Van Orden Staffer Cancels Eau Claire Meeting Amid High Turnout

A Congressman Derrick Van Orden staffer canceled a meeting with Chippewa Valley Indivisible on Thursday after dozens signed up to attend.

The meeting was set to take place at the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library on Thursday morning with Brian Westrate. According to the group leader of Chippewa Valley Indivisible Cyndi Greening, the organization had told Congressman Van Orden’s office that about 24 people would attend.

Greening says after putting the meeting on their pages and sending it to their members, word got out and 112 people signed up to attend. Another organizer of the meeting, Mary Landwehr, says she contacted Van Orden’s office to inform them of the increase in expected attendance.

Landwehr says Westrate originally agreed to meet with five members of the organization in his office. She later went back to Westrate to proposed 25 people in a meeting room at the library, which he agreed to. When over 100 people signed up to attend, the group told Westrate they would keep the meeting room limited to 25 people as agreed and cycle people through.

Westrate then told the group he would need to check with his district director.

Civic Media obtained a copy of the email sent from District Director Colby Lacefield to Landwehr. In the email, Lacefield writes “Unfortunately, it appears that the meeting tomorrow has been publicly circulating as a “town hall” on behalf of the congressman with an RSVP link that our staff was not made aware of. Therefore, I am reaching out to inform you that I am cancelling the meeting altogether.”

Lacefield also said “the unprofessionalism shown by the bad actors who attempted to hijack this meeting is extremely disappointing.”

Despite the cancellation, dozens of residents still attended the meeting to share their concerns with each other and put those concerns in letters that were dropped off at the Van Orden office soon after.

One of the most common concerns expressed was the potential for cuts to Medicaid and the SNAP program. Earlier this week, House Republicans passed a budget blueprint that includes massive spending cuts and tax breaks. The blueprint does not include specific budget proposals, but creates a framework to begin filling in the details.

After voting in favor of the budget blueprint, Congressman Van Orden released a statement assuring his constituents that the resolution did not include cuts to specific programs like Medicaid and SNAP. However, critics of the proposal say the spending cut goals would be mathematically impossible to achieve without targeting those programs.

Dr. Donald Bodeau, a member of the Eau Claire City-County Board of Health, spoke about the effects those cuts could have locally. “A full third of the health department budget is funded by federal grants in one form or another,” he said. “Last night we had our monthly board meeting and reviewed roughly $95,000 worth, and there’s great uncertainty about whether we’ll have that money or not.”

Eric Wilson, who ran in the Democratic primary for the third congressional district, was one of the attendees at Thursday’s meeting. “I have a lot of concerns, I think as we all do,” said Wilson. “I actually ran for Congress against Derrick as a Democrat in the primary last year and a lot of my concerns then have just skyrocketed. I’m afraid of our federal government leaving our states and our communities out to dry.” Improving access to healthcare was one of the main staples of Wilson’s campaign.

“They don’t want the sick and weak,” said one resident on the potential cuts at Thursday’s meeting. “They don’t want to have to deal with that, they don’t want to have to pay for that. That’s what’s happening here. My question for Derrick Van Orden is what is your hard line? What is it gonna take for the orange tyrant to do for you to say wait a minute, I don’t think I can support that?”

Potential cuts to Medicaid and SNAP were also the main topic of conversation at a town hall hosted by the Wisconsin Farmers Union in Chippewa Falls last week. Organizers say Congressman Van Orden, Congressman Tom Tiffany, and local republican state lawmakers were invited, but said they could not attend due to scheduling issues. Congressman Mark Pocan, State Representatives Jodi Emerson and Christian Phelps, and State Senator Jeff Smith did attend.

Other residents expressed concerns about the truthfulness of the current administration and the influence that Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has.

“I am absolute horrified that this unelected person Elon Musk has been given so much power with his technicians,” said one resident. “And what they have done in terms of cutting off funds, with no understanding of the consequences of the decisions that they have made, is absolutely astounding that that’s happening in our democratic country. And I want to know what Derrick Van Orden and every other elected official that’s sitting there and approving these things are going to do about it.”

“This is an administration that is indifferent to the law,” said another resident. “I don’t know how to engage Derrick Van Orden, or Ron Johnson, or Tammy Baldwin when it seems like nothing that happens in those chambers will matter.”

After dozens of people who attended Thursday’s meeting said their peace, they began walking down to Congressman Van Orden’s Eau Claire office. When they arrived, they found Westrate making his way out of the office and asked if he wanted to meet with them.

Explaining the cancellation, Westrate said “Yesterday we were informed that the private sign up that apparently indivisible put together had been shared across multiple social media platforms. Well, I went to the library and looked at the Carnegie Room. It would have had 24 people in there and 80 to 90 people milling about in the library which I would hope you all agree is a place people go for tranquility.”

In a followup email after the event, Landwehr told Westrate that the event was peaceful, not disruptive, and she had checked in with library staff several times to ensure there were no issues. In a tweet on Thursday night, Congressman Van Orden called the organization a “George Soros funded group that is crashing meetings around the country.”