As you may have heard by now, our absentee Representative Cliff Bentz will be speaking at The Dalles Rotary Club's meeting this Wednesday, August 20, at noon. He will also be taking tour of a watershed project in The Dalles with the mayor. What Mr Bentz will NOT be doing is holding a public town hall to hear from his constituents.

We need everyone who is available to show up and let Cowardly Cliff know we're paying attention by partipating in one of three groups described below. Please know that we have listened to your suggestions and we have spoken to Rotary Club members in considering how to respond to Cliff's effort to sneak into our city, and then get a nice glowing article in the newspaper afterwards about his "recent visit to Wasco County." Let's change the narrative to something like, "On a recent visit to The Dalles, Cliff Bentz was met with frustrated constituents who are upset that he refuses to hold a public town hall to address their concerns." 

Here's how you can help, and please email us to let us know if you can be there and which group you prefer to be a part of. This will help us coordinate the three groups. 

Group 1 - Protesting with signs on the sidewalks in front of Spooky's, Bi-Mart, and west of Hostetler along 6th St. We know there is construction going on in front of Spooky's and we are monitoring the progress and checking with the construction crew on what will be happening Wednesday at noon. Currently, the sidewalks in front of Bi-Mart and to the east are finished and open, so if Bentz comes in from the east, he'll see us there. If he comes in from the West, we'll have people on the sidewalk west of Hostetler along W 6th St. We encourage signs targeting Bentz specifically (Bentz Betrayed Us, Bentz is Hiding from his Constituents, Bentz Chose Billionaires over Constituents, Bentz is Wasting Taxpayer Dollars on Luxury Travel, Hold a Town Hall, etc.), but any of your other protests signs will also do. Meet up on the sidewalk in front of Bi-Mart at 11:30 AM on Wednesday. 

Group 2 - Attend the Rotary meeting and be prepared to make a statement about how Bentz's votes/actions are impacting us. We have been told by Rotary member Dennis Morgan that Rotary meetings are open to the public, but they ask that we not turn this into a raucous town hall. So, we're looking for 6-8 people willing to politley make a pointed statement about how Bentz's actions and inaction are impacting his constituents. Please reply to this email if you'd like to be a part of this group. We'll have a meeting (for those who can maket it) at Debi's house at 3:30 PM on Tuesday August 19 to coordinate topics and help each other draft good statements / questions. Statements are often better than questions as we want him to hear from us, rather than giving him more opportunity to simply spew the Trump Talking Points.  Email debiferrer@gmail.com if you need directions to Debi's house. Please keep in mind that we will be guests of the Rotary Club in the Wednesday meeting, so we are asking that people who plan to attend be prepared to be polite, even if it's hard; listen quietly, even when you know Bentz is lying. Write down what he says and we'll use it later against him. Plan to arrive at Spooky's by 11:30 on Wednesday if you want to order food or a beverage, or by 11:45 if you just plan to attend the meeting. 

Group 3 - Enjoy Lunch at Spooky's with a chance to speak to Bentz briefly on his way in or out of the meeting. We'd really like to have some people inside Spooky's playing the role of ordinary citizen out for lunch, who just happens to recognize their congressman as he comes in and feels compelled to greet him with something like, "Hello Mr Bentz, we didn't know you were going to be in town. We'd sure appreciate if you'd hold a town hall in Wasco County soon as we have many concerns, and you've only held one town hall here in your 4 1/2 years in office."   As mad as you may feel, we ask that folks who choose this option, approach Bentz with politeness, not out of respect for him, but because we don't want to be the ones getting the bad publicity. Don't bring any signs inside Spooky's. We need any reporting that happens to be bad publicity for Bentz!  We can follow up our interactions with a Letter to the Editor about seeing Bentz in The Dalles for a private meeting with a few individuals and the mayor, but with no opportunity for his constituents to ask questions and express their concerns. We don't know if Cliff will come in the front door - he may be ushered in the back door of the meeting room. But if any of you are willing, it would be really nice to have a few "greeters" waiting in the main dining room in case he comes that way.  You should plan to be there by 11:30 to get a table in the front area.  

Again, if you possibly can participate in any of these three ways, please email us at protectoregonsprogress@gmail.com with your name and what group you can participate with, or if you have questions.