because of a previous commitment to visit a homeless shelter. Spokespersons for Issa, Royce and Walters have said they welcome constituent comments by phone, email and letter. They added that they will be holding private meetings with constituents in the upcoming week, when the House has a recess.

It is unclear whether they will be meeting with any of the activists, although the Indivisible group in Royce’s district plans to visit the office daily with the hope of gaining an audience.

Activists visiting the offices of Issa in Vista and Royce in Fullerton have said they have met with staffers. Those visiting Walters’ office in Irvine and Rohrabacher’s in Huntington Beach have said they have found the doors locked and no one available to talk to.

A Valentine's Day visit to Rohrabacher’s office resulted in a scuffle when the locked door was suddenly opened, knocking the daughter of an activist to the floor. There was then a brief tug-of-war, with an activist trying to keep the door open and Rohrabacher aide Kathleen Staunton falling in the scrum.

Staunton, 71, got to her feet then but later fainted, according to Huntington Beach police spokeswoman Jennifer Marlatt. She declined paramedic transport to the hospital, but was later taken there by a friend, Marlatt said. She was released from the hospital the same day.

“These holier-than-thou obstructionists will be held responsible for this outrageous assault,” Rohrabacher said in a press release.

The GOP’s Whitaker backed the decision of Rohrabacher and others not to hold town halls.

“The only reason they want town halls is to shout members down,” he said. “They’re not going to be productive.”

Activist Brunner acknowledged that concern but said her group was sincere in its desire to have a dialogue. She said the tallies Royce’s office keeps of constituent communications to the office is insufficient.

“We want to ask specific questions about where he stands and share with him our personal stories,” Brunner said.

Some Democrats, meanwhile, see an opportunity to meet with largely like-minded constituents. Rep. Lou Correa, D-Santa Ana, has scheduled a town hall for Feb. 24.

Measuring success

The resistance movement’s longevity and energy will be key to its success or failure, sociologist Meyer said.

“If they can keep doing it for a while, it gets harder and harder (for Congress members) to dodge,” he said.

Activists’ persistence may allow Democrats to peel off Republican votes on key issues, especially among GOP representatives in districts that voted for Clinton, Meyer said, pointing to aspects of Obamacare as an example.

“Representatives across the country are going to have a hard time voting for things that will hurt their constituents,” he said.

The movement could also give members cover to vote their conscience rather than the party line, Meyer said, pointing out that Walters said in 2012 that she was opposed to a ban on Muslims entering the country. It could also accelerate any trend of Republicans turning against Trump.

And if Republican House members stick by Trump, it could help Democrats recruit strong candidates in the next election cycle and appeal to a broader swath of voters.

But with Republicans’ 45-seat advantage in the House, most tangible gains could be delegated to the margins. Sonenshein said the movement will likely be more effective in unifying Democrats than breaking apart Republicans.

But Clough, the 80-year-old lifelong activist from Costa Mesa, said that does nothing to dampen her goals when she makes the weekly visits to Rohrabacher’s office.

“The things he disagrees with us on – we’ll either change his mind or we’ll get a new representative,” she said.

Contact the writer: mwisckol@scng.com

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