Messmer's office wanted Boonville library to call police on constituents; director said no

Yahoo

13-03-2025

EVANSVILLE – Staff members with Rep. Mark Messmer's office asked employees at the Boonville Public Library to call the police on constituents during a mobile office hours event – even though the mostly older attendees weren't breaking any rules, the library's director confirmed Wednesday.
Director Brooke Bolton told the Courier & Press she refused the request.
'We told them that (the constituents) had not broken any of the rules of our library and we would not call the police unless the rules of our library were being broken,' she said. 'I didn't see or witness anything that was hostile.'
The event took place from 1-3 p.m. Tuesday at the library in Boonville. Mobile office hours usually provide voters a chance to speak to representatives of their elected officials and express concerns. Two staffers for the Eighth District Republican were at the library, but they repeatedly declined to meet with more than one constituent at a time, an attendee told the Courier & Press.
Bolton said the request to contact authorities came not from the staffers on hand, but via a phone call to the library from a Washington, D.C. area code. She identified the person she spoke with as Michael Curcio. The website LegiStorm lists Curcio as Messmer's chief of staff.
A spokesperson for Messmer didn't respond to a request for a comment Wednesday. It's just the latest bit of silence from the congressman, who has repeatedly declined to speak to the Courier & Press.
Kristina Bickle, founder of Evansville Resistance, was one of about 15 people in attendance Tuesday. She took several videos of exchanges with Messmer's staff that she forwarded to the Courier & Press. She said the trouble started when she and others wanted to meet with the reps as a group so everyone could hear their questions or concerns.
But the staffers refused, only agreeing to meet with people one at a time in a room so tiny she described it as a 'closet.'
'They had picked the smallest room in the building,' she said. '… They wouldn't let married couples go in together.'
According to Bickle, the staffers turned down several offers from library workers to move them to a larger room so they could accommodate more people. Eventually they gave in and shifted to a conference room, but they still wouldn't let in more than one person at a time.
Bickle said the Messmer staffers barred all recording devices and kept the door closed anytime a constituent came inside.
'We just felt like that was not right. Nobody was getting loud or hostile, but everyone was very, very upset about this situation,' she said. 'One man was crying – not so much about the situation, but that his constitutional rights had been violated. Meaning our country is in trouble.'
She believes the staffers asked the library to call police so it wouldn't look like the request was coming from Messmer's office. And it was all for a group "that was mostly senior citizens."
"That's absurd," she said.
Most of the videos from Bickle show constituents standing outside the original room and asking the Messmer staffers to meet with the entire group at once. Bickle said the group voted, and all of them wanted a public meeting instead of private conversations.
In one video, a man and two women repeatedly ask the staffers – a woman and young man – to come out.
'Nobody wants a one-on-one meeting out there,' the man says, gesturing toward the other attendees. '… We've got people here who are going to walk away if it's not a public meeting."
'OK,' a staffer says.
In another, a different man with gray hair and a flannel shirt addresses them.
'You should be here to talk to us. We've called Messmer's office and we don't get any answers,' he says in an even tone. '… Let's go to a place where we can all talk. We'll be civil.'
According to the videos, the exchanges are largely calm and never reach the point of screaming or arguing. They do, however, show some moments of frustration. At one point, as the staffers continue to evade a group discussion, an elderly woman interjects.
'It's about time you Republicans grew some damn balls,' she says.
Another video shows Bolton – who had to be called in on her day off – addressing the attendees as they wait outside the hall. She reminds them the library has no say over where Messmer staffers meet and thanked the constituents for being respectful to library staff.
She told the Courier & Press Messmer's office reserved that specific small room. They were told how many people it could hold.
The people at the library Tuesday aren't the only ones struggling to get answers from Messmer.
Earlier this month, he didn't respond to multiple messages from the Courier & Press asking him his thoughts on potential Medicaid cuts that could affect thousands of people in his district. He dodged another interview in December, with a spokesman saying he would only take questions written in advance.
During last year's election, he declined to debate his opponents and didn't have any public events in Evansville.
He hasn't announced plans to hold a town hall, either. Those have been hard to come by in the Evansville for years. Courier & Press archives show that Messmer's predecessor, Rep. Larry Bucshon, only had five of them in the city during his 14 years in office.
And according to a report from Politico earlier this month, the head of the National Republican Congressional Committee has ordered GOP officials not to stage any town halls in the near future.
In Messmer's absence, some Evansville residents plan to have a 'people's town hall' instead.
The 'Messmer's Missing' rally is scheduled for March 22 at 1 p.m. in front of the congressman's local office at 20 NW Third St. In a news release, organizer Wendy Bredhold said residents are encouraged to bring any written comments they have for the congressman. They'll then be passed along to his office the following Monday.
If Messmer agrees to hold an actual town hall, she said, they'll cancel the event.
'Elected officials should be accessible to the people they serve, yet he refuses to face his constituents,' the release states. 'We're showing up anyway.'
Bickle said she told Messmer's staffers about the protest as the library event ended Tuesday. They left promptly at 3 p.m., she said, even though some constituents were still waiting to speak to them.
'I feel like he's forgotten he works for us,' she said.
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Messmer's office wanted Boonville library to call police during event