A large crowd gatherd at the Keweenaw Unitarian Universalist Fellowship building in Houghton Tuesday to express frustration over the performance of Congressman Jack Bergman.

HOUGHTON — On Tuesday night, more than 150 Houghton area residents crowded into the Keweenaw Unitarian Universalist Fellowship building on Bridge Street for a public meeting quirkily called a Bergman (less?) Town Hall. Most of those present were angry. All of them wanted to let U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman, (R-Watersmeet) know how they felt about his performance.

Bergman wasn’t there. He’d been invited two weeks ago, but town hall organizer Bill Fink said he never heard from him or his office.

That was no surprise, according to Fink. The Congressman hasn’t attended similar grassroots town hall meetings in other parts of his Congressional district either, his staff calling a recent one in Escanaba “a political stunt.” They refused an invitation to another one in Traverse City, saying: “The Congressman will not now, or ever, attend a George Soros-funded so-called town hall.”

Bergman has not held a town hall himself to hear from constituents since 2017, Fink said.

Tuesday’s meeting in Houghton was planned and put on by Fink, a retired National Park Service ranger and resident of Portage Township. No outside group funded it, he said.

There was a chair that speakers rotated through at a small table at the front of the packed meeting room. It featured a card saying “I am your constituent” and faced an empty chair with a picture of Bergman attached to it. Speakers directed their comments to the Congressman’s picture. The meeting was recorded.

Each speaker had three minutes to speak. They all stated for the record that they had not been paid to speak. Many focused on what

they called Bergman’s failure to follow his oath of office to uphold the Constitution of the United States. A small copy of the Constitution sat on the speaker’s table, next to the Congressman’s picture.

“A would-be king and an unelected billionaire have repeatedly violated the constitution,” said Donna Armstead, a performing artist and educator from Lake Linden. “Why are you and other members of Congress not standing up to this egregious overreach?”

“You represent us,” said Jennifer Slack, who lives in rural Houghton County. You answer to us, not to Donald Trump. You are violating your oath to defend and protect the Constitution of the United States, and I call for your resignation.” Cheers then erupted in the auditorium.

“You should be ashamed of yourself,” another speaker said. “You need to stand up and defend the Constitution,” said several others.

Micah Harden, a Hancock resident, added: “Stop cowering in the shadows of Trump’s reign. You have a responsibility to amplify our voices, regardless of party, gender, race, religion, ideology or anything else that differentiates us.”

A Houghton resident who introduced herself as Eileen broke down in tears as she enumerated the funding and services being cut off to the most vulnerable. “We rely on you to be our voice in Congress, and right now it feels like you don’t care about us,” she said.

Catherine Paavola from Pelkie agreed. “You cannot choose to make cuts to the most vulnerable among us,” she said. “Cuts that need to be made should be made at the top, where the fat is thick.”

“I am afraid, and I am outraged,” said Emma, a constituent from Calumet. “I came here to ask you where your outrage is and where your support is for us, the people who voted for you.”

Brendan Letty, a Houghton resident, talked about his sister, a graduate student whose research funding has been frozen because she is studying AIDS. “This is not gender research; this is medical research about a disease that has killed thousands and thousands of people,” he said. He also expressed his frustration that he could not speak to the Congressman face to face. “I’m sitting here, and I’m expecting Jack Bergman, but all I’m seeing is jack s**t.”

And Alan Salmi, whose family has been longtime residents of Houghton and Hancock, said: “You’ve got to take on a new kind of courage, not for the battlefield of conflict, but for the battlefield of Congress.”

Others spoke passionately about their concerns over the mass firings of federal workers, potential cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, the impact of funding cuts on school children and veterans, the apparent shifting position of the country on Ukraine and what Bergman is–or isn’t–doing about these issues.

Several attendees mentioned plans to post a video of the more than two-hour meeting on Facebook, so those unable to attend Tuesday’s event may watch a recording of the town hall.