Meeting on war draws more than 100

By Kyle Daly

Published Aug. 31, 2007

Each person attending the town hall meeting Wednesday evening wore a nametag bearing a question: "I'm here, where's Kenny?!"

The Ninth Congressional District Town Hall Meeting, which was organized by the Missouri Progressive Vote Coalition, was originally designed to be an open discussion between residents of Missouri's ninth congressional district and Rep. Kenny Hulshof, R-Mo., on the war in Iraq. But Hulshof did not attend.

Prior to the meeting, Pro-Vote made numerous attempts in persuading the congressman to come.

"I told his office that we would try to make this very non-confrontational," Pro-Vote spokeswoman Jane Whitesides said. "We wanted this to be a place where people could talk about what they really thought about the war, and we thought it was important that he hear those views and give us views."

The town meeting event was partially associated with the organization Americans Against Escalation in Iraq.

"They looked across the country at congresspeople they thought could possibly be persuaded to rethink their policy and discuss it," Whitesides said. "Kenny Hulshof happens to be one of those congresspeople that they thought was open-minded enough to enter into a discussion."

Despite the congressman's absence, more than 100 people came to the Boone County Government Center Commission Chambers to listen to and discuss different issues involving the war.

The main topic of the evening was the cost of war.

Not only were financial costs discussed, but moral costs and how the war has impacted Missouri veterans and their families were also topics.

Darren Hellwege, host of the NPR radio show "Morning Edition," was the moderator of the meeting. Hellwege introduced a number of specialists and local Missourians who spoke about the war in relation to their fields of expertise.

Mark Robertson, an advocate for responsible public policy, spoke about the financial costs of the war.

Robertson said $458 billion has already been spent on the war in Iraq.

According to the National Priorities Project, a research organization that analyzes federal data, an estimated $7 billion of Missouri taxpayer's money will be spent on the war by the end of 2007.

Speaking on the moral cost of the war, Rev. Maureen Dickmann from the Rockbridge Christian Church gave her own opinion.

"I don't think there is any way that this war could be justified morally," she said. "Nobody is arguing that this war fills any criteria of a just war theory."

Other speakers included Columbia Climate Change Coalition Director Monta Welch and MU senior Glenn Rehn.

Two speakers received a standing ovation at the meeting. They were Stacy Hafley, the wife of an Iraq War veteran, and Janel Martin-Miranda, the mother of an Army lieutenant who is serving in Iraq.

"In my darkest moment, I think of these people," Martin-Miranda said, gesturing to Hafley and her family of three children. "Babies are being born and their fathers are gone. Even if we can't stop this, we have to start demanding that these families are taken care of."

Although Hulshof did not show, Pro-Vote Executive Director John Hickey was still pleased with how the meeting turned out.

"I was very satisfied," Hickey said. "I counted about 150 people in the room and I think in the end what matters in politics is where the people are, and Hulshof is either going to have to agree with the people on stopping the war, or he is going to end up loosing his job."

In July, Hulshof was one of 201 congresspeople in the House of Representatives who voted against establishing a timeline for troop withdrawal from Iraq.

Hulshof's Press Secretary Scott Baker said the congressman did not attend because he is not interested in helping Pro-Vote because it is not a mainstream organization.

The Pro-Vote organization is not giving up its efforts to speak out.

"We are going to continue to keep the focus on Kenny Hulshof," Hickey said. "We are going to continue to make the point of how much this war is costing the people of the state of Missouri. Kenny is going to have to decide whether he supports the people of Missouri or whether he supports George Bush, and he can't have it both ways."