On Saturday morning, Grand Rapids Congressman Vern Ehlers hosted his annual "town hall meeting" at the Gerald R. Ford Museum. For the most part, the format was the same as it has been in recent years (see Mediamouse.org coverage from 2005, 2006, and 2007), with Ehlers delivering prepared remarks and then fielding questions from audience members that he selects. The meeting--held once per year--was once again limited to only an hour and generally avoided being an open-ended forum in which he has to respond to the concerns of his constituents.

However, there were some small changes in the format this year, which may be due to antiwar protests in recent years. Congressman Ehlers announced at the beginning of the meeting that he would be giving awards to two World War II veterans during the meeting, whenever they arrived. Ten minutes into the meeting, the WWII veterans and their families arrived and the Congressman put his comments on hold to address them and take pictures with the veterans. If this was not a deliberate attempt to avoid having to address comments about the US occupation of Iraq, it had the same affect, since only one person who was called upon even mentioned Iraq and the Congressman refused to address that issue. The Iraq War was also briefly raised when someone held up a sign outside reading "End the War" so that those inside the museum could read it. A security guard quickly intervened and forced the person to leave after a few seconds.

In his opening comments, he made some sarcastic remarks about how the only thing in the news these days was the Democratic race for the presidency. "Consequently," Ehlers said, "we get very little reporting on what we do in Congress." This could have been the only honest comment he made the entire meeting. Ehlers then went on to address in very broad terms the economy and gas prices. He said that increased gas prices were not connected to record oil company profits, but simply the realities of supply and demand.

The only other issue he addressed in his prepared remarks was what the Congressman called the "crazy mortgage situation." Ehlers did acknowledge there was a problem when banks are selling people's mortgages to other companies without notifying homeowners, but he offered no concrete resolution, saying only that Congress was working on legislation to keep people facing foreclosure from losing their homes. After these brief introductory comments, he opened the meeting to questions.

There was a much smaller audience than in previous years, especially after the families of the World War II veterans left the room. A total of 13 people were called upon that addressed a variety of issues, some of which were personal and not relevant to the audience. There were several questions related to alternative energy and oil dependency. The Congressman's advice for becoming less oil dependent as a nation was to make sure we inflated our automobile tires, drive slower, and insulate our homes better. He also said that if we "reduce the demand the price will go down."

Ehlers was also asked about where he stood on the issue of domestic energy production and drilling for more oil in the US. He responded by saying that we really need to think long term:

"There is more oil in the country, but it is more difficult to get to. If we drill in ANWR, then what do we do next? If the Iraqis, Saudis and Iranians cut us off what will we do? ANWR is only equivalent to about 4 years of oil use in the US. We need to develop long-term solution."

The only concrete long-term solution Ehlers offered the audience was solar shingles.

There were also a couple of question from the audience on immigration. Both of the men who asked the question seemed upset with Ehlers for his refusal to sign on to HR 4088. This proposed legislation is designed to increase US border security and see undocumented immigrants purely as criminals that should be locked up. Ehlers responded by saying that:

"we are enforcing the law and the border to the south is better protected. We also no longer just deport illegal immigrants by dropping them off just inside the Mexican border. Now we put them on planes and fly them back to their country of origin. More and more of the new illegal immigrants are from Central and South America."

The Congressman offered no evidence and did not cite any sources to support his claims. He did say that the issue is complicated and doesn't think we should just arrest or deport everyone, especially if they have children that were born in the US.

Another issue that was raised was the idea of voting by mail. The questioner cited HR 281 and asked if Ehlers would sign on to it. Ehlers responded by saying that he opposes the way this bill was written and has concerns about possible voter fraud with voting by mail, therefore he would not support this bill.

The last major question that was raised was from an older gentleman who had concerns about moral pollution. He said he couldn't believe the kind of stuff that was on TV, the Internet, and in video games and he wanted to know what Ehlers thought about moral pollution. The Congressman said that he totally agreed with the man and said that there isn't much we can do about it since we have "freedom of speech in this country." Ehlers did mention that the FCC does regulate the airwaves, but said the problem is not what government does, but what people do. Ehlers thought that our country is in a state of moral decline since "we have become too dependent on government to solve our problems."