Melissa Hart's Donut Problem

The coverage started, oddly enough, at The Trib. At the tail end of a story about some Altmire/Hart poll numbers, there was this:

Also yesterday, Hart staffers called Hampton police to disperse about 40 people who crowded into the congresswoman's district office.

Dani Pere, director of the union-affiliated Pennsylvania Alliance for Retired Americans, said at least half of the group were constituents of Hart's and were respectfully complaining about the costs of prescription drugs under the new Medicare Part D program.

Hart spokesman Angelo Terrana described a different scene, one in which protesters screamed and used foul language in the office, scaring off constituents already there or trying to get in. He blamed Altmire for the protests.

Hampton police did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

Yesterday I got a more than a few e-mails telling me the same story:

Melissa Hart called the cops on a group of seniors.

Just to state the obvious, the protest was not an Altmire event - but, of course, it's not surprising to see the Hart campaign blame Altmire for it anyway.

Basically you have a group of seniors protesting (still a Constitutionally protected act, right?) at at the office of a member of Congress and when some news cameras show up, that member of Congress calls the authorities to shoo them away. Not the smartest thing to do, honestly.

Here's Dani Pere (by way of Pennsylvania Progressive):

Donuts were then delivered to Hart's staff while ARA members talked about the donut hole. Hart's staff promptly called the police to try and remove us from the office. The police arrived and begin asking ARA members to move on. As Marie Malagreca turned to leave, she shouted to the staff and police with a smile "I've been kicked out of better places!" The entire event was caught on film be a camera crew from Channed 2 News, KDKA TV. Reports were also given to the Associated Press and Pittsburgh Tribune Review.

And Missy's response?"

Our Allison Park office is a place of business, not politics. Their unruly behavior not only inhibited our ability to assist constituents with real requests for help, it also infringes on our constituents privacy. We always welcome constituents into our offices who have real problems or who want to deliver real input on the issues. This was, unfortunately, not the case today."[emphasis added]

Is Melissa Hart really saying that the concerns that Seniors Citizens have about the "donut hole" in the Medicare D plan, isn't a real problem or that it wasn't a real request for help? Looks that way to me. Or that somehow something her constituents had to say it wasn't real input? Looks that way to me, too.

And isn't the business of a politician, well politics? So how can she justify saying that an office listed on her website somehow isn't a place for the public - you know, her constituents?

Take a look at the video. Where's the unruly behavior?

Melissa Hart - too busy to talk to some Senior Citizens, so she calls the cops to have them removed.