March 01, 2017 04:11 PM UTC

Do You Have An Appointment for Your Protest?

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• by: Colorado Pols

Marianne Goodland of the Colorado Independent reports on a familiar wrinkle for constituents trying to convey messages to the office of their Congressional representative — in this case, Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Aurora):

When the Arapahoe County Young Democrats, led by Kronda Seibert, approached the door of the building, they were met by a man, later named by both Seibert and the building property management as Wiley Price. Price identified himself as a building property manager, told them that only one could go upstairs.

When they protested, arguing that the office was paid for by taxpayers, he said: “Alright, you know what, I’m not going to argue about this. You can either go now or I’ll have you arrested.”…

…Andrea Valenzuela, who works for the property management company for Cherry Creek Place IV, said the building has been the target of noisy protests and vandalism in recent weeks, though she made clear she was not blaming Seibert’s group for the trouble.

“We don’t want any problems,” Valenzuela told The Independent, adding that the management company doesn’t want to get into the middle of a political issue. “If people have an appointment with the Congressman” they can come in, she said. “We’re here to protect our tenants.”

Coffman’s website says nothing about having to make an appointment just to get into the building.

Calls to both the Aurora Police Department, to verify the identity of the officer at the building, and to Coffman spokesman Dan Buchelli were not returned by deadline.

The issue of a “public” office being restricted because it is located in a “private” building is something that has popped up before — usually when citizens feel particularly inclined to try to engage with their representatives about issues the elected official(s) would rather not discuss. Interacting with Members of Congress should not be this complicated.